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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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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[wpvideo OhKFC2og]
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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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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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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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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These are collaboration works with my mother featuring the names of the seasonal flowers by her and my own haiku about them.
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Waking up mother/
Little, pleasant time/
Reflected in the fall sunshine/
Chio
Today, the third Monday of September, is designated as the Respect-for-Senior-Citizen Day in Japan.
When I wake up my 91-year-old mother and help her get ready and have breakfast is my happiest time these days.
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