Earth
Earth is completed — next we'll print
If you have Heaven, you'll be glad to know preparations for printing Earth are completed: photography, color corrections, writing, translations, and layouts are done. Next we'll print the book. We're taking advance orders now.
Heaven was about martial virtue. Earth is bloody different...
The theme of our first Dojo Giga book, Heaven, was martial virtue: military force used properly — namely to create civilization and maintain peace. Unfortunately, man ignores Heaven’s lessons and abuses power…
Ignorance, rage and desire
Earth's theme is bonno 煩悩, afflictions understood in Buddhism to be rooted in misconceptions and the cause of suffering. Specifically, Earth helps us meditate on those of Hatsumi Sensei's paintings which illustrate “the three poisons” of ignorance, rage and desire.
Will Earth look like Heaven?
Earth's design is based on Heaven — on the shelf, it'll look like Heaven's evil twin. Earth features a larger number of paintings than Heaven and more action photos. Earth will be 240 pages (that's 16 pages longer than Heaven).
Pre-order Earth to save 20%!
Pre-order Earth — before September 25th — for a 20% discount. Details are below.
Our Pre-order opportunity finished on September 25th, 2023
We will offer new pricing after Earth has printed. Thank you for your support.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we deliver to other locations?
For the pre-order price we can only deliver to the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the EU. If your address is outside where we're currently delivering, but you'd like to get the pre-order discount, please consider ordering with a friend living in one of our delivery destinations.
Will Earth have a collector edition?
Heaven had a collector edition but Earth won't. Earth will have just one edition. Earth will come in a folding case like the standard edition of Heaven.
Will signed Earth books be available?
No, signed Earth books won't be available. Unlike Heaven, Earth won't have a shikishi signature board. We will print Earth and then deliver it to you.
Why is postage so expensive?
The full cost of delivery includes boxing, bulk shipping by boat, tariffs, postage and handling by our warehouse staff. If you consider the full cost of delivery from the printer, our worldwide postage price is actually significantly discounted.
Can I order Heaven and Earth together?
No. Heaven and Earth deliver from different locations so they need to post separately. Please order Heaven here: dojoartbooks.com/heaven/
When is the Earth delivery estimate?
I'll announce our delivery dates after I confirm our print date and bulk shipping schedule. Please watch Earth Production Updates (below) for details.
Earth Production Updates
Dayton, Ohio Presentation
In October of 2021, I traveled with Nagato Sensei to the USA for an event hosted by the Dayton Bujinkan Dojo. I was invited to speak about Hatsumi Sensei's art at the event's banquet. A video of the speech — with sample Earth pages — is below.
A look inside Earth
Below is a short video of my July 3rd 2022 meeting with Hatsumi Sensei, including a look inside Earth.
St Ingbert, Germany Presentation
Earth will feature multiple paintings about Saitō Musashibō Benkei. I gave a speech about these paintings in August of 2022, in Germany. A video of the speech is below.
A Sneak Peak at Earth
In June of 2023, I showed the Dayton Bujinkan Dojo our first round of proof prints and I gave them a sneak peak of the completed Earth book (we also did a bit of training).
Earth for Sensei's birthday
On August 19th we went on a dinner cruise of Tokyo Bay with Hatsumi Sensei. During this event, I shared a hardcopy of Earth with our guests and I explained our plan to move forward with printing so we can give Earth to Sensei for his birthday in December. Our pre-order deadline is September 25th — order before then for 20% off.
Earth Production Timeline
- December 20th, 2021: Layouts for the first 185 pages of Earth are done and proofreading has begun.
- December 30th: The commentary section, which begins after page 185, is drafted.
- January 5th, 2022: I'm confirming plans with our printer.
- April 4th: The commentary section is translated and editing has begun. The commentary for Earth is much longer than the commentary for Heaven!
- May 16th: Layouts for the first 185 pages of Earth are looking great!
- May 30th: Our printer approved the Earth project. Now the fun of seeing our concept become a physical reality begins.
- June 20th: Earth will be 240 pages (that's 16 pages longer than Heaven).
- July 3rd: I reviewed Earth with Hatsumi Sensei. He is pleased so we're moving forward with another round of proofreading.
- August 14th: I met with Hatsumi Sensei to review edits and give a status update.
- August 27th: At the banquet for Nagato Sensei's Taikai in Germany, I spoke about Earth (with a focus on Hatsumi Sensei's painting of Saitō Musashibō Benkei).
- September 4th: I updated Hatsumi Sensei on the Germany Taikai and received Sensei's approval for Earth edits.
- October 29th: I reported on Earth progress and got Sensei's okay for a big edit in our commentary section. Now our final proofreading can proceed.
- January 30th, 2023: Earth proofreading — in both languages — is complete. Final text took longer than expected, but I’m pleased with our work. Thank you for your patience.
- February 12th: Earth features multiple paintings of Saitō Musashibō Benkei. I gave a speech about these paintings in August of 2022 at Nagato Sensei's Taikai in Germany (the speech is posted on this page). Also a PDF about the Bloody Daruma painting which was featured in our set of prints and which will appear in Earth is available (the PDF is posted near the bottom of this page).
- June 24th: I gave the Dayton Bujinkan Dojo a sneak peak of the completed Earth book and I invited them to see our first round of proof prints.
- July 23rd: Round #1 of proof prints is finished and round #2 has begun. Proof printing is the art of expressing colors in ink on the printed page (and confirming those colors are correct). Our round #1 was successful: all the black and white photography looks awesome and about 50% of the paintings are correct too. This means our work for round #2 is to fix the colors for just a small number of artworks.
- August 7th: I tentatively approved a digital version of color corrections. I took a gamble with this approval but the digital version looks great. This approval allows us to push forward with round #2 much quicker.
- August 10th: Round #2 of color corrections has begun. In this round, we're color correcting detail shots (close-up shots of paintings) to match the paintings they come from.
- August 18th: All color corrections are finished. Our team did nice work and everything looks great.
- August 19th: During Hatsumi Sensei's Aug 19th Tokyo Bay dinner cruise, I announced, "Let's move forward with printing so we can give Earth to Hatsumi Sensei for his birthday in December."
- September 15th: We're on schedule for printing so we can give Earth to Hatsumi Sensei for his birthday in December. Our pre-order deadline — for 20% off — is September 25th. Order yours before then for the discount.
Masaaki Hatsumi: Art Prints
In 2017 we made a set of 13 posters called Masaaki Hatsumi: Art Prints. Eight paintings featured on the prints (plus one promoting Sensei's art exhibition at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan) appeared in Heaven. Four paintings featured on the prints will appear in Earth. For each print, we're making PDFs. These PDFs share a quotation from Hatsumi Sensei and a bit of commentary from the Heaven and Earth books. I hope these PDFs help us appreciate the prints and give us a fun sneak peek at Earth. Eventually, all of the PDFs will be on our Art Prints page and the prints of artworks that appear in Earth will be below.
All the Prints are Sold. Right?
The Dayton Bujinkan Dojo has a small quantity of prints. (We sent the last prints to Dayton, Ohio so participants at Nagato Sensei's 2021 Taikai could purchase them.) While they last, you can order the full set of 13 prints here: tinylink.net/MANIT
A chat about Meditation
Paul Masse and I talked about Meiso 瞑想, which means "meditation" and is one of the paintings which will appear in Earth. Join us in the below video.
For more about Kasumian, please visit: https://kasumian.com/
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— Steve Olsen
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