A Shodo Exhibit

Today, I made a visit to the 54th Tohoshoten (the name of this exhibition) in Tokyo.  The exhibit is open until tomorrow, 29th, at the Sunshine Bunka Kaikan in Ikebukuro.  In the photo, Iida Kazuko Sensei and I are standing next to her kana shodo.  The style of this kana shodo is called chowa-tai which means it is balanced using a few kanji characters.  This is also called chirashi which means scatter or let it fall.  I love chirashi.  It is a casual art, very playful, but it demands high spirited creativity.  It's up to us to choose what kind of kana for each, how many in one line, how many lines in one group, and so on.  Depending on the way we leave spaces and the movement of over all lines, we can express a lot.  

The above poem is "Mountain Cherry Blossoms" by Wakayama Bokusai.

young leaves sprouted and spread out

like clouds

the fallen remains of

mountain cherry blossoms





Iida sensei and her students.  I love this photo.  The movement, a man behind, all the unique and excellent arts created by the teachers and judges of Tohoshoten organization.  This was room No. 1, and it was the best, of course.   This exibit has about 50 rooms.  It was fabulous.

This shodo was created by Higashino Yukiko san.  She is a classmate of mine.

 

This sho was created by Yano Chiyo san.  She is a pupil of Iida Sensei.  I want to let you know that there is no age limit in arts.  The author will be 90 this year.   Her sho is as young as Iida Sensei.  I can't read what it is written, but I'm sure it is something to do with love!  I can't wait to be a cool 90 year old like her.

ITO-san's Smile

What a smile!

Ito-san makes sushi at the 6th floor of Cial which is at the west exit of the Yokohama Station. I was on the way to my Kana Shodo class, and I stopped by to have some sushi. While I was eating, an announcement started. It said the building would be gone next March, and they appreciate our patronage. I was upset.

"Why good and reasonably-priced restaurants in convenient locations disappear on me?!"

He was still smiling. I asked him about it. It sounded perhaps it would be rebuild with the Tokyu Hotel next door. He has worked at this place for eight years. The restaurant opened ten years ago. The name of the restaurant is Miura-Misaki-Ko.



A dish of live octopus.



The price of samma went down because it was no longer at the peak of the season. People would eat it broiled in November.



I showed my sensei my creative phrase after Lao-Zi"無為自然. It was 有為不自然, and my name in Chinese is Qi-Zi. In response,she wrote my work in red as a model for me to follow. 無為自然 means naturalness without any craftiness. So, I wrote 有為不自然. It means unnaturalness with craftiness. I showed my word to one of my Chinese teacher. He said it made sense. Great! Sometimes, when Japanese create a Chinese sentence, we are often wrong. I was right, and I was excited!

Kana Shodo Part 1

Above, my instructor is showing a better spacing among the sections of a written ancient Japanese poem. The poem was brushstroked by a male veteran classmate. He has been working on it to enter into a prestigious newspaper contest. I envy his fine brushstrokes, so I want to show it to you. This class is held twice a month at the Yokohama Asahi Culture Center. This is one art that does not require speaking Japanese. In fact, some people practice shodo through mail correspondence.



It's a poem, and a visual art. Spacing and contrasting dark and fading light brushstrokes matter a lot in this art. Sometimes, it flows like a gentle stream, and sometimes, the flow becomes quite dynamic.



This is the last section of the previous poem and the author's red stamp. Someday, I want to draw like the author and stamp my own. See the center line. The top two letters are written as 天の (amano). It is the same as my name. It can mean a milky way, or the heavenly field. The poem probably describes the ancient tale of July 7th. In the romantic story, a couple meet once a year over a milky way if it does not rain.



Above, this scroll was done by a young female classmate. She is also a veteran. She started shodo when she was young, and in this class, she has been coming for 10 years, she said. I admire her work everytime I see her. She wrote some of the hundred poems called Hyakunin-ittushu. Can you see golden pieces sprinkled on the washi(rice) paper? In any arts, we can escalate in spending more money if we choose to.



Well, last month, I became an official student at the 10th rank in shodo! I just submitted my first work. Big deal? Yes, it is! Above sample is from my textbook called Wakanroeishu, and I'll be working on it next. The sample is more than 1000 years old, and it looks easy, but it's actually very difficult. Below is my rough translation of the ancient poem. I wish to rid of my ego and become as innocent as the author of this poem. Well, at least, I'll try to be during my shodo practice.

My love knows no direction and no ending.
To see you is the only thing I can think of.