Learn Japanese Calligraphy as Moving Meditation

Learn Japanese Calligraphy as Moving Meditation
Click on the image above to order your copy of The Japanese Way of the Artist. Including extensive illustrations and an all-new introduction by the author, The Japanese Way of the Artist (Stone Bridge Press, September 2007) anthologizes three complete, out-of-print works by the Director of the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts. With penetrating insight into the universe of Japanese spiritual, artistic, and martial traditions, H. E. Davey explores everything from karate to calligraphy, ikebana to tea, demonstrating how all traditional Japanese arts share the same spiritual goals: serenity, mind/body harmony, awareness, and a sense of connection to the universe.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Kobara Sensei 7th Year Memorial Service




On December 17th, 2011 the Seventh Year Memorial Service for Kobara Ranseki Sensei took place at the Buddhist Church of San Francisco at 1:00 PM. Kobara Sensei was the founder  and Shihan ("Headmaster") of the Ranseki Sho Juku system of Japanese calligraphy and painting as well as the Vice President of the Kokusai Shodo Bunka Koryu Kyokai, which is based in Urayasu, Japan.

The private service was attended by around 20 people, mostly members of the Kobara family and H. E. Davey Sensei and Miyauchi Somei Sensei, two of his closest students of shodo. Although Kobara Sensei taught many people the ancient art of brush calligraphy over several decades, only four people ever received Shihan-Dai, the highest level of teaching certification. Davey Sensei and Miyauchi Sensei are the last two living Shihan-Dai of Ranseki Sho Juku shodo. They lead the Wanto Shodo Kai, "East Bay Shodo Association," in Oakland, California. Davey Sensei is also the Director of the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts, where classes in Integrated Shodo & Meditation are offered.

A Jodo Shinshu Buddhist service started the event, followed by a traditional offering of incense to Kobara Sensei by members of his family, Miyauchi Sensei, and Davey Sensei. The memorial service closed with comments from Kobara Kazuko, Kobara Sensei's wife. She recalled his deeply spiritual nature, how he viewed most everyone as members of his family, and how his last words were expressions of gratitude.

Following the service, refreshments were offered at the church social hall, which contained pictures of Kobara Sensei as a child, teaching shodo, receiving awards at international shodo exhibitions, and being presented with the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government. 

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Concepts in Japanese Art


FURYU
Furyu is composed of two characters meaning, “wind” and “flowing.” Like the moving wind, it can be sensed but not seen. It is both tangible and intangible in its suggested elegance. And like the wind, furyu points to a wordless ephemeral beauty that can only be experienced in the moment, for in the next instant it will dissolve like the morning mist.

FURABO
Relating to furyu, furabo indicates a person that roams about, unattached, fluttering like a slender piece of cloth swept by the wind.

FUZEI
Japanese aesthetic terms describing artistic feelings, sensibilities, and outlooks.

You can learn more about these ideas in The Japanese Way of the Artist by calligrapher H. E. Davey.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

About Shodo

Expanded attention, deeper relaxation, increased focus and resolve . . . shodo students have a chance to achieve lasting spiritual transformation through the classical art of Japanese calligraphy (shodo). Simple step-by-step exercises let beginners and non-artists alike work with brush and ink to reveal their mental and physical state through moving brush meditation.

Kanji, or "characters," used in
both Japan and China, have transcended their utilitarian function and collectively can serve as a visually stirring piece of fine art. Shodo allows the dynamic movement of the artist's spirit to become observable in the form of rich black ink. In shodo, you can sense both the rhythm of music as well as the smooth, elegant, and balanced construction of architecture. Many practitioners feel that the "visible rhythm" of Japanese calligraphy embodies a "picture of the mind"--and calligraphers recognize that it discloses our spiritual state. This recognition is summed up by the traditional Japanese saying: Kokoro tadashikereba sunawachi fude tadashi--"If your mind is correct, the brush will be correct."

Some Japanese calligraphers and psychologists have written books on the examination of our personality through calligraphy. Just as Western companies have employed handwriting analysts to help them select the best individuals for executive posts, the Japanese have traditionally expected their leaders in any field to display fine, composed script. This stems from the belief that brush strokes reveal the state of the body and subconscious mind--its strengths and weaknesses--at the moment the brush is put to paper. It has also been held that the subconscious can be influenced in a positive manner by studying and copying consummate examples of calligraphy by extraordinary individuals. Japanese tradition teaches that by using this method, we can cultivate strength of character akin to that of the artist being copied. Since shodo is an art form, it's not strictly necessary to be able to read Chinese characters, or the Japanese phonetic scripts of hiragana and katakana, to admire the dynamic beauty of shodo. Within Japanese calligraphy, we find essential elements that constitute all art: creativity, balance, rhythm, grace, and the beauty of line. These aspects of shodo can be recognized and appreciated by every culture.

About Art of Shodo

Art of Shodo offers reliable information about Japanese brush calligraphy, or shodo. Art of Shodo features the award winning art of Hiseki Davey Sensei, author of The Japanese Way of the Artist, Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony, and other works. Davey Sensei's calligraphic art can be purchased through Art of Shodo, and Mr. Davey can be commissioned to create shodo art for your personal collection, home, business, or commercial use. He can be contacted at hedavey@aol.com.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Excerpt

Harmony is a central aspect of shodo. Harmony is frequently expressed through a state of dynamic balance. Balance in shodo is asymmetrical, which produces an active feeling of movement within the characters. One could liken it to a picture of a sprinter whose inclined running posture has been frozen by the camera. Seeing such a picture, you instantly have a sensation of movement, but this sensation is different from what you experience when viewing a photo taken of a runner at the moment he trips and is falling forward. Both photos show bodies inclined in the direction in which they are moving; the difference between the two is balance. Balance in shodo can also be witnessed through a natural alternation of heavy and light brush pressure, which in turn produces an oscillation of thick and thin lines of ink. If all the brush strokes are of equal thickness the work looks stilted, unnatural, and dead. --The Japanese Way of the Artist

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Japanese Art


In Japanese art, space assumed a dominant role and its position was strengthened by Zen concepts.
Stephen Gardiner

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Mu




This artwork was commissioned by a Facebook friend in Canada, Ms. Angie Kehler, and it now resides in her collection of Japanese art. It is the character mu, "nothingness," painted by H. E. Davey Sensei in the abstract and cursive sosho script. The calligraphy was done on a traditional shikishi, a piece of stiff paper, roughly 9 x 10 inches, and used in classic Japanese painting and calligraphic art. (Click on the images to enlarge them.)

The artwork is hand painted and one of a kind. It arrived in Canada in a shikishi specific frame from Japan. Many examples of Japanese calligraphy in the West are not traditionally and correctly framed. Since they are not traditionally framed, they don't really look right; since they are often not behind glass, they don't last very long before they start to deteriorate. This is not the case with the artwork produced by Davey Sensei, author of The Japanese Way of the Artist, for his customers.

"The artwork is beautiful. The movement is both exquisite and powerful."

Angie Kehler

Friday, March 11, 2011

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

Our thoughts go out to our friends and teachers in Japan, which was recently hit by a large earthquake and tsunami. We hope all our friends are OK, and we hope you will donate to help people in Japan. If you’re not sure how to do this, you can go to http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/japan-earthquake-tsunami-relief/.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

General Information



Art of Shodo offers the public reliable information about Japanese brush calligraphy, or shodo. Art of Shodo features the award winning art of Hiseki Davey Sensei, author of The Japanese Way of the Artist, Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony, and other works. Davey Sensei's calligraphic art can be purchased through Art of Shodo, and Mr. Davey can be commissioned to create shodo art for your personal collection, home, business, or commercial use.

Hiseki Davey Sensei's art has won numerous awards at top international exhibitions of calligraphy in Japan. He is able to produce Japanese calligraphy for your special needs or commercial purposes. He can be reached at hedavey@aol.com.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

A Tanzaku by Hiseki Davey Sensei


This is an example of Hiseki Davey’s kana style calligraphy, a script indigenous to Japan. Kana are phonetic Japanese symbols, which are often written in a flowing connected script. Davey Sensei has brushed a waka poem that reads:

Taki no oto wa
Taete hisashiku
Narinuredo
Na koso nagarete
Nao kikoe kere.

Fujiwara no Kinto
Ogura Hyaku Nin Isshu

“Though the waterfall
Ceased its flowing long ago,
And its sound is stilled,
Yet, in name it ever flows,
And in fame may yet be heard.”

The first character in the poem is taki, “waterfall,” and it is enlarged and elongated to resemble downward cascading water. Kana calligraphy should alternate between light and dark tones, and display an unbroken flow of ki, or “energy,” as the characters stream down the paper. These fluid and graceful elements can be seen in this example of Davey Sensei’s award-winning artwork.

The poem is painted on a plain white tanzaku, a small vertical poem card, about 36cm long x 6cm wide that can be adorned with colored designs, speckled with cut gold, silver or mica or covered with silk. The origins of the tanzaku may be associated with little slips of paper used for divining in ancient Japan. An additional potential starting point of tanzaku comes from the Heian era, when tiny rectangular pieces of paper, on which one poem was written, were used for poetry anthologies.

Davey Sensei’s calligraphy is displayed in a traditional Japanese tanzaku holder. You can commission him to create this same calligraphy for your home, office, or meditation room. He can be contacted at hedavey@aol.com.



Kobara Sensei's Tombstone and Legacy

The large tombstone marks the grave of Kobara Ranseki.
It is located in a small Japanese cemetery in Colma, California.

On December 28, 2005 the world lost one of Japan’s preeminent practitioners of traditional Japanese art when Kobara Ranseki Sensei passed away in San Francisco. Kobara Sensei, acknowledged in Asia and the USA as perhaps the greatest shodo artist outside of Japan, was 81 years old.

The Birth of an Artist
He was born Kobara Seiji on December 24, 1924 in Shimane Prefecture, Mino County, Japan. Coming from a long line of Buddhist priests, his father was the priest of Myorenji Temple. Like his forefathers, Kobara Seiji also trained to become a reverend. While he was devoted to Buddhism, as a young man he found a second passion—shodo, the art of Japanese brush calligraphy. Shodo is one of the most ancient Japanese art forms. More than writing with a brush, it overlaps into ink painting and has elements in common with Western abstract art. Today scores of people practice shodo as meditation and artistic expression, rather than merely studying it as a system of writing.

Kobara Seiji became a student of the famed calligraphic artist Fukuzawa Seiran Sensei, who taught an old and venerable style of calligraphy at Kyoto University. Fukuzawa Sensei emphasized the study of the Shin So Sen-Ji-Mon, a very old 1000-character classic brushed by the Chinese monk/calligrapher Chiei.

After World War II times were hard all over Japan, with people having little time or money for artistic pursuits. As the result, Kobara Seiji was Fukuzawa Sensei’s only private student, and he visited his home for exclusive one-on-one training each day. Eventually, Fukuzawa Sensei gave his sole student the name Ranseki, which means an “Indigo Blue Stone,” and which included the “ran” character from his own pen name. (The bestowing of gago, special names used in art, is common in a number of Japanese disciplines, and it indicates that a student has come into his or her own as an artist.) In time, Kobara Ranseki would receive a Shihan-Dai teaching certificate from Fukuzawa Sensei, the highest ranking in his school of calligraphy.

Leaving Japan
In 1947, Kobara Sensei wasn’t just studying Buddhism and shodo. He was working in the prosecutor’s office in Kyoto. Always interested in new horizons, however, Kobara Sensei decided to leave his prosperous ancestral temple and take a daring and uncertain path by moving to the USA in 1950. He enrolled at the University of Washington in Seattle and studied at the Seattle Buddhist Church. After graduating, he transferred to the Buddhist Church of San Francisco in 1954.

In 1960, Reverend Kobara once again set out on a new path in life when he retired from his church position and began a profession with Japan Airlines. As usual, he was successful at his new job, a career lasting 31 years until his retirement in 1991.

Founding Ranseki Sho Juku Style Calligraphy
During his professional life with the Buddhist Church of San Francisco, Reverend Kobara was informed that there was nobody skilled enough to paint the calligraphy of Japanese names for tombstones in a Japanese cemetery in Colma, California. Owing to his advanced experience in shodo, he was the natural choice, and he brushed characters that were engraved on over 150 stone markers. His skill was so obvious that he was soon asked to teach calligraphy in San Francisco, where he founded the Ranseki Sho Juku (“Ranseki Calligraphy School”) in 1966. (This same year he also became the Director of the San Francisco branch of the Urasenke school of tea ceremony.)

Over time, he evolved his unique version of orthodox Japanese calligraphic art, which is characterized as Ranseki Ryu shodo or Ranseki Sho Juku shodo. In 1975, he started teaching in Oakland, California at the Wanto Shodo-Kai (“East Bay Shodo Association”), and several years later, he began teaching in Palo Alto. In 1977, he became the co-founder (with Ueno Chikushu Sensei) of the Kokusai Shodo Bunka Koryu Kyokai—the “International Japanese Calligraphy and Cultural Exchange Association”—that is headquartered in Urayasu, with members throughout Japan, China, and the USA. Acting as Vice President, Kobara Sensei helped to oversee the esteemed Kokusai Shodo-ten, or “International Shodo Exhibition,” that takes place annually in Japan.

You can click on the image above to enlarge it, and you can learn more about Ranseki Sho Juku calligraphy in the book The Japanese Way of the Artist by H. E. Davey.

The Mysterious

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. . . his eyes are closed.

Albert Einstein

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Unity of Mind and Body

Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together.

John Ruskin

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Japanese Way of the Artist

Vitality is radiated from exceptional art and architecture.
Arthur Erickson

All effective shodo must radiate ki, "life energy." It must have what Japanese shodo teachers refer to as "a strong bokki." Bokki is the ki in the ink, which flows into the paper via the artist's personal vitality. In this sense, shodo is an expression of the artist's ki, and serious shodo artists must discover this ki and how to express it.

Learn about ki and shodo by reading The Japanese Way of the Artist. This book can be ordered at http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Way-Artist-Living-Meditation/dp/1933330074/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294197726&sr=1-1