Authors: Iqbal Hussain
Date Submitted: February 28, 2005
Article Type: Journal

It was with the awe and wonder of a small child receiving candy that I opened my copy of the recently published book Japanese Kite Prints: Selections From the Skinner Collection by John Stevenson. The book was in a way a culmination of not only Scott Skinner’s dream, but also mine. I will explain.

I had a passion for kites at a very early age. As a child growing up in Pakistan, I learnt to fly Indian fighter kites as a sort of birthright, and still remember my father who would fly them with friends and family from the rooftops of our house, often betting sums of money on his kite cutting skills against that of his opponents. I loved to fly kites and was out flying them whenever I could, both with friends and foes, so to speak. In 1964, at the tender age of 10, I and my family moved to England and I flew kites only a very few times after that.

What set off my passion for kites again was my stay as a teacher at the Sacred Heart International School in the heart of Tokyo, starting in l982. For three years I taught Japanese and Chinese history. By chance I met Takeshi Nishibayashi whilst visiting a local park. He was flying a train of bird kites. I was hooked—-how could the kites fly in and out like that, just like real birds? I gathered up my courage and walked over to him to take a closer look and to ask for information.

PDF Link: Journal Issue