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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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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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 11^th, prayers for life must have been everywhere in Japan and elsewhere.

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This time <https://wp.me/p2EZhA-2zh&gt;, 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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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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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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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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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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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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