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dogsbody70 (Offline)
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12-16-2010, 02:59 PM

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Originally Posted by ryuurui View Post
Calligraphy is an art. One person likes abstract painting and another likes heavy metal. I would not call it the latter an art, but then again some people call an avant-garde calligraphy an " ink stained paper".

The good thing is that sho has many styles, thus everyone can find something he or she likes. Even I do not like every single piece of calligraphy I see. My teacher has hanged recently a very intriguing piece of work in his studio. For me it is still artistically undecipherable. Simply, I am not yet "calligraphically" mature to appreciate it. He told me: "I will show it to you in 10 years times. You will be ready then."

Coming to Japan to rest is like going to Germany during 1940 to spread Jewish religion. It is not happening.
re the last sentence-- maybe that is why she prefers to study hard in UK.

she has family responsibilities but her real desire is permanent residency here in UK== its not going to happen though.

I am loving all your work and thank you for sharing it with us all Ryuurui.

YOu have a passion for your work-- thats wonderful.
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ryuurui (Offline)
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12-16-2010, 04:27 PM

What I like in UK is that people can take a joke about themselves and laugh about it. Rare treat. I have many British friends and i like the rawness and naturalness. Some may argue if there is not too much of it at times, haha, but I don't mind. Prefer that than plastic people.

Japan has its pros and cons. Tokyo is stressful while countryside is peaceful. Trick is to find the peace within ourselves, then it is nearly not important where we live. Hope she can find what she is looking for in UK.

Well, as I said before I write every day, and I am happy to share my works on the forum. If there is only one person that enjoys them , it is already worth it.
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12-17-2010, 09:40 AM

I am sure that many will appreciate your work Ryuurui
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12-17-2010, 10:36 AM

I hope so too.

As I mentioned above, works have no seals as I am carving a new set.

童心 child's mind







鳳  Feng (male chinese firebird)




光風  (lit. shining wind) beauty of nature
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12-17-2010, 01:24 PM

these different styles are fantastic.


It is clear how much you love writing these. also so much history.
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ryuurui (Offline)
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12-17-2010, 04:20 PM

Chinese or Japanese calligraphy is usually associated with standard or semi-cursive style, as they are the most "readable". The paradox is that the farther back in time we go the more mysterious calligraphy gets.

Seal scripts and oracle bone scripts are brilliant in its rawness and primordial beauty. In my opinion they stimulate the imagination of the viewer most effectively. 3000+ years ago, humans were much closer to the nature and drew heavily from its forces, be it art or every day life. This is why those styles are so mesmerizing.

Nonetheless, they are rarely being displayed, as it takes years of practice to be able to express essential to calligraphy vigor and energy flow, while preserving their original appearance. Sadly, today majority prefers easy and effort-less aesthetics, which ironically drags us farther from our true nature.

Glad you like them, Bsabs.
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12-18-2010, 02:03 PM

無心 free from obstructive thoughts




無為 inactivity (Zen - action through inaction)




徳 virtue
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12-18-2010, 02:57 PM

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Originally Posted by ryuurui View Post
円相  one stroke circle of one's nature / energy (Zen philosophy)
below: 無心 (free from obstructive thoughts)

A bit belated, but I really like this one.

It reminds me of this time my friend and I were on the train in Kyoto (she was studying sumi-e too). Our teacher had told us about the one-stroke zen circle and we'd had a go at painting them, but that had been months before and we'd mostly forgotten about it. As we were sitting, a man got on the train wearing Kimono. It was morning, and we were used to seeing women in kimono on that line at weekends, and the occasional monk, but a man in kimono was a bit of a rarity, so naturally, we were curious. He was dressed head to toe in black and white. Discreetly trying to peek at his outfit, we discussed who he might be or where he might be going. We weren't alone in this, needless to say on a modern train, he stood out a little! Yet I'd like to stress that he didn't seem flashy or wearing it like a costume. To say this man was showing off would be like accusing a fish of being too good at swimming. Anyway, it was a little warm on the train, and in due course he got out a fan. It was a white folding fan (silk, we thought) with a little red one-stroke circle painted on it.
My friend described him as living calligraphy. It's still the first thing I think of when I see a painted circle.
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12-18-2010, 09:14 PM

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A bit belated, but I really like this one.
My friend described him as living calligraphy.
Nice one, Columbine.

Black robes, sounds like a Zen Buddhism monk. People like this do happen but are rare. One of them is my teacher, who is such an amazing person. Extremely knowledgeable yet insanely humble and natural. He is like a walking human fossil to me. People studying calligraphy are completely different, as showing their true feelings is their art. After 60+ years of studying, as you friend brilliantly put, he has became a calligraphy itself.

I think that is what 無方 (muhou) stands for. It literally means "no shape" or "no direction", where unity of soul and knowledge is so advanced that the work seems to have "no form" or follows "no direction". It is the essence of form and aesthetics as well as it is a direction of its own by means of following or suggesting none. When you look at a calligraphy written by a person like that its like looking at a live organism that breathes, thinks and feels. It is because he has become one with what he or she creates. In terms of 21st century, it would be comparable to Neo becoming the Matrix itself.

I just came back from an 60th anniversary of All Japan Calligraphy Association, where many works of that scope were displayed. I will post some pictures in a while.

Going back to the enso circle or self, it is one of the most difficult strokes in calligraphy. The difficulty is not hidden in "drawing" a line that goes round the page, but writing one that depicts one's energy. Calligraphy matures with life experience therefore age, and technique is also important but in a way secondary. If one cannot write with his soul, but does it with the brush, it will never be calligraphy but merely shuuji, despite how much time he or she devotes to studying proper technique.
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12-19-2010, 11:46 AM

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Originally Posted by ryuurui View Post
Nice one, Columbine.

Black robes, sounds like a Zen Buddhism monk. People like this do happen but are rare. One of them is my teacher, who is such an amazing person. Extremely knowledgeable yet insanely humble and natural. He is like a walking human fossil to me. People studying calligraphy are completely different, as showing their true feelings is their art. After 60+ years of studying, as you friend brilliantly put, he has became a calligraphy itself.
That would make sense. He got on at Shijo and got off at Tofukuji, so we assumed he had business at the temple there. I've met a few people like that so far in my life. They don't so much have charisma, as ~atmosphere~. I can't describe it, but it's like discovering a really huge ancient tree suddenly on your front lawn, which is awe-inspiring enough, but then it also talks. An air of gravitas, maybe, without being too solemn.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ryuurui View Post
I think that is what 無方 (muhou) stands for. It literally means "no shape" or "no direction", where unity of soul and knowledge is so advanced that the work seems to have "no form" or follows "no direction". It is the essence of form and aesthetics as well as it is a direction of its own by means of following or suggesting none. When you look at a calligraphy written by a person like that its like looking at a live organism that breathes, thinks and feels. It is because he has become one with what he or she creates.
I like to think of it like when you start, you start out like the source of a little stream, and the more you flow along, the wider and deeper you get, until you finally emerge not ~into~ a sea, but AS one. And of course seas flow in all directions and yet none, and are not so much an end point, as a change in form; becoming rain and by becoming rain, becoming all other water too. So at the end of it all, you are no longer that river, but 'water' at it's simplest concept.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ryuurui View Post
I just came back from an 60th anniversary of All Japan Calligraphy Association, where many works of that scope were displayed. I will post some pictures in a while.
Sounds brilliant. Can't wait to see them!

Quote:
Originally Posted by ryuurui View Post
Going back to the enso circle or self, it is one of the most difficult strokes in calligraphy. The difficulty is not hidden in "drawing" a line that goes round the page, but writing one that depicts one's energy. Calligraphy matures with life experience therefore age, and technique is also important but in a way secondary. If one cannot write with his soul, but does it with the brush, it will never be calligraphy but merely shuuji, despite how much time he or she devotes to studying proper technique.
It's very true. We had a book of examples done by masters to look at when we first tried it, and even though my friend got quite close to managing one that was ~technically~ correct, there was still a very tangible difference between our efforts and the ones in the book. I guess we didn't have enough soul!

I always found it fascinating how our class could study the same technique, paint the same copy of the same example picture and yet the pictures all turn out so vastly and completely different. Just those little differences in how you sit, apply ink to the brush, the size of your hand and your mood at the time you paint leaves it's mark on the artwork. It's quite revealing really.
"This one always tries to correct her mistakes, this one's very flexible, this one anxious or frustrated, this one care-free and fluid..."
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