Holding a brush
Young children, elderly people, ailing people…practically anyone can hold a brush and write. I am sure this is the wisdom of the Orient.
A longtime good friend of mine from high school days took the photo for me to post on my “shops” on eBay and Etsy.
＜To the homepageof this website.＞
They say cicadas begin shrilling right after the rainy season is over. How true that is! And it makes you realize summer is about to reach its peak.
First shrilling of the cicadas of the year’s summer/
I wish that/
Wishing pays off/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
＜To the homepageof this website.＞
As my first calligraphy teacher (秋山公道the late Mr. Akiyama Kodo) and my mother were both born in the year of dragon, I like visiting shrines associated with dragons.
Yesterday, I went to Shinsenen Shrine. It was a beautiful place full of agreeable atmosphere. I felt pleasant breeze blowing but unfortunately, I didn’t feel existence of dragons around, which some people with supernatural power may feel.
The photo shows my work of the letter 龍or dragon and a passage on the written oracle I got there.
Just outside your eaves/
It maybe storming/
But/
Inside your house/
Is springlike warmth/
Translation by Tomoko
＜To the homepageof this website.＞
My first teacher (秋山公道the late Mr. Akiyama Kodo) was almost 60 years old when I started going to his school at age six.
When he got very sick and was hospitalized for the first time, I was really surprised and shocked simply because that was a rare happening in my life then.
I went to his hospital room with a towel hanger in the shape of a hippo face with a big mouth as a get-well present.
Apparently, he was inspired by my childish gift, he wrote this haiku and made it into a piece of calligraphy work and later, he gave this framed work to me.
Towel hanger/
Making a clattering sound/
In the sweaty hospital room/
Translation by Tomoko
＜To the homepageof this website.＞
Today is my mother’s 91stbirthday. She hasn’t been very well for some time. But now she seems to be recovering her health. It is thanks, I think, to all the well-wishes and help from the people around her.
Even the rainy season feels nice and sweet/
When I cook the millet seeds/
My dear friend sent us for her/
＜To the homepageof this website.＞
This is what I want to convey to myself in childhood blessed with great love from her parents, in very young days and in the bloom of her youth. For, they don’t know how respected and pretty I am at present.
＜To the homepageof this website.＞
Important factor in life
I enjoyed an exciting reunion and a delightful conversation with people who led me to the greatest event in my life. It is so hard to put into words how grateful I am to them.
＜To the homepageof this website.＞
Many years ago, at a language school I went to then, a teacher said to me, “You’re a strong woman.” However, at that time, I didn’t believe him. I just couldn’t. I am not very sure about that even now, but at present I am finally beginning to think he had an insight into true nature of me.
＜To the homepageof this website.＞
I got an e-mail message from a good, old friend from our high school days. Incidentally, as the Mercury is retrograding, we may meet with each other for the first time in many years. The letter is the first one in her name.
＜To the homepageof this website.＞
What is beautiful? Is the window itself beautiful? Is the scenery through the window beautiful? Is the person looking out from the window beautiful?
＜To the homepageof this website.＞
These are the tasks for today’s practice session. Learning the basics is the most important after all.
＜To the homepageof this website.＞
