A unique print: Binnie's first Kabuki 'kappazuri' print is a stylized portrait of famous actor, Bando Tamasaburo, as Agemaki, a high-level courtsean in the paly 'Sukerorku'.

The blue-hued version Kemuri ('Smoke').

The effect of the print comes from overlaying blocks of 'bokashi' applied by hand during the printing process.

By using two blocks, the multi-layered effect of this print portrays the dense feel of the air under heavy clouds on an autumn day.

The 'Hashira-e' or pllar print format lends itself to the feel of a slice of the sky, from the highest clouds to nearly the horizon. Pale yellow is adeptly employed to give a sunny feel to the upper area of the sky.

An elaborate cloud print, this was carved on several blocks and printed in extensive 'bokashi'.

This is the night-time version of the print 'Akizora' (Autumn Sky). Paul Binnie has adapted it with a moon and stars, with darker shading towards the bottom.

This print is made partly in the reduction technique: the edition can never be reprinted because the block is destroyed in the process of applying layer upon layer of pigment, carving it smaller each time, such as the effect of the mica-streaks of rain.

‘Yuyake’ (Afterglow) is a new version of an older design, Akizora and Yozora, and shows the moment after sunset when the sky is still full of fading light.

A jigsaw cut block, in a contemporary style.

One of Binnie's smallest prints, this design is based on a former print, 'Miyajima'. This edition is in an open edition.

The model wears a 'yukata' directly inspired by one in a print by Shinsui. The background is printed in a 'goma-zuri' (sesame-seed printing) or lightly pressed method, reminiscent of Watanabe's pre-1923 prints.

This is a new state of the 2006 commissioned design, 'Ho-o no Yume' (Phoenix Dream). It is the tattoo version of 'Yume no Ato'.

Some might feel an Utamaro influence on this version, in the diamond-shaped 'shobori' and the pale grey ground, and indeed there is a famous self-portrait of that great master painting a phoenix mural in Seiro Ehon Nenju Gyoji (A Picture-book of the Annual Events in the Yoshiwara) of 1804.

This is the fourth 'Famous View of Japan' and represents a famous garden, well known for its cherry blossoms. Here it is presented as unusually dramatic.

The idea of 'floating' brings to mind the Floating World, or 'Ukiyo-e'.

This famous mountain temple in Yamagata is built on a precipice over the vallery below and with stone steps hewn from the solid rock.

For this non-tattoo version of 'Kunisada's Danjuro', the artist presents a more visceral design.

Here is a night view of the Himeji Castle, with a moonlit sky, brilliantly executed in tones of purple, blue and green. The horizontal format of the print makes the long shape of the castle's outer walls feel like the prow of a ship.

The print shows the bridge to the Benten Shrine on Shinobazu Pond at night, with a black cat watching two lovers embrace beneath the willow trees.

This series contains 3 designs.

This print portrays the two lovers in the famous double-suicide 17th Century play 'Koi hikyaku Yamato orai', also known as 'Umegawa-Chubei'. The lovers stop briefly in the snowy village of Niinokuchi where Chubei's father lives, in order to bid him a final farewell.

Bando Tamasaburo is the Spirit of the Heron in 'The Heron Maiden'.
The Heron Maiden, seen near the end of the dance, is suffering the torments of hell due to her inability to forget her past life as a flirtatious young girl and achieve enlightenment in the Western Paradise.

This series contains 5 designs.

The actor Ichikawa Ennosuke plays the Demon in 'Kurozuka' ('The Black Mound').

This series contains 5 designs.

The play 'Kenuki' is known as the first 'detective drama' in Japan. The play is about a samurai retainer who is askd to investigate the unusual illness of a young princess whose hair stands on end for no apparent reason. While plucking his beard with enormous tweezers, he discovers that hidden in the roof space are using a magnet to attract the princess's metal hairpins...

The fourth and latest design in this series, this addition is a dramatic and emotive female portrait.

An unusual printing technique is used for the shibori (tie-dyed) pattern on the red kimono, which imbues a realistic feel to the dyed silk. This involves deeply embossing the plain paper with the white pattern; then the red colour is gently printed over the surface of the flat block. In addition, hand-applied ‘teardrops’ of nikawa (glue-size) in the mica represents her fallen tears, which are unique to the piece.

This print is made is on a heavier paper from Iwate prefecture to facilitate the very deep embossing.

This is the latest print in the 'Travels with the Master' series. This series focuses on Binnie's interpretation of sites that inspired the great master printer, Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950).

The viewpoint chosen is slightly different to Yoshida's original print: the American Falls is in the middle ground and the Horseshoe Falls is behind it, looking towards Canada in the distance. Binnie has used gofun (powdered shell pigment) to whiten the foreground area of snow and ice, as well as overlaying layers of bokashi (shading) to suggest the misty water vapour rising from these great waterfalls.

'Niagara Falls' is printed on paper by Iwano Ichibei, a Living National Treasure in Japan.