The Kanji Calligraphy of Kobara Sensei

Kobara Ranseki Sensei was the founder of Ranseki Sho Juku Japanese calligraphy. He was, with over 50 years of training, widely regarded as one of the preeminent masters of shodo brush calligraphy in the world.

The images above, from the collection of Hiseki Davey, are an example of Mr. Kobara's kanji style calligraphy. Kanji are the Chinese characters used in Japan, and they often amount to abstract drawings or pictograms. In the artwork above, Kobara Sensei combined calligraphy with ink painting in his rendering of a Asian coin. The kanji are read in a clockwise manner, around the square hole in the coin. (Left click with your mouse to zoom in on each image.)

The design is clever. It is composed of four characters, each of which has a square component. The kanji are arranged so that they all share the square radical, which also serves as the center hole of the coin.

The calligraphy was painted on a Japanese shikishi, which is a more or less square stiff board used for calligraphy and painting.The brush writing reads:

Ware tada taru o shiru.
"The only thing I know is that I'm perfectly satsified."

This unique example of Kobara Sensei's art was given to his student Hiseki Davey, and it resides in Mr. Davey's private collection of Ranseki Sho Juku artwork. Davey Sensei, is known throughout the world as the acclaimed author H. E. Davey, the creator of Brush Meditation, Living the Japanese Arts & Ways, The Japanese Way of the Artist, and other works.

Davey Sensei can be commissioned to create distinctive works of calligraphic art similar to the one above for your home, office, or commercial use. He can be contacted at hedavey@aol.com or reached by telephone at 510-526-7518.