Shining Flower

The twin arts of the brush

I used to paint often as a child and a young adult but don't so much anymore.  When I did, it was primarily abstract watercolors in a style that I did not know how to describe, although I did some realist pieces as well.  Only rarely will I take a brush to paper for that purpose anymore.  Occasionally my calligraphy teacher will make reference to painting, putting it on the same level with the written art that we are studying now in my class.  I haven't paid it much attention, frankly, being so focused on and motivated by the brilliant contrast between black and white and "separate heaven" in the one realm of the written image...

But now that I'm planning an upcoming trip to Washington, D.C. and checking out what exhibitions are on at the Sackler Gallery I see something that has the potential to change my attitude, probably for the better.  They have an amazing show called Tales of the Brush:  Literary Masterpieces of Chinese Painting and the online exhibition's Gallery Guide notes make reference to all sorts of new (to me) concepts as qiyun shendon ("spiritual resonance and lifelike motion") and The Three Perfections (poetry, painting and calligraphy).  While reading about these developments I encountered this passage which sheds some very interesting light on the intersection of calligraphy and painting:

In addition to using common materials, calligraphy and painting have long been thought of as springing from the same creative source and requiring the same technical skills in execution, an idea concisely expressed by Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322), a leading master of the early Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), in his famous poetic dictum describing identical technical approaches to writing and painting:

Do the rocks in flying-white, the trees in ancient seal script,
And render bamboo as if writing in clerical characters:
Only if one is truly able to comprehend this, will he realize
That calligraphy and painting are essentially the same.

Fascinating.  I haven't yet mastered any of the scripts (still only four years into standard script, which they say takes ten years to master) and so I couldn't fully understand how seal script is ideal for drawing trees or clerical script is a natural fit with bamboo.  But these links hint at a separate world I have yet to explore and the possibility for learning more excites me. 

Calligraphy while roughhousing: Shinsengumi's Okita Soji takes matters into his own hands

I just started watching NHK's 2004 Taiga Drama Shinsengumi! tonight and spotted a scene in which calligraphy plays a small part.  Okita Soji (played by Fujiwara Tatsuya), rather the mischievous type as a young man, chases and tackles someone to the ground.  He then takes out a brush and begins to paint large strokes on the man's eyebrows as they both laugh.

He then declares to the onlookers (who are busy discussing the arrival of Commodore Perry's infamous Black Ships) that they were playing a game and whoever won got to paint the loser's face.  This is the first time I've seen any writing on the body (although maybe you wouldn't call this writing unless you count each of those brows as 一 strokes) since The Pillow Book.  Just a glimpse into the lighter side of the brush.

Companions in space also practice calligraphy

I was just watching the Firefly episode "Bushwhacked" when all of a sudden I spied an unexpected calligraphy scene -- companion Inara Serra is practicing quietly in her room while watching over River Tam, who's sleeping in the corner.  I was rather tickled!  It's rare that calligraphy seeps into the science fiction that I watch (the last time was Keiko O'Brien having a flashback on Star Trek: The Next Generation).  It's like a bonus.

Unfortunately the brush strokes make it clear that whoever did the actual calligraphy, while artistically inclined, hasn't formally studied calligraphy in a classroom under the instruction of a teacher.  (That's also not the Chinese way of holding a brush.)  Those strokes, especially in the 年 above where she's writing, are too curly and not trending in the right direction with the appropriate variances of width, either.  Still, I have to say it's pretty cool to see someone doing it on TV.  Maybe it'll inspire a viewer or two to look up a class somewhere in their community?

For those who aren't familiar with Firefly, it's set in a hypothetical 26th century where Occidental and Chinese cultures have merged to a certain degree and so it's not uncommon to see Asian influences in the scenery, most notably Chinese slang and curses emanating from the main characters when they get frustrated.  (Apparently there aren't that many actual Chinese people in the 26th century if you take the show's ethnic representation at face value, though!)  So that's probably why Inara is practicing Chinese calligraphy.  Some enterprising Firefly fans have set up a site called the Firefly-Serenity Chinese Pinyanary, so if you're curious about how Chinese (mostly Mandarin) language has been incorporated into the dialogue it's worth a look.

Another seal sighting on a bottle of milk coffee

I'm in San Francisco on business for a short while and last night as I stopped in a 7-11 for a snack I came across this bottle of Japanese milk coffee.  It was hanging out there in the cooler right next to the usual American drinks with no obvious labeling in English save something interesting:  a little seal-like design in red and white reading "Milk & Coffee" in a cute pen font.  I don't think I've ever seen a seal used for an English translation before.  Kind of neat.

Putting forth my best effort

This was the scene yesterday at my calligraphy school in Manhattan.  I had the day off from work and was determined to turn in the best possible version of our Tanabata assignment, but unfortunately things did not go the way I had hoped.  I did submit something but am not feeling too great about it.  Rather frustrated in fact but I probably learned some things in the process of working on this piece and just don't know it or haven't realized it yet.  The characters 鳥 and 雨 were particularly tricky for me this time around -- I don't know why.  I knew in a mental sense what I needed to do to correct them but somehow my hand could not execute.  Oh well. 

Calligraphy of the sacred blade: an engraved sheath from Shogun's Ninja

Here's something I've never seen before:  calligraphy inscribed directly on the scabbard of a sword.  I was watching Shogun's Ninja, a delicious corntastic cheesefest of a movie, on Friday night to wind down and start the weekend when early on in the movie I saw this example of calligraphy and had to take a closer look.

It reads Nam'myouhyourengekyou (南無妙法蓮華経), a Buddhist chant associated with the Nichiren sect, which Wikipedia refers to as the daimoku (題目).  This scabbard rests at the side of Shiranui (played by the legendary Sonny Chiba) as he receives instructions from Toyotomi Hideyoshi.  Not sure what the Nichiren link is but I was intrigued by the inscription on the scabbard.  The characters are florid and watery, not in a style I would think to associate with samurai.

Calligraphy for two: Curse of the Golden Flower

Tonight I'm watching Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower and what do I find but a scene involving calligraphy.  Here, Gong Li and Chow Yun-Fat (as Emperor Ping and Empress Phoenix) perform calligraphy in honor of the Chrysanthemum Festival in an interesting episode of ritual-slash-performance art.

Here is a shot of the inkstone and brush.  Everything in this production is gilded and so the inkstone is placed on a golden plate, it seems.  The black ink, brush and inkstone are in rather stark contrast to the gold and technicolor surroundings.

And here is the work of calligraphy itself as Emperor Ping and Empress Phoenix are applying the final stroke to the character 義.  It reads, from right to left:  "Loyalty, Filial Piety, Ritual, Righteousness."  It seems a bit off balance to me but maybe that was intentional -- the characters are hardly balanced people themselves and perhaps that's meant to show through in their calligraphy.  Plus, I don't know how on point it would be if someone were guiding someone else's hand.  But interesting nonetheless.

The calligraphy of a food fanatic: Kuitan's "Itadakimasu"

I'm pretty sure Buddhism has a prohibition against gluttony, but that doesn't stop the gluttonous protagonist of Japanese drama Kuitan from engaging in a little Zen-enabled meditation on his voracious appetite.  They show him calmly meditating before beginning to write as you see here at left, but something makes me think he's a little less than focused:  he forgets to leave enough space for the す at the end of いただきます (Itadakimasu, an expression of gratitude said before meals in Japan) and so has to tack it on at the bottom right hand corner of his composition.

That doesn't stop our bold gourmand hero, however:  here he is seen taking inspiration from his motto, seated seiza-style on a zabuton holding a cat in a very meditative pose.  Corny to say the least but I take this to signify that he is determined in his quest for new food discoveries.  For more on the show Kuitan, see the post on my main blog.

Calligraphy as dessert: God of Cookery's "Heart"

Last weekend I watched God of Cookery with a friend and what did I find but a scene in which calligraphy and dessert were merged!  Deliciously!  Here main character Stephen Chow presents his "Rainbow with Flowers" creation, bringing all critics and competitors up short with his masterful marriage of artistic and culinary talent.  When an astonished cooking competition official exclaims that the character means "heart," Chow responds "Right!  We must rely upon our heart to make the perfect dish!" 

The force of the written image: Oda Nobunaga's "Tenka Fubu"

I'm now watching NHK's 2002 Drama, Toshiie to Matsu, about 16th-century daimyo Maeda Toshiie and his renowned wife.  They begin as vassals to warlord Oda Nobunaga, the first general to unite Japan.  As Oda begins his campaign of unification there is a scene in the drama when he unveils a new slogan, "Tenka Fubu."  This is loosely translated as "Rule by Might" in the drama's English subtitles. 

Tenka Fubu is presented in bold calligraphic style for the occasion as Oda (here portrayed by actor Sorimachi Takashi) strides forward in the castle chamber, proudly announcing this new policy.  I like the fact that calligraphy is integrated into this sort of ceremonial event.  Perhaps to Oda and his contemporaries it was simply what was done.  I like the way in which it is rendered here:  full of character, slightly rustic in some places.