EDITORIAL: Those of you who have enjoyed the magnificent catalogue Surimono of the Museum fūr Ostasiatische Kunst in Berlin, might have realised that Dr. Steffi Schmidt, one of the composers of the catalogue, passed away before it was printed. The in memoriam in this issue by her colleague Dr. Setsuko Kuwabara makes us sadly aware that an inspiring scholar on Asiatic art has gone too soon. This catalogue (a.o.) will remain a memorable tribute to her scientífic career. The main article in this issue of Andon is written by Jan Dees. He has read the Ise-monogatari with the eye of a lacquer-ware connoisseur and shows us that verses and prose narrating the life of Ariwara no Narihira, a nobleman living in the ninth century, were a source of inspiration for designs on lacquerware.
A special book review is the contribution of our distinguished member R. de Bruijn. Like no other he is capable of giving us interesting factual information, but he also peppers it with highly personal experiences and comments (e.g. did you know that a Welsh rarebit is a toast with molten cheese on top...?). We hope you will enjoy reading this issue of Andon, and we also hope that it will inspire you to trust your knowledge or ideas to paper, in the form of a contribution to coming issues.