It all started here.
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The photo shows the very first samples my first calligraphy teacher gave me that I found when trying (just “try” and not “succeed” or “finish”) to tidy-up my house.
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Looking at these, I renewed a sense of gratitude to my first calligraphy teacher and his wife who were both great calligraphers; and my parents who let me continue practicing with them.
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I thought calligraphy on round sheets of paper might look cute and attractive.
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However, it seems it would take some more time for me to produce characters that would give out “round image”.
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I did some copying practice of my first teacher’s samples that he wrote for me more than fifty years ago.
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However, I have no memories at all about practicing these when I was a six grader. I only remember he was a very kind teacher.
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Still, the books of samples he gave me are such invaluable treasures for me all through my life.
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風景異化 I read somewhere it means a scenery may look different to a different beholder, I am not sure if this interpretation is accurate, though.
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What is certain is that somehow it reminded me of a literary term “intentional fallacy” I learned years and years ago as a student.
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Someone came over and offered this flower arrangement for my mother who loved to see white flowers and passed away in February.
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I only wish she had survived to see these beautiful flowers.
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Live for today/
See white flowers/
Oh, the month of February/
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Calligraphy and translation by Chio
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Water flows.
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Things go away.
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Something new happens today.
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Stream of the waterfall/
In the mountains/
Spring approaches slowly/
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Calligraphy and translation by Chio
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It shows “the place happiness is”.
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I wrote this to dedicate to a very good, longtime friend of mine from high school days who has always been really supportive of me when I was going through hard times, and whose name begins with this letter 幸 or happiness.
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It was a quiet rainy morning.
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Ordinarily, it should have been a peaceful morning.
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Oh, rain in spring/
Without any second thoughts/
THE virus/
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Calligraphy and translation by Chio
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“A caterpillar changes into a butterfly.”
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Ordinarily, it should be the most exciting, delightful season. However, it has never been like that this year.
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My ideal as a calligrapher
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What I desperately want are: the beauty of vibrancy of the lines and the beauty of the blank parts.
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However, both of the above are so hard to obtain.
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The photo shows “vibrancy”.
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Today, on March 11th, prayers for life must have been everywhere in Japan and elsewhere.
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I learned the phrase means what is happening above somewhat coincides with what is happening on the ground.
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一心万花 (one heart, ten thousand flowers) has been my favorite motif for my calligraphy for long. However, I now am certain this new phrase will be another favorite one for me.
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This time <https://wp.me/p2EZhA-2zh>, I had an impressive dream of a plump acorn in my hand.
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I seem to dream a little bizarre dreams before dawn these days.
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The photo shows my calligraphy of a letter “chestnut” in ancient style and present style.
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Spring is just around the corner. And I only remember my late mother.
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It was such a happy time for me to push my mother’s wheel chair and take a walk with her under cherry trees on a river bank.
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So deeply linked by fate/
Mother and daughter/
Even got tired of the fate/
Spring breeze laughs at the two/
Going, going laughing at them/
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As today falls on Jingzhe, one of the solar terms, which is designated as the day of awakening of the hibernating insects, I searched and found this poem of springtime.
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Following is its rough meaning:
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“Spring breeze would not blow away my melancholy. Longer spring days only deepen the grief in my heart.”
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As for its style, I followed an orthodox way of layout.
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And at the moment, I am feeling it has begun to flower more and more vigorously.
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I had an impressive dream of a young and very gentle-looking deer coming into my house.
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And…voilà! Combination of an ancient character and the one used today for “deer”, my favorite!
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Someone liked these very much and offered to buy them from my shop on eBay.
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Now, I am determined to expand the selection of my calligraphic works in my online shop.
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I posted a new video on my YouTube channel (chio_art).
Check this and enjoy seeing how characters are born out of an artist’s arm and a small brush!
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The video shows my piece of a tanka by Hakushū Kitahara.
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As a matter of fact, I chose this one two years ago for collaboration work with my late mother, when I asked her to write the last one letter, “FLOWER”.
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Those who saw her letter were all amazed at its dynamic touch.
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But here, please enjoy the movement of the small brush produced by my arm.
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My mother and I created four-parter works last year with her big letters of flower names and my haiku about those flowers.
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This “DAFFODIL” was the first one we did and our teacher suggested we do other flowers, as well.
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Then I got a hint from her comment and thought we would make works about flowers of the four seasons.
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Daffodils are/
Assertion that/
Pierces the frost/
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The other day, I enjoyed visiting an exhibition of a calligraphy group specializes in kana characters, or Japanese phonogram. This style of calligraphy has a long history and many fans even today.
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Firstly, the scene of many pieces with a same kind of touch was “new” to me. For, my teachers and fellow students quite naturally do both “kana” and “kanji” or Chinese characters calligraphy.
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However, I didn’t feel any monotonousness in the negative sense.
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Quite the contrary, the venue itself looked like one big piece of kana calligraphy art, with its refined, elegant atmosphere.
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One more thing that I have noticed there was the sincere effort to be good from both the teacher’s side and the students’ side.
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Now, I am looking forward to seeing the next exhibition of this group.
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This character is often used when celebrating weddings and longevity.
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However, I once heard it should accommodate to any kind of happy occasion, sort of an almighty character, if you will.
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I tried writing the letter on this little unusually shaped paper.
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I am going to attach this little piece to little presents to friends, wishing for their happiness.
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I posted a new video on my YouTube channel (chio_art).
Check this and enjoy seeing how characters are born!
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The video shows “New (Fresh)” and “Wind”.
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It has been pretty cold these couple of days in Kyoto. However, the sunshine is obviously stronger and brighter, which makes me quite certain that spring is just around the corner.
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According to the old lunar calendar, yesterday marked the beginning of spring.
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“Start” “Spring” “Excellent” “Fortune”
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This phrase is a kind of a motto of that day and has been believed to work as a charm to drive away evils and bring in happiness. I have once heard that people in ancient times sensed something auspicious because all the letters are bilaterally symmetrical.
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For copying practice, I picked four characters from a book of collection of various letters written by my first teacher, the late Mr. Akiyama Kodo (秋山公道). That book was compiled in a dictionary format by my senior calligrapher at his school.
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For some years now, I have been interested in visiting shrines at various occasions.
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Today it is Setsubun, the end of the winter according to the old lunar calendar, so I went to Yoshida Shrine, the most famous shrine in Kyoto regarding this occasion, where people say most elderly people in Kyoto gather for the occasion.
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Oh, birds chirp/
Shrine gave me the oracle/
Written on a pale-green paper/
Translation and calligraphy by Chio
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It is such a pleasure for me to announce that I got an opportunity to set up a booth at “Kyoto ART craft market 2020 Spring” to be held from Friday, March 13 through Sunday March 15 at THE MUSEUM OF KYOTO.
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Here are its official poster for announcement and the photo of my work to be printed on the handouts.
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Please come visit my booth on the Sanjo Street, Kyoto.
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The photo shows the tasks for today’s practice session.
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It is always extremely difficult for me to unlock the desire for expression.
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Some people are keen on getting to observe meteor showers in the cold season.
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I was like them to some extent until a few years back.
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However, these days it seems just impossible for me to stay awake that far into the night.
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Thus, the scene in this haiku expresses my little yearning.
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Huge tree/
Remaining silent/
Into it, shooting stars rush/
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Translation and calligraphy by Chio
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The photo shows one of my pieces displayed at my first solo exhibition at the beginning of 2009 that enjoyed quite a popularity.
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The meaning of this phrase is often interpreted as “just to rely on others and do nothing spontaneously”.
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And it is often pointed out that the interpretation above is wrong.
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The phrase originates in Buddhism. Today, with some research, I learned that it very roughly expresses the supreme power of Buddha that will give people ultimate happiness and satisfaction breaking the darkness of mind that everyone shares.
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“Good timing and intuition”
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These are the two most important elements in life (quoted from someone’s remark).
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I posted a new video on my YouTube channel (chio_art).
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It has no back-ground music like many other videos on this channel, but you can hear some conversation between the cameraman and me.
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So, some viewers may think it is like a making-of video of a movie. Actually, a friend of mine said so.
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However, I decided to post it on my channel, because when I rechecked, I found no major mistakes about the motion of calligraphy.
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So, please enjoy the movement of the calligrapher (me)!
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The material is my own haiku.
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As I wrote before and many other times, I love drawing fortune at shrines. The photos show two of the written oracles I got at New Year’s visits to shrines this year.
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One is “Excellent luck” and the other, “Little luck”.
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However, they have some comments in common, that is, “wait patiently for a little more until a great fortune to come”.
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I think I have waited for long enough now, though.
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The one I transcribed roughly means;
“I am glad to see a brightly lit road in the unclouded moonlight.”
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I made a visit to a fun event called “Art Marché” yesterday. It was my first time going there and I was really impressed with the young artists’ passion inside who participate in it regularly.
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Actually I was so impressed I felt even the coldness of the winter wind might go easier.
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The photo shows a knit hat I got there.
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Art marché/
Mollifies/
Even the winter wind/
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“Water birds float with nothing around a bleak sandbar.”
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A scene I found returning from the grocery store I frequent.
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People have long celebrated the day, January 15 as a kind of second New Year Day, because according to the lunar calendar, it marks the first full moon after the New Year Day.
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The well-known shrine in my neighborhood provides rice porridge cooked with azuki beans every year.
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I got some for my mother who will turn 92 in summer, because the porridge is supposed and expected to bring good luck to the elderly.
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I wrote “avoiding disaster”, “inviting happiness”, “health” and “longevity” for her.
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Yesterday my mother and I went to the exhibition venue held annually by my teacher.
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This year we turned in four pretty big works describing four kinds of flowers of the seasons.
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Everyone was very much impressed with my mother’s works.
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It seemed little attention was paid to my works of my own haiku about those flowers.
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This is my New Year resolution this year in connection with the full moon.
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“Be full of eagerness and also pliability”
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Hectic days around the New Year seemed to calm down.
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Now, it looks like I am getting older and tend to remember the old days more often than when I was younger.
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The photo shows one corner of the exhibition site of my first solo exhibition held at the beginning of 2009. The corner was dedicated to the works by my first calligraphy teacher (the late Mr. Akiyama Kodo 秋山公道) who passed away over 20 years ago at the age of 92.
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This photo fills my mind with good old memories about him and his wife (the late Mrs. Akiyama Seisetsu 秋山静雪); and their teachings and great love for me. I am ever so thankful to the couple who showed me this wonderful world of calligraphy that has been the core of my life ever since.
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This is just what I did at the usual grocery store.
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I bought a case goods of seven kinds of spring herbs/
Like I do when I buy breads/
(Translation and calligraphy by Chio)
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Then yesterday (January 7), my mother and I enjoyed the rice porridge containing those herbs as one of the customs of long tradition regarding the New Year.
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This is the calendar for the year 2020 at our entrance.
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Julia dream/
Dreamboat queen……/
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Good old days in my youth….
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My mother is playing a little child’s smile, at the table of the special dishes for the New Year, although they aren’t cooked in an orthodox manner. I just prepared them casually to please my mother.
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I think they brought back her old, fond memories of her childhood days.
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Mother smiles/
Special meal for the New Year/
Brought back her child’s mind/
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January 2 has been set for the day of the first calligraphy of the year.
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“Extreme happiness out of something extremely good happening in a good month (January)”
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I can’t wait to enter a new phase of my activity as a calligrapher.
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I finally got a new computer after using the old one for more than seven years.
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Oh, winter night/
Microcosm/
Called computer/
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Translation and calligraphy by Chio
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Yesterday, it was cold and rainy all day.
Sometimes we practice together.
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Warmth of mother’s calligraphy/
Beats/
Winter rain/
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I posted a new video on my YouTube channel (chio_art).
Check this and enjoy my calligraphy!
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These letters are “flower” and “smile”, both of which are just my favorite ones. As the letter “flower” here is in the cursive style, some of you may not recognize it. As for me, I love this letter in any styles!
Another interesting point, I think, is “flower smiles” means “flower blooms”. In other words, the letters “smile” and “bloom” are considered to be the “same”, so to speak.
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Today is my father’s death anniversary after six years of his passing.
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Remember my late father/
Color of sasanqua petals deepens/
Year after year/
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I remember the mortician collecting sasanqua blossoms from the tree in our garden and putting them in my father’s coffin.
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I wrote here the other day that I sent two pieces of calligraphy work by request from a teacher in Poznań, Poland who I met on the occasion of TRZY RZEKI 2017 KYOTO POZNAN.
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As I wrote before she is an excellent teacher who spares no pains in her career from the stage of preparing for her classes and moreover, she is always looking for good materials to induce interests of her students in every aspect of the world. As I myself used to be a teacher, I am fully aware that those traits show what a good teacher she is.
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Again as I wrote before, she used my works in her class about 80-year anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. To my pleasant surprise and great happiness and honor, I learned later that she even announced to her students’ parents that calligraphy works from Japan would be displayed in her class and that the parents also could come and see my works if they liked.
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I don’t think she did that only for my happiness but it gave me such a great delight as an artist. The more people see my calligraphy, the bigger my happiness grows.
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Later, she even chose “Japan” as a topic to be discussed in her class where she displayed my works again. I can’t think of proper words to express how thankful I am to her.
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The photos show how she presented my works in her classroom.
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The photo shows a letter “road” or “way” 道. It is part of the copying practice of the original by Yan Zhenqing 顔真卿in the last practice session. My teacher told me I did a good job, which made me very happy.
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The letter happened to be the first one of the name of my longtime, good friend.
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Now I am thinking of sending it to her. Will she be glad to receive it?
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The task for today’s practice session was this, in other words, practice and preparation for the first calligraphy of the year, 2020.
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“Good arrangement of the stars and good month”
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