Categories
JapaneseCulture

Shodo

Shodo

Shodo literally means “The way (second kanji character in the image above) of the writing (first kanji in the image above)”. It is the art of writing with a brush and ink on a special paper. It is taught in Japanese schools as a part of the Japanese language curriculum. Either way, it is not very common nowadays, although it is still used on New Year’s cards, in special occasions when money is handed out in envelopes, etc. There are also true artists who practice Shodo professionally. To become really good, it is said that you need several years of very hard training.

During the Vulcanus in Japan programme some years ago, we had a few Shodo lessons. One of the most important things is to always keep the brush perpendicular to the surface and to follow the proper order of the strokes.

Shodo

Fude: brush made out of bamboo and horse hairs.
Sumi: ink you pour into the stone container (Suzuri)
Hanshi: special paper for ink writing.
Shitajiki: protection you need to place underneath the paper.
Bunchin: weight to hold the paper in place.

Shodo

Shodo
Practicing

Shodo
Presenting the results

For those interested, you can buy Shodo kits with all you need from 3,000 Yen in specialized Japanese stationery stores.

Categories
JapaneseCulture

Japanese tea ceremony

When I first arrived to Japan I attended a typical Japanese tea ceremony. Known in Japan as chanoyu (茶の湯) or chado (茶道), it is a ritual that has its origins in Zen Buddhism. The preparation is very laborious and some very strict steps must be followed. Even the angle in which things are placed is important. It’s also curious the fact that the ritual changes depending on the season. It is said that you need several years to learn all the steps in the tea ceremony. For those of you who want to know all the details, nothing better than the article in Wikipedia.

Japanese tea ceremony

Japanese tea ceremony

Japanese tea ceremony

Japanese tea ceremony

Categories
JapaneseCulture

Yayoi Kusama Pumpkin

I discovered Yayoi Kusama when I first visited Matsumoto, her hometown. We had to kill some extra time and we walked by museum, we entered and it was full of Yayoi Kusama’s art. It was pretty impressive-shocking, her art is very original-unique. Later I knew about her when AU KDDI launched their Iida phones designed by Yayoi Kusama.

Two weeks ago I visited Naoshima, an amazing island full of interesting architecture-art-museums. In Naoshima there is also one piece of art made by Yayoi Kusama, my favorite one. It is a big yellow super-saturated pumpkin placed in a beach, awesome! They could put this in the LOST island and it would make “sense” 🙂

Calabaza

Calabaza

Calabaza

Calabaza
De izquierda a derecha: Pablo, la calabaza de Yayoi y yo.

Calabaza

Calabaza

Calabaza

Calabaza

Calabaza
La playa vista desde la calabaza.

All about Yayoi Kusama at Artsy.net