神前弘，出生於明治35年的建築工人，一生都在勤奮地工作，71歲退休後，他還為自己製造了不同的工作，先是「電視的工作」（以電視來耗時間），到了80歲後，就開始了「紙的工作」。他以身邊找到的各種各樣廢紙——報紙雜誌上喜歡的頁面、紙巾盒、書寫過的日程表、銀行匯款的表格等，製作著合乎日本郵政規格的信封。「年紀大了，要動手造東西才健康」，抱著這想法，他日覆日，年覆年地造著信封。直到他年老住院，仍著親人為他帶紙張與工具。
神前弘在95歲時離開人世，他的孫女藤井咲子於2005年，祖父故居將被拆卸前，前往收捨雜物之際，在抽屜內發現了5000個祖父製作的信封。藤井兒時常見祖父在紙堆裡埋頭苦幹，一直視這些手作信封為理所當的存在，從未認真細看。那次她才發現祖父的手工是何等的細致——以紙巾盒製作的信封，保留了盒子上的方便撕開的車線；牛皮紙袋的狗牙狀邊緣被安排在顯眼的位置；太厚的紙張被仔細地撕薄；太單薄的則糊上其他紙張補足⋯⋯
藤井覺得這些信封美麗極了，一個個信封展現了祖父心無旁騖的專注外，同時也呈現了他對美最純粹的執著。她後來將之整理，編修成相冊《祖父的信封》（おじいちゃんの封筒）。翻著書頁時，你會為這些形狀相近，卻各有表情的信封而感動。
Kouzaki Hiromu, born in the year Meiji 35, had always been a hard-working construction worker until retiring at the age of 71. Since then, he mostly kept himself busy by watching television. When he reached 80 years old, he diverted his attention from the television to paper craft and started making Japanese standard-size envelopes from any kinds of paper lying around, which could be magazines or newspaper clippings, tissue box, used journals or even bank transfer notes. “Doing handicraft is a good exercise for old people” is the belief that kept him ceaselessly making envelops day after day; he even asked his family to bring him paper and tools when being hospitalized.
Kouzaki Hiromu passed away at the age of 95. When his old flat was about to be demolished in 2005, his granddaughter Fujii Sakuko came across 5,000 envelopes handmade by her grandpa in a drawer while sorting through his belongings. As a child, Fujii always saw her grandpa preoccupied with his paper-craft tasks but never really paid much attention to it. She never treated his works seriously back then. It was only until this occasion did she discover how delicate her grandpa’s craft actually is — the envelope made from tissue box still keeps the original dotted line for easy tearing intact, the remade kraft paper bag carefully displays the zigzag edge as a special feature, thick paper got laboriously thinned down by hand, overly fragile pieces of paper were made intact by being glued together.
Kouzaki found these envelopes absolutely adorable. Apart from reflecting her grandpa’s full devotion to his hobby, it also demonstrates his pure insistence on aesthetics. She later organized and edited his works into this photobook named Grandfather’s Envelopes. Flipping through the pages, you will be moved by his similarly shaped envelopes that possess distinct charm.
