Art of Shodo Blog

Kobara Sensei 7th Year Memorial Service

2011-12-18T11:14:00.000-08:00

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.

Concepts in Japanese Art

2011-09-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

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.

About Shodo

2011-09-01T13:41:00.001-07:00

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

2011-09-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

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.

Excerpt

2011-08-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

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

Japanese Art

2011-08-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

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

Mu

2011-04-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

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

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

2011-03-11T08:02:00.001-08:00

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/.

General Information

2011-02-17T21:48:00.000-08:00

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.

A Tanzaku by Hiseki Davey Sensei

2011-02-13T16:25:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-13T15:52:00.000-08:00

The large tombstone marks the grave of Kobara Ranseki.

It is located in a small Japanese cemetery in Colma, California.

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.

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.

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.)

The Mysterious

2011-02-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

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

Unity of Mind and Body

2011-01-08T13:09:00.001-08:00

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

John Ruskin

The Japanese Way of the Artist

2011-01-05T12:42:00.000-08:00

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

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T12:06:00.001-08:00

We hope all of the fans of the Art of Shodo Facebook page and Art of Shodo Blog have a very Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-20T13:55:00.001-08:00

Thanks to all our friends for supporting this blog in 2010. We hope everyone has very Happy Holidays and a great New Year.

About Art of Shodo

2010-11-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

Prominently featured in Art of Shodo are the writings and calligraphy of Hiseki Davey Sensei, an internationally acclaimed artist, writer, and teacher. Known to readers worldwide as the author H. E. Davey, he has introduced innumerable people to shodo, martial arts, flower arrangement, and Japanese cultural arts through his many books.

Hiseki Davey Sensei can be commissioned to create special works of calligraphic art for personal and commercial use. Shodo aficionados, collectors of fine art, or individuals interested in authentic Japanese calligraphy for commercial applications, can contact Davey Sensei at 510-526-7518 (evenings) or at hedavey@aol.com for information about purchasing world class Japanese brush writing and ink painting.

Take a look at Davey Sensei's book The Japanese Way of the Artist and at the Art of Shodo Facebook page to get an idea of the wide variety of Japanese calligraphy and ink painting that can be produced for your home or office.

Davey Sensei’s award winning artwork is in a number of private collections in the USA and Japan. Further information about his professional credentials in shodo can be obtained by writing to hedavey@aol.com.

If you see something at Art of Shodo that appeals to you, contact Davey Sensei about creating a similar original work of art for your home. And if you’ve got an idea for something you’d like to see turned into Japanese calligraphy—a significant word, an interesting phrase, or a Japanese poem—call or write to Davey Sensei. Working together, it may be possible to give birth to a one of a kind work of art.

If you need expert quality Japanese calligraphic art for your business, Davey Sensei would be happy to collaborate with you. His commercial art has been used in magazines and newspapers, on book covers and postcards, and on posters, flyers, and websites. Commercial applications of Japanese calligraphy are endless, and Hiseki Davey Sensei’s innovative art can bring a new beauty and distinctiveness to your business, advertising, or website.

Fudoshin Calligraphy

2010-11-09T17:07:00.000-08:00

This is H. E. Davey’s calligraphy of fudoshin, or “immovable mind.” You can click on the images to enlarge them.

Fudoshin is the goal of many Japanese arts and forms of meditation. It doesn’t describe a rigid, hardheaded state of mind, but rather a condition of complete mental stability, one that isn’t easily disturbed by whatever comes up in life.

It is painted using sosho and gyosho scripts, in the style of master calligrapher Kobara Ranseki Sensei. This piece of artwork was featured in Furyu magazine, along with the books Brush Meditation and The Japanese Way of the Artist.

All skillful Japanese calligraphy should display a unity of calm and action. In this case, Davey Sensei’s brushwork is so dynamic that it appears to be moving, but each character is still balanced and composed. This is the result of over 25 years of shodo training in the USA and Japan.

You can commission Davey Sensei, Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts Director, to create this fudoshin calligraphy for your home, office, or meditation room. He can be contacted at hedavey@aol.com.

Davey Sensei's Kanji and Kana Calligraphy

2010-11-07T13:59:00.000-08:00

These two scrolls by Hiseki Davey Sensei were shown at a major exhibition of Japanese calligraphy held in San Francisco in 2000. They also were shown at the Kokusai Shodo Ten in Urayasu, Japan, where they received top awards.

The calligraphy on the left is an example of Davey Sensei's kanji art, and the Chinese characters read, "Rocky mountains are embraced by white clouds." The art on the right is an example of his kana calligraphy, with a large Chinese character meaning "waterfall," which was painted to resemble a waterfall. It reads, "The waterfall no longer flows, but its sound remains in my mind and heart."

Davey Sensei can create similar hanging scrolls for your home or office. Contact him at hedavey@aol.com .

Japanese Yoga

2010-11-07T12:49:00.000-08:00

http://senninfoundation.com/davey_yoga.html

Kobara Sensei

2010-11-07T12:23:00.000-08:00

The late Kobara Ranseki Sensei was the founder of Ranseki Sho Juku brush calligraphy. He received Kyokujitsu Tanko Sho—the “Order of the Rising Sun (with Silver Rays)”—from the Japanese government for his numerous years of promoting and preserving traditional Japanese art and culture via his contributions to shodo and tea ceremony. This rarely bestowed award comes in the form of the Kunsho, a Medal of Honor. You can learn about his style of calligraphic art and his remarkable life in The Japanese Way of the Artist. Order your copy here: http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Way-Artist-Living-Meditation/dp/1933330074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288634364&sr=8-1

Japanese Calligraphy for your Home or Business

2010-10-31T19:16:00.000-07:00

If you see something at Art of Shodo that appeals to you, contact Davey Sensei about creating a similar original work of art for your home. And if you’ve got an idea for something you’d like to see turned into Japanese calligraphy—a significant word, an interesting phrase, or a Japanese poem—call or write to Davey Sensei. Working together, it may be possible to give birth to a one of a kind work of art. Davey Sensei can be contacted at hedavey@aol.com.

Ranseki Sho Juku Calligraphic Art

2010-10-31T19:11:00.000-07:00

To learn more about Ranseki Sho Juku brush calligraphy and painting, the system of fine art created by Kobara Sensei, contact Hiseki Davey Sensei at hedavey@aol.com. Mr. Davey is offering instruction in Integrated Shodo & Meditation based on Kobara Sensei's teachings. You can also learn about Ranseki Sho Juku shodo from the book The Japanese Way of the Artist, which was written by Davey Sensei.

The Master's Brush

2010-10-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

The Master's Brush

Meet Masako Inkyo, master of Japanese calligraphy, in a film directed by Carole Ryave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWVkQSRsXcE&feature=player_embedded

To learn more about Japanese calligraphy as art and meditation, pick up a copy of The Japanese Way of the Artist by H. E. Davey.

About Art of Shodo

2010-10-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

Japanese Art

2010-10-19T10:49:00.001-07:00

For more information about Japanese art go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_art

Book Review: "The Sound of One Hand"

2010-10-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

The Sound of One Hand: Paintings and Calligraphy by Zen Master Hakuin

By Audrey Yoshiko Seo and Stephen Addiss

Reviewed by H. E. Davey

Hardcover: 288 pages

Publisher: Shambhala (September 7, 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1590305787

ISBN-13: 978-1590305782

Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.3 x 1.2 inches

Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds

List Price: $65.00

Hakuin Ekaku (1685–1768) is one of the most prominent figures in the history of Zen, and this gorgeous book focuses on his life, ink paintings, and brush calligraphy. He can be considered the instigator of contemporary Japanese Rinzai Zen practice, one of the two major schools of Zen in Japan. He notably emphasized the value of koan practice in awakening, a technique that concentrates on the solving of metaphysical questions, such as the famous koan, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”

He is also known for having rejuvenated the monastic existence of his time. However, his philosophy wasn’t restricted to the monastery. Hakuin was the classic Zen master of the people, celebrated for taking his instruction to every branch of society, to people in all walks of life, and his painting and calligraphy were particularly potent vehicles for those lessons. He used long-established Buddhist images and sayings—but also themes from legends and every day living—many of which are found in this lavishly illustrated hardback. Hakuin fashioned a new visual idiom for Zen: insightful, whimsical, and different from everything that came before. He is one of the most famous practitioners of Zensho, “Zen calligraphy.” Admirers of Japanese calligraphic art (shodo) should, however, note that not all calligraphy indentifies itself as “Zensho,” and this is but one of many styles of calligraphy practiced in Japan.

In his long life, Hakuin produced thousands of ink paintings and calligraphies. These works of art, combined with his voluminous writings, stands as a testament to his philosophy, illuminating why some feel he was the most significant Zen master of the past 500 years. All of this is thoroughly covered in The Sound of One Hand. The tone of the writing is more scholarly than light, and while his artwork and life is painstakingly examined, The Sound of One Hand will not serve as a basic introduction to Zen. It’s focus is on Hakuin’s Zen life and Zen art, and to some degree it presupposes an existing knowledge of Zen Buddhism.

The Sound of One Hand is a study of Hakuin and his art, illustrated with examples of his work, well-known pieces like “Three Blind Men on a Bridge” as well as lesser acknowledged artwork. It is, without a doubt, the most complete volume on Hakuin and his Zen art currently available.

About the Reviewer: H. E. Davey, the Director of the San Francisco Bay Area-based Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts, is also the author of The Japanese Way of the Artist, Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation, and other works. He is a direct student of the famed calligrapher Kobara Ranseki Sensei, and he holds the highest rank in Ranseki Sho Juku calligraphic art. His Japanese calligraphy and painting has been in numerous exhibitions in Japan, where he has received multiple top awards. For more information about H. E. Davey and his classes in Japanese arts and forms of meditation, visit www.senninfoundation.com

Art of Shodo is on Facebook

2010-08-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

Check out the cool Art of Shodo Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Art-of-Shodo/143454699015635?v=wall

Become a fan today and keep up on all the latest shodo information, news, photos, videos, and writings. Learn more about the award-winning art of Hiseki Davey Sensei. Discover the principles underlying shodo as meditation and the origins of Ranseki Sho Juku calligraphy.

Facebook

2010-05-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

Want to learn more about Japanese brush calligraphy? Drop by the Facebook page of the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Albany-CA/Sennin-Foundation-Center-for-Japanese-Cultural-Arts/112790382074106

The Sennin Foundation Center is lead by H. E. Davey Sensei, author of Brush Meditation and The Japanese Way of the Artist. You can visit the Sennin Foundation Center's website at www.senninfoundation.com.

Mu

2009-12-19T16:14:00.001-08:00

The above photos are of Hiseki Davey Sensei's calligraphy of the Chinese character mu. Impossible to fully define, mu refers to the ultimate nature of reality or the absolute universe. It has been defined as "the void" or "nothingness."

Davey Sensei painted this on specially colored Japanese paper know as a shikishi. It is brushed in the abstract sosho script. It is presently in the collection of Kevin Heard. Click on any of the images to see a larger view.

Similar pieces of artwork can be commissioned for personal or commercial purposes. Davey Sensei, author of The Japanese Way of the Artist, can be reached at hedavey@aol.com.

Mushin

2009-12-19T15:53:00.001-08:00

The images of above are of Kobara Ranseki Sensei's calligraphy of mushin. Mushin means "no mind" or "empty mind, " and it refers to a state of calmness and mental clarity that is a goal of traditional shodo practice. Kobara Sensei, founder of Ranseki Sho Juku shodo, painted these Chinese characters in the abstract, abbreviated, and cursive sosho style. (Clicking on the images above will enlarge them.)

Note the dynamic, and yet still composed, nature of the artwork, clearly displaying the unity of calm and action that is the hallmark of high level Japanese calligraphy. The late Kobara Sensei was one of the preeminent masters of Japanese calligraphy in the 20th century, and this work is in the collection of Hiseki Davey Sensei, his student.

Davey Sensei can be commissioned to create similar pieces of calligraphic art, and he can be reached at hedavey@aol.com.

The Kanji Calligraphy of Davey Sensei

2009-07-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

The images above are of an example of Hiseki Davey's award-winning kanji calligraphy. Davey Sensei is a direct student of the late Kobara Ranseki Sensei, the founder of Ranseki Sho Juku Japanese calligraphy. Kobara Sensei was, with over 50 years of training, widely regarded as one of the preeminent masters of shodo brush calligraphy in the world.

Kanji are the Chinese characters used in Japan, and they often amount to abstract drawings or pictograms. In the artwork above, Davey Sensei combined calligraphy using gyosho and sosho scripts. Gyosho is a semi-cursive form of writing, and sosho is a fully cursive and abstract version of Chinese characters. (Left click with your mouse to zoom in on each image.)

Generally speaking, the brush writing states that we should believe in, and have confidence in, the Spirit of the Universe. It relates to Shin-shin-toitsu-do, the art of Japanese yoga and meditation. Davey Sensei is also the author of Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation.

This unique and very large example of Davey Sensei's art appeared in the important Sankei newspaper's annual exhibition of calligraphy in Japan. Of the massive number of entrants, only a relatively small number of pieces of art are chosen to appear in this prestigious exhibition.

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.

The Kana Calligraphy of Davey Sensei

2009-07-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

The images above are an example of Hiseki Davey's kana style calligraphy. Davey Sensei holds the highest rank in Ranseki Sho Juku calligraphy, and he is a direct student of Kobara Ranseki Sensei, the famed founder of this discipline.

Kana are the phonetic symbols of Japan, and they are typically brushed in a flowing and cursive script. In the artwork above, Davey Sensei included some sosho kanji, Chinese characters painted in an abstracted and cursive form, a script that flows into the equally gentle and rounded kana.

The calligraphy was painted on a large piece of colored handmade Japanese paper, specially designed for kana brush writing, and incorporating small flecks of gold, silver, and other elements. Davey Sensei also executed a simple and somewhat abstract ink painting that illustrates the autumn clouds, birds, and tall grass referenced in the writing.

The calligraphy reads:

In autumn evenings, when the glittering sun sinks close to the edge of the hills, the mountain trees seem so very near. Crows sing as they fly back to their nests in threes and fours and twos; more charming still is a file of wild geese, like specks in the distant sky. When the sun has set, one's heart is moved by the sound of the wind and the hum of insects in the tall grass.

Sei Shonagon
Makura no Soshi--The Pillow Book

This graceful example of Davey Sensei's art appeared in the Kokusai Shodo Ten, where it won a top award. The Kokusai Shodo Ten is an annual international exhibition of Japanese calligraphy. It takes place in Japan, and it has been called "the Olympics of shodo."

Hiseki 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.

The Kanji Calligraphy of Kobara Sensei

2009-07-04T14:18:00.000-07:00

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.

The Kana Calligraphy of Kobara Sensei

2009-07-02T10:37:00.000-07:00

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 kana style calligraphy. Kana are the phonetic symbols of Japan, and they are typically brushed in a flowing and cursive script. In the artwork above, Kobara Sensei included some sosho kanji, Chinese characters painted in an abstracted and cursive form, a script that flows into the equally gentle and rounded kana. (Left click with your mouse on the above images to zoom in.)

The calligraphy was painted on a large piece of handmade Japanese washi paper, which tends to resist the absorption of ink, and which gives the kana and kanji a unique textured appearance. The poem itself reads:

If the voice of the nightingale
Did not sound
How could I know
That spring has come
To this mountain village of unmelted snow.

Nakatsukasa
Wakan Roei Shu

This extraordinarily graceful example of Kobara Sensei's art was given to his student Hiseki Davey, and it now resides in Mr. Davey's private collection of Ranseki Sho Juku artwork. Davey Sensei, is known to readers 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.

"Crazy for Kanji"

2008-12-17T12:43:00.000-08:00

H. E. Davey Sensei's Japanese calligraphy will be featured in the upcoming Stone Bridge Press book Crazy for Kanji. A sample of his brush writing, which will appear in the new book, can been seen above. It shows the three different script styles commonly used in Japanese calligraphic art.

The kanji, or "Chinese character," depicted in all three illustrations is do (a.k.a. michi), which means "a road" in its more utilitarian usage and "the Way" in more spiritual terms. Many traditional Japanese arts that are practiced for spiritual realization end with the character for do. Examples are shodo ("the Way of brush calligraphy") and budo ("the martial Way," in other words, martial arts). In the illustration above, do is brushed using kaisho, gyosho, and sosho script styles. Moving from left to right, each script becomes more and more abbreviated and abstract.

You can purchase Davey Sensei's latest book The Japanese Way of the Artist, which covers Japanese calligraphy in detail, through Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Way-Artist-Living-Meditation/dp/1933330074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229545807&sr=8-1

Want to find out more about the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts Integrated Shodo & Meditation program? Just drop by www.senninfoundation.com.

You can read more about The Japanese Way of the Artist and the upcoming Crazy for Kanji at www.stonebridge.com. Stone Bridge Press focuses on books about Japanese culture that will appeal to many readers of this blog.

More Images of Kobara Ranseki Sensei

2008-12-09T15:57:00.000-08:00

To learn more about Ranseki Sho Juku brush calligraphy and painting, the system of fine art created by Kobara Sensei, contact Hiseki Davey Sensei at 510-526-7518. Mr. Davey is offering instruction in Integrated Shodo & Meditation based on Kobara Sensei's teachings.

Integrating Shodo & Meditation

2008-12-09T13:19:00.001-08:00

Shodo means the “way of calligraphy,” and it is one of the most respected Asian fine arts. Painted with a brush and ink, Japanese calligraphy uses centuries old kanji (“Chinese characters”), which due to their pictographic nature have similarities to abstract expressionism. Balance, grace, dignity, vibrant movement, and the beauty of line combine to create a dynamic ink painting of the mind that people the world over have come to admire.

The Sennin Foundation Center offers you an opportunity to study genuine Japanese shodo—an art rarely taught in English —for artistic expression and moving meditation. Students study kanji as well as hiragana and katakana—phonetic scripts—along with classical ink painting. You’ll also learn to brush age-old haiku and waka poems, sometimes with accompanying ink and water painted illustrations (sumi-e). Sumi-e is a bit similar to Western watercolor painting, and shodo is a fun way to study Japanese language, while you learn about Japanese culture.

H. E. Davey Sensei, the primary instructor at the Sennin Foundation Center, is the author of Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony, Living the Japanese Arts & Ways: 45 Paths to Meditation & Beauty, and The Japanese Way of the Artist. He is a top student of the late Kobara Ranseki Sensei of Kyoto, the founder of Ranseki Sho Juku calligraphy. He studied with his teacher for 20 years, and he received the highest rank in Ranseki Sho Juku brush writing. He exhibits his artwork annually at the International Shodo Exhibition in Japan, where he received Jun Taisho, the “Associate Grand Prize,” among numerous other awards. Davey Sensei’s artwork has been featured in many American and Japanese magazines and newspapers.

Integrated Shodo & Meditation is a special program created by Davey Sensei to teach traditional Ranseki Sho Juku shodo to Westerners in an accessible manner that leads to meditation. This class has been liked to “Zen with a brush,” and it combines group instruction in Shin-shin-toitsu-do forms of meditation with private lessons in Japanese calligraphy. Along with the combination of meditation and art, students learn exercises for enhancing ki, human “life energy” (chi in Chinese). Strengthening ki benefits our health, and ki is the enigmatic and dynamic force behind beautifully powerful calligraphy and painting.

Authentic shodo is rarely taught in English in the West. You can read more about Davey Sensei, Kobara Sensei, and Integrated Shodo& Meditation at the Art of Shodo blog. Contact us soon at 510-526-7518 to learn how shodo and meditation can help you discover beauty and serenity in your daily life.

Images of Kobara Sensei

2008-06-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

Kobara Ranseki Sensei was one of the world's preeminent masters of Japanese calligraphy and ink painting. He studied classical Japanese art for over 50 years, winning numerous awards in international exhibitions.

Ranseki Sho Juku shodo, his method of instruction, continues to this day at a private club in Oakland, California called Wanto Shodo Kai ("East Bay Japanese Calligraphy Association"). The teachers at the Wanto Shodo Kai are Hiseki Davey Sensei and Miyauchi Somei Sensei, both of whom received the highest possible rank in Ranseki Sho Juku shodo.

Davey Sensei is offering instruction in Integrated Shodo & Meditation to the general public at his Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts. Interested parties should visit www.senninfoundation.com and/or purchase a copy of The Japanese Way of the Artist at www.amazon.com. This new book contains the most detailed biography of Kobara Sensei in print, along with information about his system of brush calligraphy.

Script Styles--Part Three

2008-06-11T11:27:00.000-07:00

Sosho

Cursive-style characters are painted with an even greater sense of an unbroken flow of ki. They tend to be rather abstract, and most Japanese cannot read them unless they are studying shodo. Think of sosho as being more abbreviated and quickly written than semicursive-style characters. While cursive style appears to exhibit an effortless quality, you should be careful not to totally lose the sense of structure that was developed in your study of printed-style symbols. For this reason, students learn kaisho before practicing cursive-style kanji. Sosho contains the structure of printed-style and the rhythm of semicursive characters, which are combined to create a script that flows like dynamically rushing water.

Want to learn more about Japanese calligraphic art? Pick up a copy of The Japanese Way of the Artist. The Japanese Way of the Artist is a collection of three of H. E. Davey Sensei's most popular books. It's published by Stone Bridge Press (http://www.stonebridge.com/). Included in a single volume are:

* Living the Japanese Arts and Ways: 45 Paths to Meditation & Beauty

* Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony

* The Japanese Way of the Flower: Ikebana as Moving Meditation

The three works anthologized here are essential to understanding the spiritual, meditative, and physical basis of all classical Japanese crafts, fine arts, and martial arts. Living the Japanese Arts & Ways covers key concepts—like wabi and “stillness in motion”—while the other two books show the reader how to use brush calligraphy (shodo) and flower arranging (ikebana) to achieve mind-body unification. Illustrated with diagrams, drawings, and photographs.

You can pick up a copy of this unique book here: http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Way-Artist-Living-Meditation/dp/1933330074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211999045&sr=8-1

Script Styles--Part Two

2008-06-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

Gyosho

While kaisho makes use of a superlative command of space, gyosho offers a strong sensation of visual rhythm. Rhythm is destroyed by tension, and semicursive-style characters will reveal when you are tightening your body and losing composure. In gyosho, it is acceptable to run some strokes together, and although in the above illustration the word "heart" is painted in one continuous stroke, rhythm is still present. It is a rhythm of upward and downward pressure combined with thickness and thinness of line.

* Living the Japanese Arts and Ways: 45 Paths to Meditation & Beauty

* Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony

* The Japanese Way of the Flower: Ikebana as Moving Meditation

You can pick up a copy of this unique book here: http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Way-Artist-Living-Meditation/dp/1933330074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211999045&sr=8-1

Script Styles--Part One

2008-06-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

The three most common script styles found in Japanese calligraphy are: kaisho (Figure 25), which is the equivalent of printing in English; gyosho (Figure 26), which is similar to semicursive writing; and sosho (Figure 27), which is equivalent to cursive English handwriting. Each illustration features the character kokoro, meaning "heart" or "soul," painted three different ways.

Each of these different scripts projects a different feeling, and each requires a unique state of mind. Studying kaisho, gyosho, and sosho allows you to understand and master divergent mental states. Try writing these three variants.

Kaisho
When using kaisho script, you will most clearly show the structure of the character. Note that the ends of certain strokes are tapered, and should have an almost organic appearance not unlike bamboo leaves and stems. Printed-style characters need a firm, but not stiff, demeanor. Inside each brush stroke is a central line. This personifies the movement of the center of the bristles and it must be kept steady. It is actually more of a mental line-a line of ki. This ki line must be drawn decisively in your mind. Rigidly trying to hold the hand steady is not the answer because this will only create lifeless characters.

Want to learn more about Japanese calligraphic art? Pick up a copy of The Japanese Way of the Artist. The Japanese Way of the Artist is a collection of three of H. E. Davey Sensei's most popular books. It's published by Stone Bridge Press (http://www.stonebridge.com/). Included in a single volume are:

* Living the Japanese Arts and Ways: 45 Paths to Meditation & Beauty
* Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony
* The Japanese Way of the Flower: Ikebana as Moving Meditation

The three works anthologized here are essential to understanding the spiritual, meditative, and physical basis of all classical Japanese crafts, fine arts, and martial arts. Living the Japanese Arts & Ways covers key concepts—like wabi and “stillness in motion”—while the other two books show the reader how to use brush calligraphy (shodo) and flower arranging (ikebana) to achieve mind-body unification. Illustrated with diagrams, drawings, and photographs.

You can pick up a copy of this unique book here: http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Way-Artist-Living-Meditation/dp/1933330074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211999045&sr=8-1

Integrated Shodo & Meditation Instruction

2008-06-11T10:55:00.000-07:00

Interested in practicing Japanese calligraphy and ink painting? Hiseki Davey Sensei has created an original program of instruction that integrates classical shodo with forms of meditation inspired by the teachings of Nakamura Tempu Sensei. No prior knowledge of Japanese language, art, or meditation is required.

Shodo
The Ranseki Sho Juku form of calligraphy and ink painting was created in the 1960s by Kobara Ranseki Sensei, recipient of the Japanese government’s Order of the Rising Sun. In addition to receiving awards from the Japanese Prime Minister and Foreign Minister for his excellence in art, Kobara Sensei was also the Vice President of the Kokusai Shodo Bunka Koryu Kyokai, an international shodo association headquartered in Urayasu, Japan.

Davey Sensei studied directly under him for over 20 years, and in 1993 he received the highest ranking in this form of calligraphic art. He has exhibited his calligraphy at the annual International Shodo Exhibition in Japan since 1988, where he’s won numerous awards. His articles and artwork have been featured in a variety of Japanese and American magazines and newspapers, including Yoga Journal, the Hokubei Mainichi, the Nichibei Times, Furyu, and Karate-Kung Fu Illustrated.

He offers instruction in orthodox Japanese calligraphy, with some lessons that overlap with traditional ink painting. The lessons are presented in a predetermined series that optimizes learning efficiency. Students of shodo can expect to realize deeper concentration, calmness, and willpower as byproducts of studying this very old art form.

Meditation
Shin-shin-toitsu-do was created by Nakamura Tempu Sensei in the early 1900s. It combines his training in Indian yoga and meditation with Japanese approaches to meditation to arrive at something entirely new and distinctive—an art featuring several methods of seated and moving meditation to help us realize our full potential in a wide variety of subjects. The emphasis is on unification of mind and body, a quality indispensable for producing high caliber art. As “proof” of the effectiveness of mind and body unification, after founding Shin-shin-toitsu-do, Nakamura Sensei began creating singular calligraphy and painting that’s valued by collectors even now.

Davey Sensei began studying meditation via Shin-shin-toitsu-do in childhood, and his practice continues to this day. His training in Japan and the USA has taken place under several top students of Nakamura Sensei, and Davey Sensei’s book on this subject, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation, has been acclaimed in Japanese, European, and American reviews. Students of Shin-shin-toitsu-do report improvements in physical health, mental attitude, and ability to relax under pressure.

Integrated Shodo & Meditation
In 1981, Davey Sensei founded a dojo (training hall) called the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, to offer instruction in the Japanese yoga and meditation comprising Shin-shin-toitsu-do. In 1993, he inaugurated a new program: Integrated Shodo & Meditation. And in 1999, he authored Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony to explain his unique method that combines seated meditation, moving meditation, and classical Japanese calligraphy.

If you’re interested in developing greater calmness, concentration, and willpower, the Sennin Foundation’s Integrated Shodo & Meditation program is an effective way of accomplishing these goals. Combining private and group instruction in Shin-shin-toitsu-do and shodo, it offers participants a path to see deeply into their true nature and that of the universe. Meditation develops and reveals the ultimate nature of the mind, while the invisible character of the mind is seen in the ebony ink of the calligrapher’s brush. This ongoing process of training the mind through meditation, and unveiling the mind through shodo, can result in profound realizations into our own nature and that of life.

Despite the serious nature of this program, students enjoy the aesthetic creation of Japanese calligraphy and ink painting, while they have fun practicing mind and body coordination exercises and meditation. Training is conducted in a traditional Japanese atmosphere and an environment that also encourages laughter, positive attitudes, and enjoyment of Asian art.

For more information about the Sennin Foundation Center's Integrated Shodo & Meditation program:

Go to the INTEGRATING SHODO & MEDITATION section of this blog.

Pick up a copy of The Japanese Way of the Artist (www.japanesewayoftheartist.blogspot.com).

Visit www.senninfoundation.com.

Send e-mail to hedavey@aol.com.

Call 510-526-7518 (evenings).

Write to:

The Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts

1053 San Pablo Ave.

Albany, CA 94706

USA

Shodo Terminology

2008-06-11T10:36:00.000-07:00

Shodo is Japanese brush writing, and thus it’s intimately tied to the Japanese language. Japanese can be thought of as the universal language of all the Japanese Do forms, or "Ways." (For example, in judo competition, throughout the world, the referee gives all commands in Japanese. This approach can also be seen in European fencing, where French is used internationally.)

A single expression in Japanese can communicate several different shades of significance, in a way that an individual term in English cannot. For instance, the Japanese word kokoro can alternately express "mind," "spirit," "soul," "heart," and even hint at "emotion" or "feeling." For this reason alone, it’s often preferable to use Japanese terminology in the various Japanese arts, rather than attempt an English equivalent.

Japan's arts of painting and calligraphy are not merely graphic skills. They’re Japanese cultural arts and spiritual paths. A modest comprehension of Japanese language can open doors, leading to a deeper awareness of Japan's culture, making the practice of this country's cultural activities more profound. This understanding allows the Western shodo aficionado to more easily interact with both Japanese authorities and genuine Western experts, many of whom have spent time studying in Japan.

It is possible to accurately read and pronounce the Japanese words in the Art of Shodo Blog by following the guidelines below:

A is pronounced "ah" as in father
I is pronounced "ee" as in police
U is pronounced "oo" as in tune
E is pronounced "eh" as in Edward
O is pronounced "oh" as in oats

Double consonants are spoken with a brief break between syllables. In Japanese, r is also pronounced between an "r" and an "l."

Furthermore, it’s traditional when speaking or writing in Japanese to place the family (last) name first and the given (first) name second. This convention has been observed on this website. Sensei, a Japanese appellation of respect, which means "teacher," is placed after a professor's family name. It is used in an identical manner to the honorific word san.

The following glossary of terms should prove useful for reading the text at the Art of Shodo Blog as well as for the study of shodo in general:

Bokuju: Liquid ink
Budo: Lit. "the martial Ways"
Bun-chin: Paper weight
Chado: Lit. "the Way of tea," the tea ceremony
Daho: Lit. "pressing method," a technique of manipulating the brush
Do: Lit. "the Way," used to describe a Japanese art, which is practiced as a means of spiritual realization
Enso: The painted ink circle of Zen
Fude: “Brush”
Fudoshin: Lit. "immovable mind," a state of spiritual and physical stability
Gyosho: Semi-cursive-style script
Haiku: Japanese short poem
Hara: Lit. "abdomen," a natural center in the lower abdomen, which is used as a point of concentration in various meditative disciplines and Japanese arts
Hentaigana: A.k.a., man’yo-gana, an antiquated script that makes use of Chinese characters used phonetically
Hiragana: Japanese phonetic alphabet
Inkan: Japanese seal or stamp
Kado: Lit. "the Way of flowers," flower arrangement
Kaisho: Printed-style script
Kami: “Paper”
Kana: Japanese phonetic script, hiragana and/or katakana
Kanji: Lit. "Chinese characters"
Katakana: Japanese phonetic alphabet
Kasure: Dry brush strokes
Ki: “Life energy”
Nenpo: Lit. "twisting method," a technique of manipulating the brush
Nijimi: Wet, "bleeding" brush strokes
No-tan: Writing with alternating light and dark ink
Sabi: Elegant simplicity, an antique appearance
Seiza: Japanese kneeling posture used for meditation and in various Japanese arts
Sensei: “Teacher”
Shibui: “Elegant”
Shibumi: “Elegance”
Shin-shin-toitsu-do: Lit. "The Way of Mind and Body Unification," a form of Japanese yoga and meditation
Shitajiki: Undercloth of felt for absorbing ink
Shodo: Lit. "The Way of Calligraphy"
Sumi: “Ink, ink stick”
Sumi-e: “Ink painting”
Suzuri: “Ink stone”
Wabi: Unpretentious, simple refinement
Zoho: Lit. "overlapping method," a technique of manipulating the brush

Stephen Fabian Review of "Brush Meditation"

2008-06-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony is out of print, but the complete book was recently reissued in H. E. Davey's new work The Japanese Way of the Artist. You can get your own copy of The Japanese Way of the Artist here: http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Way-Artist-Living-Meditation/dp/1933330074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212312807&sr=1-1

Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony

"Shodo ideally represents one of the greatest levels of harmony between thought and action: it both serves as a mechanism for depicting this unity and supplies a path for cultivating it."
H. E. Davey

This brief excerpted quote is a great summary of the focus of H. E. Davey's new book. In it, he not only describes how working with black ink, brush, and white paper reflects the level of personal integration and harmony, but how to use this medium to integrate and harmonize the self. His insights into these processes are rich and clearly expressed, and beautifully illustrated: readers can carry away both inspiring examples of quality shodo (Japanese calligraphy), and exercises with which to begin their own progress on this Way.

After a short preface and introductory linguistic orientation, the work unfolds in four chapters. The first, "The Language of Shodo," might be considered the roots: it traces the historical basis of Japanese writing and calligraphy, then explains several fundamental aesthetic principles and spiritual concepts--such as wabi, sabi, shibumi, shibui, ki, and hara--that underlie this and other traditional Japanese arts. Chapter 2, "Mind & Body Connection," is the central stem or trunk that grows from these roots and is the support or core from which the later material grows. In it are included specific "experiments" to help relax, focus, and connect our mental and physical abilities, critical for artistic expression via a brush with black ink on white paper.

Branching from this trunk is "Uniting Mind, Body & Brush" (Chapter 3) in which a further series of "experiments" walk us through preparations for actually putting ink on paper, including correct posture and manipulation of the artistic tools. The final chapter solidifies our understanding of how critical is a unity of mind, body, and medium in brush work, as we learn for ourselves that as a medium, black ink brushed on white paper is a valuable and incomparable insight into our very being. In this medium there is no going back, no alterations, no corrections: your character and artistry are starkly revealed with each stroke. From selecting the items to be used, to grinding your own ink, to instruction in the shape and flow of basic strokes, this chapter helps cultivate the reader's own blossoming in this meditative art. Sources for necessary materials and suggestions on finding a qualified instructor, glossary, index, and brief afterword round out the text.

The illustrations accompanying the text are certainly among its greatest attractions, and at the same time substantiate the advice Mr. Davey has to share with us: as an award-winning calligrapher, he can clearly "walk his talk." His illustrations are beautiful and inspirational, full of vibrant life and clarity. Their quality, as much as his compelling language, encourages us into a deeper unity of self as accomplished through regular study and practice of this traditional Japanese art. While I have some reservations about the direct correlation between an artist's character and the painted strokes on a page, it seems clear that challenging oneself along the "Way of Calligraphy" has many and deep benefits for artistic expression and the cultivation of self. Anyone interested in such pursuits should do him/herself a favor and read this book.

About the Reviewer: Dr. Stephen Fabian is the author of Clearing Away Clouds: Nine Lessons for Life from the Martial Arts (Weatherhill). Dr. Fabian's background is in anthropology. Having lived in Japan, he has had considerable exposure to Japanese culture, along with over two decades of training in Japanese and Korean martial arts and ways.

An Excerpt from "Brush Meditation"

2008-06-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

The website Michi Online (http://www.michionline.org/) offers an excerpt of Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony. This book is out of print, but the complete book was recently reissued in H. E. Davey's new work The Japanese Way of the Artist. You can get your own copy of The Japanese Way of the Artist here: http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Way-Artist-Living-Meditation/dp/1933330074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212312807&sr=1-1

To read the Michi Online excerpt of Brush Meditation go here: http://www.michionline.org/summer99/page11.html

Buying Japanese Art & Finding a Shodo Teacher

2008-06-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

Tips for Buying Japanese Art and Finding Legitimate Shodo Teachers
Japanese calligraphy and sumi-e (“ink painting”) has an extremely long history in Japan. Over the centuries scores of artists have risen to exalted and well-known status in this country; and in recent years, a handful of artists living outside of Japan have achieved similar standing in shodo and/or sumi-e. Unfortunately, not everyone outside of Japan is well informed as to the nature of buying and collecting Japanese calligraphic art. And as you might expect in the 21st century, the slogan, “Buyer beware,” is not inappropriate.

Here are a few tips for people interested in buying and/or commissioning Japanese calligraphy and sumi-e. A number of these suggestions can also be modified for use if you’re looking for a legitimate teacher of Japanese art.

· While this may be obvious, don’t assume everyone that’s fluent in Japanese has skill in shodo, simply because they can write Japanese characters. For example, while most Japanese people can write with a pen, the majority of the people in Japan are not trained to use a shodo brush.

· Unfortunately, it isn’t uncommon for some untrained people, who are fluent in Japanese, to pick up a brush and paper, write something down, frame it, and sell it as a “work of shodo art.” The same phenomenon can be seen among individuals that stick a shrub in a bonsai pot, trim it a bit, and sell it as a “bonsai masterpiece.” Not everybody selling Asian art is skilled in Asian art, and collectors should get information about an artist’s credentials.

· Qualifications in one Japanese art do not inevitably correlate with another Japanese art. While a person may have excellent credentials in Zen, martial arts, or some other discipline, this doesn’t inevitably mean that they’re capable of producing good calligraphy. While it’s true that if we go deeply into any Japanese art form, we’ll discover principles that relate to other Japanese arts as well, this doesn’t equal training in a different skill. With some notable exceptions, most capable shodo artists have years of shodo specific training. The same is true for other Japanese artistic disciplines.

· Be leery of Japanese calligraphy, or any Japanese fine art, which is for sale too cheaply. Bona fide artists spend large chunks of their lives studying their craft, and if they have good credentials, they’ll rarely sell original artwork for $19.95.

· While it’s exciting to collect the calligraphy of famed artists like Yamaoka Tesshu, realize that fakes exist. While Yamaoka Tesshu’s work seems to have perhaps more fakes than others, he isn’t the only artist to have his signature forged onto inferior copies and “inspired by” pieces. And this isn’t a recent phenomenon in Japan. It’s been going on for hundreds of years.

· A seal, or “chop,” should be present on any valid piece of artwork. Known as an inkan, this seal is essential, and it is always placed on a work that the artist is satisfied with. Works without a signature are fine as long as the inkan is present. Works with a signature, and no inkan, indicate that the artist didn’t deem the piece worthy to “sign off on.” And no signature and no inkan is a really bad sign. In short, all legitimate traditional Japanese calligraphy or paintings should have the artist’s name seal.

· The fact that a piece of art has been in an exhibition in Japan is no guarantee of profound skill. Smaller exhibitions exist, and acceptance is sometimes easily accomplished. If the artwork you’re contemplating buying received an award, this is a better indicator of quality. But the artist should possess an award certificate and/or a trophy of some kind. The award will also often have a name such as Kokusai Shodo Tokubetsu Sho. Try to obtain proof of the award, obtain the characters for the name of the award, and find out what they mean. If this isn’t possible, don’t pay extra for a piece of “award winning calligraphy.”

· Endeavor to discover the training background of the artist and/or teacher. All Japanese art places high value on lineage. If the artist is unable or unwilling to provide this lineage, something may be wrong.

· How long did the artist study, how did the study take place, and who was the teacher? These are questions that a legitimate instructor or shodo artist should be able to answer. There’s frequently a difference between art produced by someone that studied for decades, every week, directly under a well-known teacher vs. the art of a person that studied for a couple years via a correspondence course.

· Japanese art often has ranks and degrees, somewhat like the martial arts. Top-notch artists will often have high ranks and/or teaching credentials. Find out what they are.

· Try to enlist the help of a person knowledgeable about Japanese art, or at least a friend that can read Japanese, before you buy a work of art or began to study with a teacher. They may be able to help you read the characters on awards and teaching certificates, and help you look for the correct artist’s signature and seal on a piece of art.

· Buy books suggested on the Art of Shodo Blog to learn about Japanese culture. It will help in ways that are often difficult to predict.

Commissioned Works of Art

2008-06-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

Hiseki Davey Sensei can be commissioned to create special works of calligraphic art for personal and commercial use. Shodo aficionados, collectors of fine art, or individuals interested in authentic Japanese calligraphy for commercial applications, can contact Davey Sensei at 510-526-7518 (evenings) or at hedavey@aol.com for information about purchasing world class Japanese brush writing and ink painting.

Obtaining Hiseki Davey’s Artwork
Take a look at Davey Sensei's book The Japanese Way of the Artist and at this blog to get an idea of the wide variety of Japanese calligraphy and ink painting that can be produced for your home or office.

Davey Sensei’s award winning artwork is in a number of private collections in the USA and Japan. His credentials, awards, and shodo lineage can be found in the sections HISEKI DAVEY and KOBARA RANSEKI on this blog. Further information about his professional credentials in shodo can be obtained by writing to hedavey@aol.com

If you see something in the Art of Shodo Blog that appeals to you, contact Davey Sensei about creating a similar original work of art for your home. And if you’ve got an idea for something you’d like to see turned into Japanese calligraphy—a significant word, an interesting phrase, or a Japanese poem—call or write to Davey Sensei. Working together, it may be possible to give birth to a one of a kind work of art.

If you need expert quality Japanese calligraphic art for your business, Davey Sensei would be happy to collaborate with you. His commercial art has been used in magazines and newspapers, on book covers and postcards, and on posters, flyers, and websites. Commercial applications of Japanese calligraphy are endless, and Hiseki Davey Sensei’s innovative art can bring a new beauty and distinctiveness to your business, advertising, or website.

Books

2008-06-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

The Works of H. E. Davey
Hiseki Davey Sensei has authored a number of critically acclaimed books on different Japanese art forms under the name H. E. Davey. You can read more about each volume below, and Davey Sensei’s books can be purchased via the Amazon.com.

Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony (http://www.brushmeditation.blogspot.com/)

Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation (http://www.japaneseyoga.blogspot.com/)

Living the Japanese Arts & Ways: 45 Paths to Meditation & Beauty (http://www.japaneseartsandways.blogspot.com/)

The Japanese Way of the Flower: Ikebana as Moving Meditation (http://www.japanesewayoftheflower.blogspot.com/)

Unlocking the Secrets of Aiki-jujutsu

The Japanese Way of the Artist (http://www.japanesewayoftheartist.blogspot.com/)

Kobara Ranseki--Part Two

2008-06-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

Saying Goodbye
At the beginning of 2005, the members of the Wanto Shodo Kai presented a calligraphy exhibition in San Francisco in honor of Kobara Sensei’s many years of teaching in Oakland. He and I demonstrated shodo together for the public, much as we had on many different occasions over the years. The event was a resounding success, and Sensei was frail but joyful.

Later in 2005, he gave what would be his last speech at the International Shodo Exhibition in Urayasu, where he was acknowledged by some of Japan’s top shodo artists for his contributions to shodo and this annual exhibition. He happily told me how he visited many of his favorite places, and after a long search, he found a restaurant serving a particular kind of abalone, his favorite food. And he saw a number of relatives that he hadn’t had direct contact with in numerous years. I think he knew this was his last trip back to his former home.

Shortly after Sensei received the Order of the Rising Sun, we held an end of the year party for Kobara Sensei and Wanto Shodo Kai members. I sat with him and his wife. Sensei softly said he was very happy, but that it was hard for him to breathe. He radiated contentment at the close of the event, when he bid goodbye to many of his students.

Not long after the party, I spent the holidays in Hawaii with my wife’s family. Just after Christmas, I got a phone call from Kobara Kazuko telling me that her husband was hospitalized in intensive care. I immediately phoned some of his other senior students. I returned to California, but before our plane landed, Kobara Sensei passed away.

On January 6, 2006, I carried his casket, along with his family members, into the Buddhist Church of San Francisco. Sensei was famous throughout the Japanese community in Northern California for his preservation of traditional Japanese culture, and the outpouring of grief was massive. Nearly 500 people crammed into the church.

After the tolling of the temple bell, I offered incense with his family before his open coffin. The funeral was attended by the Consul General of Japan, the Urasenke Tea Ceremony Tanko-kai of San Francisco, the Japan Club of the Bay Area, the San Francisco Shimane Prefecture Residents Association, the San Francisco Buddhist Women’s Association, and the Buddhist Church of San Francisco. Telegrams and faxes flooded the Kobara home, several of which were read at the funeral service, including condolences from the current and past Headmasters of Urasenke tea ceremony and the Chief Director of the Kokusai Shodo Bunk Koryu Kyokai. A large number of people, who’d never studied tea ceremony or shodo with Kobara Sensei, spoke him as being their teacher . . . their sensei for life.

They spoke of his deep compassion and patience. One mourner told me that whenever he saw Kobara Sensei walking toward him, he saw his beaming smile and felt a palpable wave of benevolent warmth rush over him. I told him that I’d felt it too . . . many times and in many different ways. In a sense, Sensei’s kindness was not only the hallmark of his teaching style; it was the very foundation of his life.

After the closing address, it took a long time for hundreds of mourners to file past the casket and pay their final respects. When they were done, his relatives and I bore Kobara Sensei’s casket to a waiting hearse.

On January 9, Sensei’s family and I again acted as pallbearers as we carried his coffin into a crematorium in Colma. Far fewer people were present—just myself, his wife, his children as well as their spouses, and Kobara Sensei’s grandchildren. Around 10 of us were there, along with two Buddhist priests. Before the cremation, I bowed before my teacher’s body for the last time. Kobara Sensei had been my friend, supporter, and teacher for 20 years.

After the cremation service, his wife took us to the graveyard where her husband’s ashes would reside—the same tiny cemetery in Colma where his artistic skill was first recognized over 50 years ago. His daughter Rumi rode in my car, and as we pulled into the parking lot, she asked, “Can you see Daddy’s calligraphy?”

We walked to the Kobara plot, with tall tombstones surrounding us, and it seemed like the majority of them were filled with Kobara Sensei’s singular calligraphy. As my teacher’s body was leaving this world, I felt that I was walking through a vast forest of his art.

The Legacy of Kobara Ranseki Sensei
Once Sensei’s funeral was over, I took a long motorcycle ride down the Pacific Coast Highway to Southern California. Being alone and silent on my bike, I reflected on Kobara Sensei and his artistry.

I’ve described Sensei’s unique style of calligraphy to others as being “elegant,” “graceful,” or “refined.” It’s all of these things, but alone in the wind I realized it was something more. The most distinctive quality of Kobara Sensei’s artwork—the tree from which all other branches of its beauty arises—is compassion. In short, Kobara Sensei’s calligraphy looks the way it does because of the deep well of kindness that he developed over the course of his life, and his artwork was an expression of this. Kobara Sensei and his art had become one.

After Kobara Sensei’s passing, he was given the posthumous Buddhist name Chiko. It means “Light of Wisdom,” and I like to think the appellation was inspired by the name Chiei, “Eternal Wisdom.” It was, after all, Chiei’s calligraphy that Kobara Sensei studied for over 50 years.

And while Sensei expressed his wisdom verbally and directly in his teaching of shodo, his deepest teachings were nonverbal. Whenever I studied with him, I felt uplifted, not by what he said, but by his very presence. He developed a way of teaching that embraced and encouraged those around him . . . without the need for words. It is an uncommon and unteachable gift, and its expression in ink is Kobara Ranseki Sensei’s true legacy. What’s more, it is a legacy I’ve pledged to preserve.

Not long after I received the name Hiseki from Sensei, we were sitting alone in his home in San Francisco. He told me that he thought I had the ability and motivation to perpetuate his form of shodo after he was gone, and he asked me if I’d do him this favor. I assured him that I would, and this article is just a first step in that direction.

In the autumn of 2006, Stone Bridge Press and I will release The Japanese Way of the Artist detailing the aesthetic and meditative principles that underline all Japanese art, with an emphasis on Japanese calligraphy and flower arrangement (http://www.japanesewayoftheartist.blogspot.com/). Of course, I also plan on continuing my program that integrates meditation and shodo at the Sennin Foundation Center (http://www.senninfoundation.blogspot.com/). Finally, I hope to further discover within myself the deep tenderness and kindness that Kobara Ranseki Sensei showered upon me for over 20 years.

Kobara Ranseki--Part One

2008-06-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

Remembering Kobara Ranseki Sensei
By
Hiseki Davey

(This article first appeared in the 2006 New Year’s edition of the Sennin Foundation Newsletter.)

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.

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.

Widespread Accolades
As he began to exhibit his artwork more widely, many people noticed his exceptional skill in shodo and ink painting. During his long artistic career he received prestigious awards for excellence in Japanese art from the Japanese Foreign Ministry and even the Prime Minister of Japan. His art can been seen in many places in San Francisco’s Japan Town, as well as in the homes of art aficionados in various locales, and on a special copper plate exhibited at the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco. A hanging scroll of his calligraphy is displayed at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center (also in San Francisco). It reads Yume, Ai, Kibou, which means “Dreaming of Love and Hope,” an apt description of what he wished to inspire via his artistic expressions.

For years Kobara Sensei gave the primary address at the International Shodo Exhibition. At these times, so accomplished and distinctive was his style of traditional brush writing that even expert calligraphy teachers in Japan asked to become his disciples. They were disappointed to discover that not only did he live in the United States, but that he also rarely accepted students.

Meeting my Teacher
After looking for a calligraphy teacher for several years, I met Kobara Ranseki Sensei in the 1980s. Deeply impressed, not only with his artwork but also with his peaceful and dignified demeanor, I began practicing with him. With his help, I eventually exhibited my artwork annually at the International Shodo Exhibition in Urayasu, where I’ve received a number of awards, including Jun Taisho—the “Associate Grand Prize.” In 1990, Kobara Sensei honored me with the art name Hiseki, meaning a “Flying Stone,” by combining the “seki” character from his name with the sound “hi” that’s used to write my first name phonetically in Japanese. In 1993, I received Shihan-Dai teaching certification from Kobara Sensei, the highest rank in Ranseki Sho Juku calligraphy.

Upon receiving teaching certification, I began offering my students of Shin-shin-toitsu-do instruction in shodo at the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts. Like Shin-shin-toitsu-do (Japanese yoga and meditation), budo (“martial ways”), kado (“the Way of flower arrangement”), and other classical arts, shodo is a Do, or “Way” to spiritual realization. In short, it’s more than brush writing.

Shodo has functioned in Japan as both fine art and moving meditation. As such, it’s ideal for students of Shin-shin-toitsu-do or most any type of meditation. Yet many Americans are intimated by the “foreignness” of shodo, and few grasp how it functions as dynamic meditation that can lead to deeper concentration, willpower, and calmness. To counteract this, I authored Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony in 1999.

Studying with Kobara Sensei
Kobara Sensei thought of himself as an artist, and his approach to shodo emphasized practicing it more as an art form than as simple lettering. He spoke of the beauty of line, the mysterious luster of sumi ink, and the asymmetrical balance of shodo as transcendent creative elements common to numerous arts, and which people of different cultures could relate to, much as varied nationalities can appreciate abstract art. And he insisted that, “I’m not teaching shuji (handwriting), but rather shodo—the Way of calligraphy.”

Owing to his profoundly spiritual nature, Kobara Sensei viewed brush writing and ink painting as a path for refining character, and he commented on how we could see the depths of our personality by observing our calligraphy. For anyone to produce skillful calligraphy they must demonstrate calmness and concentration, at least during the time the hand holds the brush. Kobara Sensei, nevertheless, preferred to teach the essential qualities of shodo—calmness, relaxation, concentration, willpower, and a positive spirit—through his actions more than through his words.

His distinctive style of calligraphy emphasizes Chinese characters and Japanese phonetic symbols that feature naturalistic, rounded, and flowing forms. Ranseki Sho Juku calligraphy is filled with uniquely graceful elements that rest in a sea of serenity. Simultaneously powerful as well as calm, Kobara Sensei’s shodo reflected his quietly resolute and dignified personality; and in all the years I spent around him—in class and in his home, at public demonstrations and in private, in Japan and in the USA—I never saw him lose his composure. Not once.

He created a well thought out series of lessons that began with the study of kana, or “Japanese phonetic symbols,” and progressed to simple Chinese characters. From there, new students learned hentaigana, an antique version of Chinese characters used for their voiced sound rather than for their meaning. Hentaigana are studied in kaisho and sosho form—script styles similar to printing and cursive writing in English.

Next, pupils copy the 1000 different Chinese characters—in both kaisho and sosho form—found in the Shin So Sen-Ji-Mon . . . the same course of study that Kobara Sensei undertook many years ago. Simultaneously, Kobara Sensei taught us to write time-honored haiku and waka poems, and all of us learned to use large and small brushes with equal skill. We also copied Kobara Sensei’s occasional simple ink paintings that he used to illustrate the calligraphed poems that are part of the lesson plan for Ranseki Sho Juku shodo. He drew from the haiku of Basho, the 100 waka found in the Ogura Hyaku-Nin-Isshu, and other poetry collections.

Over his numerous years of teaching, not many students completed the 1000 characters of the Shin So Sen-Ji-Mon, but when I and a few others finished this book, Kobara Sensei helped us to study, copy, and learn the semi-cursive gyosho script of Ogishi, arguably the most celebrated calligraphic artist in China and Japan. However, instead of having us copy books of famous calligraphy, or from a manual of his own brush writing, Kobara Sensei personally painted a lesson for each student, one lesson at a time, one person at a time. We than left for home, where we’d repeatedly copy his artwork and absorb its essence into our subconscious. In a couple weeks, he would gently correct our best copy and give us the next lesson in his predetermined series.

Such a personal and labor intensive approach is rare in shodo, and as our teacher entered old age, we urged him to hand out photocopies of his artwork. He refused and continued to spend countless hours patiently teaching each student privately, one after another. Even in his 70s and 80s, he would sit for several hours at a time, painting continuously, until he slowly worked his way through the students that had gathered on a particular day. Kobara Sensei insisted such a fatiguing process was needed for him to continue to train his mind, body, and calligraphy. He rightly contended that it was better for his students.

Amazingly, his calligraphy improved throughout his life, and he showed no decline in old age. Several years ago, Kobara Sensei developed a condition similar to congestive heart failure, and no operation could be attempted due to his age. He lost weight and his body weakened, but his gentle and indomitable spirit did not. At times he told me that he’d been almost too weak to lift a glass of water, but that he nevertheless practiced shodo that day. “My brush doesn’t weigh as much as a water glass, so I still needed to practice,” he whispered.

A Final Tribute
On November 17, 2005, Kobara Sensei received Kyokujitsu Tanko Sho—the “Order of the Rising Sun (with Silver Rays)”—from the Japanese government for his numerous years of promoting and preserving traditional Japanese art and culture via his contributions to shodo and tea ceremony. This rarely bestowed award comes in the form of the Kunsho, a Medal of Honor, which was presented to Kobara Sensei by Yamanaka Makoto, Consul General of Japan. Surrounded by his wife, children, and grandchildren, he quietly thanked his spouse and his family for their support that allowed him to receive such a distinguished honor. He took no credit for his achievements, insisting that his accomplishments were due to his longevity, the love of his family, and his late teacher Fukuzawa Seiran Sensei.

Still, he was deeply touched by this decoration that few people ever receive, and he shyly showed us his award at one of the last shodo classes he would ever teach. He was clearly at peace and delighted by how his life had turned out.

Hiseki Davey

2008-06-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

Hiseki Davey Sensei is an internationally acclaimed author, artist, and teacher of Japanese cultural arts. His books are sold in many different countries under the name H. E. Davey, and his training began as a child in the United States, and it continued in Japan.

The Director of the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts in Northern California (http://www.senninfoundation.blogspot.com/), Davey Sensei has worked fulltime as a professional teacher of Japanese yoga and meditation, healing arts, martial arts, and fine arts since 1981. (The title sensei is an honorific term meaning “teacher.” It’s traditionally placed after the family name of instructors of Japanese calligraphy and other art forms.)

An Introduction to the Arts of Japan
Davey Sensei’s introduction to a traditional Japanese art form came through the martial arts. His late father Victor was one of the first Americans to study judo and jujutsu, practices that he began in 1926. While living in Japan after WWII, his training intensified, and Davey Sensei began learning authentic Japanese jujutsu with him when he was around five years old. Based on his jujutsu training, which took place in the USA and Japan, he would write Unlocking the Secrets of Aiki-jujutsu (McGraw-Hill) in 1997.

Davey Sensei grew up on a street where few children resided, and being an only child, his parents wanted him to spend more time with other children. As the result, he enrolled in a judo school. At the time he joined, people outside of the Japanese community rarely practiced martial arts, and Davey Sensei was pretty much the only non-Japanese student. Consequently, many of his childhood friends were from Japan or Japanese-Americans, which exposed him to this language and culture from an early age.

Discovering Shin-shin-toitsu-do
When Davey Sensei was in middle school, a friend in judo introduced him to a Japanese teacher of Shin-shin-toitsu-do, a unique system of meditation and physical development created by Nakamura Tempu Sensei in the 1920s. Nakamura Sensei lived in India, where he practiced Raja yoga—the yoga of meditation. When he returned to Japan, he combined what he had learned with his past training in Japanese martial arts, healing arts, and meditation systems. He also drew on his previous studies of Western medicine and psychology to create Shin-shin-toitsu-do, the “Way of Mind and Body Unification.”

This art is based on the idea that human beings only arrive at self-harmony and realize their ultimate potential when the mind and body are coordinated. It includes mind and body unification principles that enhance performance in most activities, and these principles completely transformed and improved Davey Sensei’s martial arts practice, which by then included judo, jujutsu, and aikido. The breathing exercises and methods of physical development in Shin-shin-toitsu-do cured a severe and longstanding case of asthma as well. Owing to this, Davey Sensei started studying healing arts that are an adjunct to Shin-shin-toitsu-do. And all of these experiences led to his writing Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation (Stone Bridge Press) in 2001, which received a number of positive reviews in magazines like Yoga Journal in the USA and Tempu magazine in Japan (http://www.japaneseyoga.blogspot.com/).

More than this, however, Shin-shin-toitsu-do opened his eyes to the fact that universal principles actually do exist. In other words, there really are certain things working “beneath the surface” that connect people all over the world and which likewise link different endeavors in life. In discovering the universal principles of mind and body coordination, Davey Sensei also began to unearth ubiquitous traditional and little understood concepts that give life to most Japanese art forms and which could be related to daily living. And this understanding led to his book Living the Japanese Arts & Ways: 45 Paths to Meditation & Beauty (Stone Bridge Press) in 2003. It details a variety of Japanese arts, including calligraphy, flower arrangement, and martial arts, as well as universal principles that underlie these disciplines, which can help us in life (http://www.japaneseartsandways.blogspot.com/).

Learning Shodo

In 1981, Davey Sensei established the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he offered instruction in Shin-shin-toitsu-do and related healing arts as well as martial arts training in Saigo Ryu aiki-jujutsu (http://www.senninfoundation.com/). He was happy teaching these arts that he’d studied since he was young.

Still, when he was training at his childhood judo dojo (judo school), Davey Sensei admired pieces of Japanese brush writing hanging on the walls. He later saw similarities between the watercolor painting he was studying as an art major in college and Japanese ink painting, leading to a desire to practice shodo and/or sumi-e. But he couldn’t find a suitable teacher.

In the 1980s, a friend from Nagoya introduced him to Kobara Ranseki Sensei, one of the top shodo artists living in the United States. Kobara Sensei was the Shihan, or Headmaster, of the Ranseki Sho Juku system of shodo. Davey Sensei asked to learn shodo from him, but he was turned down, as Kobara Sensei rarely accepted new students. Undeterred, Davey Sensei returned more than once to his class, until Kobara Sensei allowed him to join the Wanto Shodo-Kai (“East Bay Shodo Association”), One of the locations where in taught in the San Francisco area.

With Kobara Sensei’s help, he started exhibiting his artwork annually at the International Shodo Exhibition in Urayasu, where he’s received a number of awards, including Jun Taisho—the “Associate Grand Prize.” In 1990, Kobara Sensei honored Davey Sensei with the art name Hiseki, meaning a “Flying Stone,” by combining the “seki” character from his name with the sound “hi” that’s used to write Davey Sensei’s first name phonetically in Japanese. In 1993, he received Shihan-Dai teaching certification from Kobara Sensei, the highest rank in Ranseki Sho Juku calligraphy.

Upon receiving teaching certification, Davey Sensei began offering his students instruction in shodo at the Sennin Foundation Center. Like Shin-shin-toitsu-do and other Japanese arts, shodo is a Way to spiritual realization. In short, it’s more than just brush writing.

Yet many Americans are intimated by the “foreignness” of shodo, and few grasp how it functions as dynamic meditation that leads to concentration, willpower, and calmness. To counteract this, Davey Sensei authored Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony in 1999 through Stone Bridge Press (http://www.brushmeditation.blogspot.com/).

Shodo Awards
Davey Sensei's artwork has been accepted for exhibition at the Kokusai Shodo-ten (“International Shodo Exhibition”) every year since 1988. The Kokusai Shodo Bunka Koryu Kyokai (“International Shodo and Cultural Exchange Association”) and the Japanese Ministry of Education sponsor this prestigious event. It’s one of few shodo exhibitions to receive a stamp of approval from the Japanese government, and in recent years it’s been held in conjunction with a sister exhibition in China, hosted by the association’s Chinese members. In addition to his numerous Kokusai Shodo-ten awards, Davey Sensei’s calligraphy has also been selected out of several thousand entries for inclusion in the Sankei newspaper’s famed annual shodo exhibition. He's received many awards in these international exhibitions, including Jun Taisho, or the "Associate Grand Prize."

Preserving the Arts of Japan
Since the early 1980s, Davey Sensei has preserved and promoted traditional Japanese art forms as meditation. His calligraphic art, ink paintings, and writings have appeared in Japanese and American books, magazines, and newspapers. Some of these publications are:

· The Nichibei Times
· The Hokubei Mainichi
· Gendo
· Furyu
· Yoga Journal
· The Journal of Asian Martial Arts
· Karate-Kung Fu Illustrated
· Designing with Kanji (Stone Bridge Press)
· Shinto Meditations for Revering the Earth (Stone Bridge Press)

In 2000, Davey Sensei wrote The Japanese Way of the Flower: Ikebana as Moving Meditation (Stone Bridge Press) with Ann Kameoka Sensei, a flower arrangement expert (http://www.japanesewayoftheflower.blogspot.com/). He’s also the President of the Sennin Foundation, Inc., a federally tax-exempt nonprofit corporation devoted to the preservation of Japanese cultural arts. The Sennin Foundation, Inc. sponsors Michi Online (http://www.michionline.org)/, an Internet journal of Japanese art, culture, and philosophy.

Davey Sensei has taught Shin-shin-toitsu-do at many different locations in the USA. His demonstrations of martial arts have also taken place throughout the United States and on several occasions at Otakumin Plaza in Tokyo. And he’s demonstrated shodo numerous times around Northern California, in San Francisco’s Japan Town, and during San Francisco’s annual Cherry Blossom Festival.

His commitment to the Japanese cultural arts has been recognized in the form of awards from John B. Callahan, Mayor of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Lisa M. Boscola, Senator for Pennsylvania; the Shudokan Martial Arts Association; the Kokusai Budoin (“International Martial Arts Federation”) of Tokyo; and others.

His latest book is The Japanese Way of the Artist (Stone Bridge Press). You can read more about it here: http://www.japanesewayoftheartist.blogspot.com/.

Integrating Shodo & Meditation--Part Two

2008-06-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

Mind and Body Unification and Shodo
While not everyone wants to study Zen with shodo, most shodo practitioners can still benefit from the practice of meditation and vice versa. Shodo requires a unification of mind, body, and brush similar to the meditative condition.

Many artistic principles and important mental states are universal for the various Japanese Ways. One of the most significant and basic principles that these arts share is the concept of mind and body coordination. While few of us are required to use a brush in daily life, most people are interested in realizing their full potential and enhancing their psychological condition as well as physical health. Since integrating mind and body allows us to accomplish these aims, the relationship between the mind and body, along with how to achieve mind-body harmony, is a main theme in classical Japanese art.

In the case of painting, some adherents speak of a "unity of mind and brush," and make statements, which indicate that "if the mind is correct, the brush is correct." In Japanese swordsmanship, it’s common to hear of a unity of mind, body, and sword. Likewise in Zen, students are encouraged to arrive at mind and body coordination, a state of "self-harmony." These assertions point to the necessity of integrating mind and body in action. Mental and physical harmony is also vital for realizing our potential in daily living, and it remains a central element needed for mastery of any classical Japanese Way.

Yet this concept has rarely been directly articulated in shodo or most other Japanese arts. Students learn it—if they learn it—through years of trial and error. Along similar lines, although teachers may indicate that they view shodo, budo, and other disciplines as equivalent to meditation, exactly how to integrate brush writing and meditation isn’t always explained. Again, students are encouraged to arrive at understanding through years of training and experimentation . . . experiments that don’t always produce results.

Shodo and Shin-shin-toitsu-do
Shin-shin-toitsu-do was created by Nakamura Tempu Sensei in the early 1900s. After living in India, he combined his training in Indian yoga and meditation with Japanese approaches to meditation to arrive at something entirely new and distinctive—an art featuring several methods of seated and moving meditation to help us realize our full potential in a wide variety of subjects. The emphasis is on unification of mind and body, and he logically called his creation Shin-shin-toitsu-do, “The Way of Mind and Body Unification.”

This meditative state of self-harmony is indispensable for producing high caliber fine art. As “proof” of the effectiveness of mind and body unification, after founding Shin-shin-toitsu-do, Nakamura Sensei began creating singular calligraphy and sumi-e painting that’s valued by collectors even now.

However, he was clear that Shin-shin-toitsu-do is not a religion, and he held that it’s not necessary to participate in organized religion to learn about and benefit from meditation. He additionally felt that sitting for long hours of sometimes painful meditation wasn’t always or invariably needed. And along the same lines, Nakamura Sensei explained that unification of mind and body in any activity could be realized through a rational process that uses concretely explained principles and simple experiments, and which is similar to scientific methods.

Because of the ease with which he explained how to immediately coordinate the mind and body, experts in a wide variety of classical arts attended his classes until he passed away in 1968. From martial arts like aikido to fine arts like shodo, students and teachers of traditional Japanese arts learned to simply explain what had been unexplained or hidden for centuries. Yet these teachings of mind and body unification are still little-known outside of Japan.

Integrated Shodo and Meditation
Hiseki Davey Sensei began studying meditation via Shin-shin-toitsu-do in childhood, and his practice continues to this day. His training in Japan and the USA has taken place under several top students of Nakamura Sensei, and Davey Sensei’s book on this subject, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation, has been acclaimed in Japanese, European, and American reviews.

He began studying shodo in the mid-1980s. By using principles of mind and body unification in shodo, he made rapid progress, achieving the top ranking in Ranseki Sho Juku calligraphy in 1993. It took him just seven years.

Since the 1960s, only a handful of people obtained this level of teaching certification, typically after around 15 years of study. Davey Sensei, despite his initial lack of fluency in Japanese, accomplished this in half the usual time. According to his teacher, the legendary and late Kobara Ranseki Sensei, he attained Shihan-dai teaching certification faster than any other student in the history of Ranseki Sho Juku shodo ever did. It is a feat that’s still unequalled.

Both Kobara Sensei and Davey Sensei attributed his rapid progress to his prior advanced meditation training in Shin-shin-toitsu-do. They both acknowledged the importance of coordinating mind and body. Without this ability, the mind may see a Japanese character to be copied and practiced, but the body can be unwilling to effectively reproduce what’s in the mind. It’s as if the mind and body are resisting each other.

Yet when the mind and body work in harmony, images in the mind and ink images on paper match. No skill is possible until this state of harmony is attained.

Realizing the effectiveness of using mind and body coordination principles in art, and with the acknowledgement of his teachers of Shin-shin-toitsu-do and shodo, in 1993 Davey Sensei began linking Shin-shin-toitsu-do principles and Japanese calligraphy. He calls this instructional approach Integrated Shodo & Meditation. It emphasizes group classes in Shin-shin-toitsu-do, combined with private lessons in Japanese calligraphy and ink painting, in which he logically explains how to unite mind, body, and brush. Previous knowledge of shodo, meditation, and/or Japanese language isn’t needed. (Although students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with reading, writing, and speaking Japanese, this can take place as they study shodo.)

His instruction in meditation and shodo is spiritual in nature, but it has no direct connection to any organized religion. Meditation in his classes can take place in various postures, depending on which position is most comfortable for the student, and prolonged hours of seated meditation are not emphasized. Instead, students discover meditation in action—with a brush—and how to integrate the meditative state into daily activities. Davey Sensei also makes no claims of “elevated consciousness” or “Master” status and practices alongside his students.

Using simple concepts, he shows how mind and body unification can be utilized in many different endeavors to increase effectiveness. Borrowing from Shin-shin-toitsu-do, his training centers on fundamental principles of mind and body coordination:

Four Basic Principles to Unify Mind and Body
1. Use the mind positively.
2. Use the mind with full concentration.
3. Use the body obeying the laws of nature.
4. Train the body progressively, systematically, and regularly.

In 1999, to further spread shodo, and to help fellow artists understand how to unify mind and body for greater efficiency, Davey Sensei authored Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony. In it, he outlined five concepts used in Integrated Shodo & Meditation:

Primary Principles for Brush Control & Meditation
1. Grip the brush gently and focus your ki (“life energy”) through the brush tip.
2. Before touching the paper, the tip of the brush must be calm.
3. Relax to let the brush move naturally and with rhythm.
4. The brush follows the movement of ki.
5. Do not cut off your stream of attention.

Despite the new and ground-breaking nature of Integrated Shodo & Meditation, Davey Sensei maintains its connection to classical Japanese aesthetics and philosophy as well as orthodox shodo as it has been handed down for generations in China and later Japan. His use of meditation and mind-body unification concepts makes shodo easier to learn and more appealing to Westerners, but it doesn’t remove it from the realm of traditional Japanese art. Indeed, the idea of mind and body coordination in art is very old in Japan, if not inevitably simply explained.

To further explain shodo to the West, in 2008 the Art of Shodo Blog was launched. If you are interested in studying Japanese calligraphy, you can find out how to learn Integrated Shodo & Meditation at http://www.senninfoundation.com/.

Integrating Shodo & Meditation--Part One

2008-06-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

In 1993, Hiseki Davey Sensei introduced a new program at the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts in California (http://www.senninfoundation.com/). Called Integrated Shodo & Meditation; it continues to this day, and you can read about this program in his books Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony and The Japanese Way of the Artist (Stone Bridge Press).

For now, however, let’s examine the evolution of shodo and Japanese arts, as this makes the relationship between shodo and meditation more clear.

Japanese Art as a Way

Many Japanese art forms end in the term Do, which means the “Way” in the sense of a right and natural Way of living. Stemming from the Chinese idea of the Tao, or the “Way of the universe,” ancient Japanese culture spiritualized a number of everyday activities, allowing them to become moving meditation. Thus cha no yu (“tea ceremony”) became chado—the “Way of tea.” Likewise, budo equals the “martial Way,” shodo is the “Way of calligraphy,” and kado is the “Way of flower arrangement.” The designation Do indicates that these arts can help us realize deeper concentration, calmness, relaxation, and willpower in life. In short, the Do in shodo suggests that artists can move from the art of brush calligraphy to the art of living itself, and the same can be said for other Do forms.

Using “Do” to describe seemingly unrelated activities also indicates that these arts are based on connected principles. Many aesthetics of Japanese dance, for instance, are also found in sumi-e painting. The correct posture discovered in martial arts is also the right posture for brushing Japanese calligraphic art. And the calm and immovable spirit underlying one art of old Japan underlies them all.

Among the most vital of these ubiquitous concepts underlying Japanese art forms are universal principles focusing on coordination of mind and body. When such principles are internalized and understood, arts like shodo can be practiced as meditation, leading to calmness in action. More than this, these principles of mind and body unification can be applied to everyday experience to live well (as opposed to merely existing). When shodo is approached in this manner, it becomes not only dynamic meditation but also an exploration of what it means to live our very lives as art.

The Universal in the Particular
As noted, Japan has traditionally excelled (due in part to the predominance of Zen) in "spiritualizing" comparatively ordinary activities such as brush writing and the martial arts. One's ultimate aim in these Do forms is to perceive the whole of life through a particular enterprise or individual part of living. Master calligrapher, Zen adept, and founder of Muto Ryu swordsmanship, Yamaoka Tesshu, indicated that one of his main martial teachings was "the practice of unifying particulars and universals." He also wrote in his Notes on Kumitachi: "Within these varied techniques there is deep meaning. Cast off subject and object, function as one; abandon self and others, form a single sword." (John Stevens, The Sword of No-Sword, Boulder and London: Shambhala, 1984, p. 142.) D. T. Suzuki, author of numerous books on Zen and Japanese art, likewise made reference to "the One in the Many and the Many in the One."

We can consider a specific technique, or exercise to be copied, as a "particular." In shodo we do not copy a new character exclusively to learn to paint that symbol; and in sumi-e, we aren’t striving to make an accurate copy of bamboo or a bonfire solely to learn to paint these individual pictures. Contained within a given lesson or particular technique is the essence of all techniques. We imitate a particular form to grasp universal principles that allow the technique to work in the first place, and which will finally enable us to transcend the form itself to discover the formless. In doing so, it’s possible to observe that these principles encompass something greater than the individual art we’re studying and amount to lessons in living.

Shodo for the West
Shodo's Japanese aesthetics and universal principles serve to enhance the appreciation and understanding of other Japanese arts, and they can also impact how Western art is engaged in. Owing to this, shodo is making inroads into Western culture, and it’s because of the universal aspects of this art, some of which are detailed above, that Westerners are participating in shodo in growing numbers. Numerous Americans and Europeans are also drawn to shodo's "spiritual message," which is likewise universal in appeal.

Based on the number of teachers of other spiritual disciplines and Japanese arts found in shodo classes, it’s clear that anyone can utilize shodo for personal transformation, a transformation that can then be used in a specific art or calling. This, historically, has been a motivating factor for the gradual emergence of shodo in the West.

Calligraphy teaches us to realize a condition of comprehensive self-mastery. Western and Japanese practitioners of shodo cite expanded attention, improved peacefulness, stronger willpower, and deeper relaxation as just some advantages of their training. This is what inspires many Japanese devotees to partake in calligraphy instruction in the first place. Classes aren’t taken exclusively to better handwriting, as is regularly postulated; rather, Japanese students realize the personal gains that this spiritual discipline offers, advantages that make shodo tantalizing to many Westerners.

But how, historically speaking, did shodo find its way to the West? Americans appear to have first had contact with shodo and sumi-e, to any great degree, following WW II. American artists were searching beyond the limitations of their culture for motivation. Shodo, in general, served as inspiration to numerous Abstract Expressionist painters of the period. Coinciding with this was avant-garde interest, in the late 1940s and '50s, in Zen meditation. Beat poetry was also influenced by Zen and other forms of Buddhism—often as a reaction against materialism.

Abstract Expressionists, such as Franz Kline, frequently worked in black and white, having been affected by monochromatic shodo and minimalist aspects of Zen. At present, famed artists like Robert Motherwell, who has written of his lifelong interest in shodo, and Cleve Gray, are executing works reminiscent of Japanese calligraphy. Motherwell, in addition, produced a series of paintings entitled "Shem the Pen Man," in homage to an expert calligrapher. They feature a calligraphic ideograph suspended in a plot of color.

John Graham, author of System and Dialects of Art, has stressed spontaneous gesture and ecriture, a French word meaning "calligraphy." He suggested individualized ecriture should evoke innovation in a calligraphic fashion that made use of "accidents." Graham, in turn, discovered and influenced Jackson Pollack, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, and David Smith—four of the greatest Abstract Expressionists, who all produced works reminiscent of Japanese calligraphy. Al Reinhardt as well, when he broke away from Cubism in the '40s, turned to shodo for inspiration.

This is natural, in that, shodo and ink painting contain elements ideally matched with Abstract Expressionism. Japanese artists and calligraphers noticed what was taking place in American art of the forties and fifties and were influenced by Abstract Expressionism. In 1951, noted artist Hasegawa Saburo wrote of Franz Kline's work and the fashion in which Asian art was altering Abstract Expressionism. This, along with other articles, began to effect Japanese calligraphers and painters, who started using abstract art for inspiration. In light of the above, it’s evident that contemporary shodo is a spontaneous creative gesture that has as much in common with Abstract Expressionism as it does with the written word.

Once explained, the parallels and historical links between Abstract Expressionism and shodo allow many Western people, who are interested in fine art, to more easily relate to Japanese calligraphy. And when such people further understand how shodo functions as self-realization and meditation, they often want to learn more about this art form.

This is because in shodo, unlike certain activities, one’s degree of mental power also becomes clearly and instantaneously seeable. Shodo makes the immaterial palpable via smooth and elegant monochromatic designs. A person’s character is laid open through the brush, which, though less efficient than a pencil, is a potent device for discovering the smallest wavering of mind or body. The pliant strands of hair in the fude, or “brush,” give birth to radiant, natural symbols, which surpass divisions in nationality. Given, then, the universal character of this ancient way of the brush, and because of its pragmatic advantages, it’s fairly clear why this art leapt from Japan only to land on the shores of 21st century Europe and North America.

Meditation and the Brush
While many Westerners can more easily appreciate shodo when they understand how it parallels abstract art, perhaps shodo’s greatest appeal for people outside of Japan lies in its practice as moving meditation. Because shodo deals with Japanese language, and because it’s not a household name in the West, some individuals are intimated by the seeming “foreignness” of this age-old art. Yet meditation, and the enhancement of calmness and concentration that are its byproducts, has wide appeal. It’s the meditative aspect of Japanese calligraphy that the West seems to most easily identify with.

Meditation allows us to see, understand, and control the mind. As the result, it is ideally paired with shodo, an exacting discipline that requires exceptional concentration and self-control.

And while shodo can function as moving meditation, it’s easier to enter into meditation while sitting still. Thus, students can initially discover meditation sitting in repose, then learn to maintain the meditative state in motion through shodo, and finally sustain this condition of consciousness in everyday activities. Evolving from seated meditation to moving meditation in shodo equals a program for realizing calmness in action.

Meditation practice is clearly valuable to shodo and sumi-e students. That said, shodo and Japanese graphic arts also have much to offer practitioners of meditation.

Meditation involves the mind, but the actions of the mind are invisible. Fortunately the body reflects our mental state. Nervousness can be seen via a tapping foot, while calmness can be witnessed in posture and facial expressions. And whatever the body contacts also expresses the innermost workings of the mind. The way we drive a car or shut a door also reveals anger, composure, and other emotions.

For this reason, shodo experts have long held that calligraphy is an ink painting of the mind. It allows students to immediately see lapses in calmness and concentration. Lines of characters that veer off the page display a wandering mind, and wobbling lines evidence a nervous hand. All of this makes it easier to see into our true nature, a nature that’s only visible through the body. Since direct seeing into reality also lies at the heart of meditation, shodo is particularly useful to meditators.

The shodo-meditation connection isn’t new. It has been acknowledged in Japan, where Zen meditation and calligraphy have a lengthy association.

Zen and Shodo
When people hear about Integrated Shodo & Meditation, they often wonder if this program of instruction has a direct connection to Zen. It does not.

Still, it’s a logical question, in that Zen meditation does have a lengthy history of utilizing shodo as “applied Zen.” Zen is a well-respected school of Buddhism that was founded in the sixth century in India. Its founder was a monk named Bodhidharma (Daruma in Japanese). Shortly after founding Zen, he left for China around 520 A.D. In China, according to tradition, Daruma sat facing a wall for nine years until he achieved enlightenment.

The term Zen comes from the Chinese word Ch'an, a derivation of the Sanskrit Dhyana. The monks Eisai (1141-1215) and Dogen (1200-1253) introduced Zen into Japan from China. Japan’s military ruling class embraced it, and with its message of salvation through meditation, it made inroads into Japanese life. Zen's emphasis on being free from cerebral questioning, and attainment of oneness with the universe, influenced the Japanese cultural matrix, and many aesthetic qualities have a historical correlation to Zen.

Due to its influence in Japan, Zen has also affected Japanese arts such as the tea ceremony and shodo. For some time in Japan, Zen priests (and the public as well) have believed that calligraphy is a direct extension of the mind. Zen has always emphasized "Zen in daily life," in other words, relating the meditative state to everyday activities. As the result, Zen adepts have been expected to be capable of displaying enlightenment through brush writing. Indeed, a number of them, such as Hakuin and Yamaoka Tesshu, were outstanding calligraphers and painters.

Owing to this, Zensho (“Zen calligraphy”) has been valued by the Japanese public, despite the fact that while many Zen monks may be well-trained in Zen, this depth of training hasn’t always carried over into their artistic pursuits. (To put it bluntly, it’s a mistake to think that all art work produced by Zen priests is automatically high-caliber, even if it’s confidently and spontaneously executed.)

Zen, naturally, has influenced Japanese brush writing, like other aspects of Japanese culture, and there’s been some borrowing of terminology. Zen first came into prominence in the West following WWII, when it was embraced by the Beat Generation. Along with an interest in Zen, came an interest in Zen art, including Zen calligraphy. In short, Zen is intimately entangled with the history of shodo in Japan and America.

Nevertheless, it’s important to note that most schools of calligraphy don’t identify themselves as Zensho, and while the calligraphy in Art of Shodo may be derived from a source of inspiration similar to the "spirit of Zen," it isn’t Zensho. Though some overlap of terminology and ideas may be present, Integrated Shodo & Meditation does not deal with Zen Buddhism per se, but perhaps material in its curriculum can be said to be "imbued with Zen" in a broad and generic sense.

Shodo and Religion
If Zen meditation has long been associated with shodo, why create a new program of instruction like Integrated Shodo & Meditation? The reasons are several and simple.

Despite many English language books on Zen, and although the Western public displays interest in this topic, relatively few Americans and Europeans participate seriously in Zen. In other words, when comparing the number of Zen books sold with the much smaller number of people engaging in ongoing meditation for long hours in authentic Zendo (Zen meditation halls), there’s an obvious discrepancy.

Actually sitting in Zen meditation—as opposed to just reading about it—is hard; and people that undertake this sometimes arduous practice are definitely deserving of respect. Bona fide earnest Zen training—participated in year after year—isn’t easy. And it isn’t for everyone.

Likewise, Zen is a sect of Buddhism, an old and esteemed religion. While Buddhism holds great appeal for many Westerners, not everyone wants to adopt this religious practice. Some people participate in other religions, and other individuals prefer not to engage in any organized religion at all.

If the only means to enjoy the profits of both shodo and meditation is to join a particular religion, and spend countless hours sitting in the classical lotus position, the number of participants will be less than is potentially possible. Many people, who could benefit from a program combining meditation and calligraphy, may be left out.

Shodo Explained

2008-06-11T08:57:00.000-07:00

Shodo: A Japanese Path to Moving Meditation
Article and Calligraphy
By
H. E. Davey

(This article first appeared in the May 22, 2004 edition of the Hokubei Mainichi newspaper.)

More and more Americans are captivated by Japan’s traditional art forms. In the 21st century, it’s almost as common for children to participate in martial arts like judo as to play baseball. Your wife may study Japanese flower arrangement, while you read the latest book on Zen released by a major American publisher. Although classical Japanese arts have grown in popularity, they aren’t inevitably well understood, and not everyone realizes that martial arts (budo), flower arrangement (kado), tea ceremony (chado), and other activities are actually spiritual paths.

Note that the terms for each of these disciplines end in the word Do, which means the “Way,” as in a way of life leading to spiritual realization. Not only are such arts more than what’s seen on the surface, numerous other activities were “spiritualized” in ancient Japan. Many of these arts are little known in the West, or at least little understood. One of the most popular arts in Japan, also ending with the designation Do, is shodo—the “Way of brush calligraphy.” Western participation in shodo is much smaller than in Japan, and many people have never heard of it.

Of course, a few American art connoisseurs may have seen shodo in museums or books, and some young people in the USA sport tattoos of Japanese characters. Still, even Westerners that know of shodo seem to think that it’s too esoteric, or too difficult to read, to be accessible to most non-Japanese.

I’m living proof that this needn’t be the case.

Discovering Shodo
I began practicing martial arts at age five, tutored by my father, who had studied these arts initially from Japanese-Americans. He later lived in Japan, where his martial arts study continued and intensified.

In addition to the aiki-jujutsu that I learned from my dad, I enrolled in a local judo school. Even as a child, I admired the beautiful Japanese brush writing on the walls of our dojo, or training hall. I didn’t know what it said, but I knew I liked it.

Skipping ahead a few years, I grew interested in painting and drawing in high school and majored in art in college. I also began studying Japanese language, meditation, and healing. And I still admired the calligraphy I saw in homes and businesses of Japanese-American friends, but no teacher of shodo was available to me.

Jumping forward even further, in 1981, I formed the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts in Northern California. The primary focus of study at the Sennin Foundation Center is Shin-shin-toitsu-do, the “Way of Mind and Body Unification.” Shin-shin-toitsu-do is a form of Japanese yoga and meditation created in the early 1900s by Nakamura Tempu Sensei. In addition to Japanese yoga, the Sennin Foundation Center offers instruction in Japanese healing arts and martial arts (aiki-jujutsu). I teach all three arts, and over the years, I’ve developed teachers to assist me. However, I also wanted to offer my students optional instruction in brush writing. Unfortunately, in 1981, I’d still had not found a shodo teacher that I wanted to study under.

Practice Begins
After searching for years, in the mid-1980s, I met Kobara Ranseki Sensei, one of the most skilled shodo artists living outside of Japan. Deeply impressed, I began practicing with Kobara Sensei, originator of the Ranseki Sho Juku of San Francisco. Kobara Sensei had evolved a distinctive type of shodo and a creative program of instruction. He had, moreover, received numerous awards for excellence from various shodo associations as well as the Japanese government. With his help, I was in time able to exhibit my artwork annually at the International Shodo Exhibition in Japan, where I’ve also received awards, including Jun Taisho—the “Associate Grand Prize.” In 1993, I received Shihan-dai teaching certification, the highest rank in Ranseki Sho Juku calligraphy.

Upon receiving certification, I began offering my students of Shin-shin-toitsu-do instruction in shodo. Like Shin-shin-toitsu-do, shodo is a “Way,” traditionally functioning in Japan as both fine art and moving meditation. As such, it’s ideal for students of Shin-shin-toitsu-do or any type of meditation.

Yet some of my students were intimidated by the “foreignness” of shodo, and few Westerners seem to grasp how it functions as dynamic meditation that leads to deeper concentration, willpower, and calmness. To counteract this lack of understanding, I authored Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony (Stone Bridge Press) in 1999. And I hope this article will also lead to a greater appreciation of shodo and its spiritual components in the West.

The Roots of Shodo
Around 2700 BC, according to Chinese tradition, an enigmatic man with four eyes called Tsangh-hsieh created the first Chinese characters. Captivated by the footprints of beasts and birds, he gave birth to the earliest Chinese system of writing. The God of Heaven was believed to have been so moved by Tsangh-hsieh's bird-based characters that he made grain drop from the clouds as a symbol of his happiness with humankind.

Unfortunately for our four-eyed friend, archaeology paints a different picture. Drawings engraved on pieces of tortoise shell and oracle bone date from the Shang Period in China, which is from 1766-1122 BC. These pictures were the archetypes of Chinese characters.

Ancient shamans would bore holes in the shells and/or bones, which were then placed in a sacred fire. The surfaces of these objects would crack and split. Chinese priests, who etched their impressions of “The Voice of Heaven” on the bone or shell using simple sketches, deciphered the resulting fissures. Eventually these pictographs were utilized for legal transactions, conducted via the exchange of etched strips of bamboo or wood. Later, such writings came into religious and official usage as bell inscriptions.

Much later in history, these inscriptions developed into the kanji, or “Chinese characters,” that Japanese and Chinese are familiar with today. Various script styles, such as kaisho (similar to printing in English), gyosho (a semi-cursive script), and sosho (an abstract, cursive form of writing), eventually evolved.

Starting around 552 AD, many elements of Chinese culture came to the Japanese island nation. Chinese characters also arrived on Japan's shores during this era.

Japan had a spoken language, but no system of writing at this time. Thus, the Chinese method of written communication was readily adopted. Initially the Japanese used the entire multitude of Chinese scripts, embracing quite a few of the Chinese readings while adding as many of their own. Characters were later modified in Japan, and new phonetic scripts called hiragana and katakana were born.

An Ink Painting of the Spirit
The spoken languages and cultures of Japan and China differ greatly, but they share a common set of Asian characters, which although pronounced differently by Chinese and Japanese, often convey similar meanings. It’s important to note here that while these characters are utilized for written communication; Japanese calligraphy should not be thought of as just penmanship. In light of the fact that Chinese characters began as simplified drawings or pictograms, it’s evident that no clear-cut dividing line can be found between drawing, ink painting (sumi-e), and calligraphy. Ink painting and shodo originally used the same brush, ink, and paper. Even certain brush strokes are similar. Shodo can be thought of as a system of writing and abstract art originally based on abbreviated drawings. In characters like mountain (yama), for example, it’s still easy to see three mountain peaks.

Kanji transcended their utilitarian function and collectively serve as visually stirring fine art. Shodo allows the dynamic movement of the artist’s ki ("spirit") to become observable in the form of rich black ink. In great examples of shodo, you sense the rhythm of music as well as the elegant balanced construction of refined architecture. Many practitioners feel that the visible rhythm of Japanese calligraphy ultimately embodies a picture of the mind, and calligraphers recognize that it discloses our spiritual state. This recognition is summed up by the saying: Kokoro tadashikereba sunawachi fude tadashii—"If your mind is correct, the brush will be correct."

Shodo and Mind and Body Harmony
With a bit of thought, it’s apparent that the mind controls the body. Based on this line of thought, it is equally clear that the actions of the body serve as a reflection of the mind. Witness the slumped posture of someone who’s depressed and the shaking hand of a nervous student about to take an exam.

In like manner, in shodo the mind controls the brush through the hand, and the lines the brush creates reflect the mind. In this way, shodo functions as an outer reflection of our mental state.

Some Japanese calligraphers and psychologists have written books on the examination of personality through calligraphy. Just as American companies have employed handwriting analysts to help them select the best individuals for executive posts, the Japanese traditionally expected their leaders in any field to display refined, serene script.

It is even said that health defects are revealed in byohitsu, “sick strokes.” This stems from the belief that brush strokes unveil 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 positively by copying consummate examples of calligraphy by extraordinary individuals. Tradition teaches that using this technique, you cultivate strength of character akin to the artist being copied.

Even today, some of Japan’s highest executives and politicians endeavor to develop traits for success by reproducing the artwork of an emperor or famous religious leader. At its ultimate level, shodo has historically been regarded as a means of refining personality.

What’s more, most people want to realize their greatest personal potential. We want to bring the full force of our minds and bodies to bear upon whatever we do in life. Yet for many of us, it’s difficult to coordinate the mind and body. The body may turn the pages of a magazine or the steering wheel of a car, but our minds are frequently elsewhere. Such lack of attention becomes visibly apparent in shodo, and thus Japanese calligraphy serves as a means of learning how to unite the mind and body. Just as a car only functions well when the front and rear wheels move in the identical direction, we only display our full potential when the mind and body harmoniously work toward a related aim.

In shodo, thoughts and actions must match, and we must direct the full, coordinated energy of the mind and body into the artwork we create. Failure to do so causes characters to end up where we hadn’t intended, lines to nervously quiver, and the overall creation to lack vigor and grace. In essence, shodo offers Americans the same benefit it has traditionally offered Japanese—an instantaneous, visible barometer of mind and body unification.

Shodo for the West
Just as many Western people appreciate jazz, rock and roll, or blues without being able to read music, so too can Americans appreciate shodo when they’re properly exposed to it. Since shodo is an abstract art, it’s not strictly necessary to be able to read Chinese characters or Japanese phonetic scripts to admire the dynamic beauty of shodo. Within Japanese calligraphy, we find the essential elements that constitute all art: creativity, poise, rhythm, gracefulness, and the beauty of line. While shodo is a fun way to learn about Japanese language, initial lack of Japanese reading ability needn’t be a stumbling block to shodo appreciation, and the universal aspects of shodo can be recognized and admired by every culture.

Bringing the mind fully into the immediate moment, realizing mind and body harmony, seeing directly into the actual character of the mind—all of this relates to meditation and all of these points are part of shodo. Shodo remains one of ancient Japan’s most sophisticated arts of moving meditation.

About Art of Shodo

2008-06-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

Shodo is the ancient Japanese art of brush calligraphy. With elements relating to Abstract Expressionism, it’s influenced artists like Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell. Using materials and principles in common with sumi-e ink painting, Japanese calligraphy and painting frequently overlap. But shodo is more than fine art.

In Japan, it has long been regarded as moving meditation, and it is a distinctive path toward spiritual realization. Despite its popularity and lengthy history in Asia, it’s little known and sometimes misunderstood in the West.

The Art of Shodo Blog comprehensively presents this art in all of its many aspects as:

· A time-honored form of writing
· A gateway into the history and culture of Japan
· A graphic discipline that’s long been linked to Western abstract art
· A study of meditation in motion
· A fine art that’s collected by aficionados worldwide
· A contemporary commercial art form valued in advertising and business

In the Art of Shodo Blog you’ll find accurate facts about Japanese calligraphy and painting, books to read, high-quality artwork in our online gallery, information about shodo instruction, and an overview of buying Japanese calligraphy. Prominently featured in the Art of Shodo Blog are the writings and calligraphy of Hiseki Davey Sensei, an internationally acclaimed artist, writer, and teacher. Known to readers worldwide as the author H. E. Davey, he has introduced innumerable people to shodo, martial arts, flower arrangement, and Japanese cultural arts through his many books.

Welcome to the Art of Shodo Blog, a blog dedicated to Kobara Ranseki Sensei (1924-2005), master of Japanese calligraphic art.