Mother’s 令和

Exactly one year ago, the very first day of this new era, that is, my mother did this 令和at the facility for the elderly.  She was ninety then.

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Remembering her, I composed a haiku on this.

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My mother/

Her calligraphy name: 絹笑 reached the era of 令和/

Summer is approaching, just around the next door/

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Flower gift

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 breeze

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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YouTube channel

[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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R.I.P.

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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Visiting shrines

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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January 15

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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Collaboration

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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Mother smiles

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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