Hon no Machi October 2026 Issue (Vol. 18) — Now Available Free at Member Shops from September 10

Thank you, as always, for reading Hon no Machi. The morning and evening breezes have turned thoroughly autumnal, and autumn, the season for reading, has arrived.

The October issue (Vol. 18) of the monthly Hon no Machi was published on September 10. This issue brings together several articles marking 150 years of the Bayreuth Festival.

Highlights of This Issue

Japanese Artists in Paris

Yoshihide Egawa, former curator at the Museum of Modern Art, Tokushima, discusses Usaburo Ihara and other artists who studied in Paris in the 1920s.

150 Years of the Bayreuth Festival

Three pieces connected with Wagner: Marsha Lin’s “AI or Human? Reflections on Bayreuth at 150,” Naoki Fukuzawa’s “Forty Years Since a Fateful Encounter,” and Shizuko Kinoshita’s “On the 10th Concert of the ‘Wa’ Circle.”

ELLI’s Town Walks Visits Fuji Record Sha

We visited this long-established Jimbocho record shop and heard the story of its previous president, which was even made into an NHK radio drama.

▶ Read “Photographer ELLI’s Town Walks” #17: Fuji Record Sha on the web

Contents of This Issue

• My Apprenticeship in Old Books (14): Assorted Pranks at Cram School / Inuhiko Yomota
• Engraved Memories (6): A Four-and-a-Half-Mat Room in Kaminakazato / Gen Yamanaka
• Encounters with the Classics (4): Measure for Measure — A Flaw in the Rule of Law? / Yasuo Hasebe
• Architectural Walks Around Kanda (4): The Arch of Bunka Gakuin / Jun Kanda
• From the Study of an International History Detective (12): The Smedleys, a Couple Who Linked India and China? / Tetsuro Kato
• Jimbocho and Me (17): The Fire During the Demolition of Sanseido Bookstore / Ryosuke Sakota
• Book Lovers of the Old-Book District (6): Takaharu Kuki / Ken Kayahara
• Japanese Artists in Paris / Yoshihide Egawa
• A Mini Theater with a Café and Bookshelves (6): A Revolutionary Women’s Film, Old Yet New / Tadashi Koyama
• Curtain Calls in Full Bloom (9): Voices Heard at The Suzunari Theater / Hiroshi Takahagi
• ELLI’s Town Walks (17): Fuji Record Sha / Eri Ito
• Notebook of Sounds (13): AI or Human? Reflections on Bayreuth at 150 / Marsha Lin
• The Bayreuth Festival: Forty Years Since a Fateful Encounter / Naoki Fukuzawa
• On the 10th Concert of the “Wa” Circle / Shizuko Kinoshita
• New Whimsical Journal of Art (History) (18): Shunsuke Stands in Jimbocho!? (4) / Hiroaki Goto
• There’s No Hobby as Wonderful as Jazz! (82): Kobe Jazz Street / Kazuyuki Iida
• Early Photographs of Edo Castle and Its Surroundings (85): Junzo Kawada’s “Handcrafts of Africa” Exhibition / Atsushi Shimizu

Cover: Gen Yamanaka, “face-1”
This issue also includes a notice for AMMON TOKYO’s “Akane Sumi Solo Exhibition” (September 4–26, 2026).

Publication Details

• Issue: Monthly Hon no Machi, October 2026 issue (Vol. 18)
• Publication date: September 10, 2026
• Cover price: ¥150 (tax incl.) — distributed free at member shops
• Publisher: Hon no Machi Editorial Office
• Where to find it: Member shops and other locations in Kanda, Jimbocho and Ochanomizu (list of member shops and pickup points)

Printed copies are distributed at member shops. To find a pickup point near you, see our member shop list or area map.

Earlier issues can be read on our Back Issues page. *Exhibitions, events, shop information, advertisements and other details are as of the original publication date.

日本語で読む — Read this article in Japanese