“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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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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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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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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Dreamland

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For some reason or other … I dream quite often these days.

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However, those dreams that I don’t remember well in the morning are always very disorganized and confusing and don’t seem to make any sense.

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I wonder how I could perceive what they imply.

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Against the winter sunshine/

Colored nails/

Putting on airs a bit/

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I colored my nails for the first time in a long time because I have been quite busy these days.

Then, I myself got good humored just like my pink colored nails.

How simple I am, I thought!

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I did some copying practice of what my first calligraphy teacher, the late Mr. Akiyama Kodo (秋山公道) had left for the first time in a long time as I have been having hectic days.

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His style is very high-toned and I just wonder if I would reach that level during my lifetime.

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The content is an example of greeting words usually put at the first part of a letter.

“I went to Izu during winter break.  The sea was very beautiful.”

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A very good, longtime friend of mine came to my house carrying a homemade cake with tasty jam inside that was made of the figs from the trees in her garden.

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Her kindness always helps me uplift my feelings in many ways.

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Now, I can’t wait to taste it with my mother.  It will certainly make us happy.  For, “homemade” usually means “it has so many fillings”, because prospect of profit doesn’t come to the cook’s mind.

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The task for today’s practice session was this.

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Our teacher told us to ask the visitors to our homes during the New Year period to write their names and messages in the blank space.

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And after that, she said it would make a heartwarming keepsake all through the year.

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I posted the eighth video on my YouTube channel (chio_art).

Check this and enjoy my calligraphy!  Especially enjoy witnessing how letters appear from the ink, a brush and an artist’s arm.

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This is “air” and “dance”.

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“Just like dancing in the air” would be the highest compliment in the world of calligraphy where performance is THE MOST essential rather than displaying completed pieces as many people do just for the sake of convenience.

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If you only move your wrist, you will never obtain this praise.

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Your arm must be moving beautifully and elegantly for you to make a good calligrapher.

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I added a few new items to my shop on Etsy.

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“Just wanna see your charming smile”

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The phrase is from a pop song lyrics and I heard later that this piece enjoyed the most popularity at my first solo exhibition held at the beginning of 2009.

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The task for today’s practice session was to write on a very special embossed sheet of paper made by a famous artisan with a traditional method and who makes paper for the imperial family’s use.

The letter is “Hope”.  At the upper left, there is an eye that symbolizes a human.  He or she is looking at the moon at the upper right with his or her body kneeling down on the ground, hoping to accomplish something great.

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I posted a new and seventh video on my YouTube channel (chio_art).

Check this and enjoy my calligraphy!

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The essence of calligraphy resides in live performance rather than displaying completed works at exhibitions or anywhere else as many people do for the sake of convenience.

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People feel calligrapher’s breathing subconsciously when they see this kind of demonstration, which is the most important aspect in calligraphy.

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So, I would like to have as many opportunities as possible to give demonstrations in front of people.

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It is “One heart and ten thousand flowers”.

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Our whole house looks brighter, cleaner and more beautiful with the new curtains.

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Sunday/

The town/

Through the lace curtain/

Translation and calligraphy by Chio

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I added some new items to my shop on eBay.  I would like to say these would attract more attention than the old ones.

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Somehow I am fond of any combinations of any things.

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These carry two shades of ink.

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And they show two kinds of styles:  The letter used in modern days in dark ink and ancient letters closer to pictures (and my favorite) in light ink.

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I hope these will help spread this culture and art, that is, Japanese style calligraphy to every corner of the globe.

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The photo shows my work I already posted about two months ago that hadn’t been framed yet then.

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The phrase means “for your beauty” in Chinese which I learned from my dear friend.  She has been enjoying vigorous success as a business owner of a company that trades various kinds of makeup tools.

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The reason I posted this again is that I recently found out what I want to do ultimately as a calligrapher is this, that is, create works of calligraphy for businesses and other kinds of establishments in any manner, that is, trademarks of businesses, goods, lines of goods, logos and so on.

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I am not sure what the grounds for this are, however, I somehow am quite certain that I will succeed at some point not far in the future.

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Moreover, I think if I succeed this way, it will help spread this culture and art to the whole world.

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I posted a new and sixth video on my YouTube channel (chio_art) that I newly set up.

Check this and enjoy my calligraphy!

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For, you will enjoy seeing how characters are produced out of a brush, ink and an artist’s arm with this unique device by my precious friend.

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The letter represents THE most auspicious meaning.  And this letter can be used in many different occasions, in other words, it is not limited to celebrating weddings as is commonly thought to be.

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In short, it is THE almighty character.

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The photo shows my works I sent to my special friend I got acquainted at the occasion of TRZY RZEKI 2017 KYOTO POZNAN held in November 2017 and has been my close friend ever since.

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This lady has been a very serious and committed teacher at a primary school in Poznań, Poland where this unique calligraphy exhibition was held.

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As I used to be a teacher myself, I have noticed she was an excellent teacher.

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Then one day, she sent me a message asking me for a calligraphic work meaning “Never war” in Japanese.  She said she would use it as a part of her teaching materials on the 80^thanniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

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That is why I sent her these “anti-war” and “peace”, which, according to her, generated interests among her students in both the contents of her lesson and Japanese style calligraphy.

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Moreover, she informed the parents of her students about my calligraphy pieces displayed in the classroom.  Again, according to her, they showed much interests in my calligraphy.

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I felt firstly very honored to be asked to provide my calligraphy pieces and then felt really happy to know they got to be seen by many people.

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This lady is a really kind, thoughtful person and as I wrote before she is definitely an excellent teacher.  No wonder she was decorated an honorable premium.  I deeply thank her for giving me this wonderful opportunity to show my works to many people.

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And I also thank my calligraphy teachers and seniors who taught me never to decline any request to write something as a calligraphic item.

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The photo shows my works exhibited at the First Exhibition of Yushokai held in July 2011.

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There are two important points about these, I think, that will appeal to people.

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Firstly, they are small and easy to handle and decorate in your living room or kitchen or any room or entrance in your house. And that will realize the key motto “joy of calligraphy in daily life” that my first calligraphy teacher, the late Mr. Akiyama Kodo (秋山公道) had upheld through all his life.

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And, they have this new and unique feature of combining paper and cloth for calligraphy works of art.

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The task for today’s practice session was this; a well-known rule of life, according to our calligraphy teacher, that is, that consists of four parts.

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(1) You must not feel astonished easily

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(2) You must not feel frightened easily

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(3) You must not be skeptic with little reasoning

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and

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(4) You must not be deluded easily.

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I posted a new and fifth video on my YouTube channel (chio_art) that I newly set up.

Check this and enjoy my calligraphy!

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For, you will enjoy witnessing how characters are born out of a brush, ink and an artist’s arm with this amazing device by my precious friend.

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The content is my Tanka, a Japanese style poem consists of 31 syllables about my mother’s hometown.  I go there twice a year in spring and fall to visit her family’s grave.  And I am going to visit it this weekend.

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In the spring sunlight/

Only dusts are dancing in the air/

What never changes/

Is Mother’s hometown/

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I am so happy to shout “Hurray for friendship!” again.

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A good old friend of mine from high school days came to my house with delightful presents, some calligraphy utensils some of which are from China the destination of her last trip.

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Quiet, fulfilling time of grinding an inkstick/

Winter begins /

Translation and calligraphy by Chio

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I just don’t understand why so many people want to use chemically synthesized ink.

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The photo shows my little and early year-end gifts for my dear friends I met in Poznań, Poland at the occasion of TRZY RZEKI 2017 KYOTO POZNAN held in November 2017.

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The event surely broadened my horizon of life, however, the most important thing about it for me was I met many special friends there.

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These are very small folding screens made of thick paper for calligraphy and that suit to be used on tables or racks.

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I wrote a haiku about warm friendship on them.

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Friendship gives/

Emotional support/

Even winter feels warm/

Translation and calligraphy by Chio

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I posted a new video on my YouTube channel (chio_art) that I newly set up.

Check this and enjoy my calligraphy!

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For, you will plainly see how Japanese style calligraphy is done.

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Here I chose the letter絹 (silk), just because it is the first letter of my mother’s name.

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And as for the style, I chose the cursive style, for I think it emphasizes the softness of the letter.  At the end of the video, the cameraman urged me to show the result, so I did that.  However, that is not a common practice.

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For the first time in a long time, my first calligraphy teacher, the late Mr. Akiyama Kodo (秋山公道) appeared in my dream.  This time he was accompanied by his wife, the late Mrs. Akiyama Seisetsu (秋山静雪), an exceptional calligrapher herself.

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Somehow I was the only student at their school in the dream and I was practicing the letter 超 meaning exceed, beyond, surpass or over ….

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In that dream, they didn’t say anything but just kept staring at me.

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Now I wonder what this dream implies …

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Does the couple who loved me as if I were one of their granddaughters want me to go beyond something?

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Do they want me to obtain more skill and reach a higher and more sophisticated level as a calligrapher?

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I tried to create a new version of “calligraphy on simple postcards”, this time combining letters used in modern days and my favorite, ancient letters.

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However, the results don’t look good enough and I wondered how and where I did wrong and found out there was way too little blank space.

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Now, I am determined to try to make better works; for three reasons,

(1) I love any kind of combination,

(2) ancient letters naturally are closer to “pictures”, origin of letters and

(3) these small simple works of art may realize the ideal “Joy of calligraphy in daily lives” held out by my first calligraphy teacher the late Mr. Akiyama Kodo (秋山公道).

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Even when they land somewhere/

Autumn butterflies/

Keep moving their wings up and down/

Translation and calligraphy by Chio

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I wasn’t sure whether these were butterflies or moths, though.

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Here again, I chose the letter for “autumn” in the uncommon form.  In short, I like the letter written in this vertically reversed structure.

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A couple of decades ago, who would have imagined this event be so big in this country?

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I posted a new video on my YouTube channel that I newly set up.

Check this and enjoy my calligraphy!

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For, like the last one, this one shows how letters are being born out of ink, a brush, paper and an artist’s arm.

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This brilliant device will certainly show you the essence of calligraphy.

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This phrase is made up of two characters “water” and “stream”.

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A very important, dear friend of mine from Poznań, Poland praised the movement of my arm likening it to something flowing on the stream of water right after my calligraphy performance in the opening of the exhibition, TRZY RZEKI 2017 KYOTO POZNAN https://wp.me/P2EZhA-2dn.

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She said the movement of my arm was so smooth and elegant that it looked like something quietly flowing on a stream of water, however, I did not know exactly how I could respond to her comment and to my regret, I just mumbled some meaningless words in my mouth.

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After returning to Kyoto, I reported this little story to my present calligraphy teacher, and she what said was “You should have just said ‘Thank you very much’, because comparing your arm movement to water streams or something dancing in the air is THE compliments of highest grade!”

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The photo shows one corner of the exhibition, TRZY RZEKI 2017 KYOTO POZNAN, held in Poznań, Poland in November 2017.

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Because both my first calligraphy teacher, the late Mr. Akiyama Kodo (秋山公道) and my mother were born in the year of the dragon, one of the twelve old Chinese zodiac signs, the letter dragon (龍) is my favorite.  Here I added another letter “flying” (飛) to the letter “dragon”.

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Looking back at the event, now I think I may have been turning to those two people closest to me at the unconscious level, trying to win their support for the success of this exhibition, a very important occasion in my career as a calligrapher.

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Since then, I have been more than grateful for having opportunities to perform calligraphy demonstration a couple of times while I stayed in the city of Poznań.

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It is a passage from a poem of ancient China that expresses the scene of the autumn found everywhere and a cool, pleasant breeze is blowing all around.

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And the line goes on to say it is just like the moment of your obtaining enlightenment or spiritual transcendence.

That is, just like the clear fall sky, your future prospect on life will take shape at a breath.

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And here again, I chose the letter, autumn, in the vertically reversed form.

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I added a new video on my YouTube channel that I newly set up.

Check this and enjoy my calligraphy!

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For, this one shows how letters are being born out of ink, a brush, paper and an artist’s arm.

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This brilliant device will certainly show you the essence of calligraphy.

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Here is a brief passage from an ancient Chinese poem that expresses a woman’s beauty.

“When smiling, she is a flower close to your eyes.”

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