EDITORIAL: Welcome to Andon number 91 which covers a wide variety of subjects. In this issue we travel to St. Petersburg's Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography where Else and Heinz Kress have discovered an inrō that once belonged to Empress Catherine the Great of Russia (1729-96). They reveal how this beautiful inrō, presumably by Koma Koryū (active c. 1772-89), ended up in the hands oÍ the Russian monarch. In the final part of their journey through the woodblock prints of Tsuchiya Kōitsu (1870-1949),
Ross Walker and Toshikazu Doi direct their attention to the publishers with whom the artist collaborated. Another journey is made by Jan Dees as he uncovers interesting details of a lacquered writing and paper box made by Moriya Shōtei (1890-1972)
which may have been inspired by a Dutch gilt leather book mirror. On November 27th, 2012 the Society for Japanese Arts will celebrate its 75th anniversary and in January 2013 we will mark the occasion with an international conference on 'Art in the Taishō Period'. As a preface to the conference Anna Beerens provides a concise introduction to this complex historical era which was distinguished by the desire to preserve traditions while embracing modernity. This issue concludes with two short contributions: one by Richard Smethurst who has translated a personal account by Tsukioka Kōgyo (1869-1927) on his interest in Nō and Nō pictures and another by Evelyn Lachner on an unknown landscape series by Hiroshige (1797-1858).