Classes in Japan - Part I
In 2014 I traveled to Japan with the main purpose of continuing my studies in Japanese calligraphy through a teacher, and it was then that I had the great opportunity to meet Hikita Masao 疋田雅夫, calligrapher and shodo teacher.
We were ushered into a large room with a low central table, fully carpeted floors and two enormous Buddhist altars that made us feel the invisible presence of his ancestors and also of his late teacher, Tonomura Randen 殿村藍田. We sat around the table, and then proceeded, as they do in Japan, with the formality of introductions (in Japanese), something we had been practicing during the year in Madrid, and which not only helped the teacher to know more about all those present, but was also received by him as a detail to be appreciated. After delighting in a brief tea ceremony (Hiroko-san's matcha tea was delicious) in the room they have available for this purpose (with its tokonoma, its views of the house's interior garden...), we were able to give him the gifts we brought from Spain with great enthusiasm, and with the hope that they would be to his liking. And it seems that we were successful! We were very happy that all those sweets, wines and liquors, cheeses, nougats and polvorones and, of course, Iberian ham, not only arrived safe and sound at their destination, but were received with great surprise and joy.
While Hiroko-san was tidying up the living room after our visit, Hikita Sensei showed us into a small room that connected the entrance hall to the large living room. A small room full of art, reserved for the large collection of ancient Chinese pieces related to his work. To one side of the door, an illuminated glass display case overflowing with stones for carving seals, carefully arranged and classified for the delight of those of us who were there. We took advantage of the moment to ask him some questions about the origin of these stones and their uses, and while he was explaining, he was taking out other fundamental pieces in his collection, the suzuri. Hikita Sensei has been travelling to China for many years, his work as a calligrapher is closely related to the classical art of this country, and during his continuous comings and goings he has managed to bring back pieces that are truly valuable for their historical and artistic content. Thinking that those delicately carved and painted pieces were originally sedimentary stones from a river in China, helped us to understand even more the esteem that the Orientals feel for them and to understand why they are given the name of “treasure”, which, together with the brush, paper and ink, form the well-known “Four Treasures of Calligraphy”.
Another thing that caught my attention was the area reserved for the works of the master, Tonomura Randen 殿村藍田, who gave him a large part of his work for his care. Numerous kakejiku, makimono and other unfinished pieces were rolled up, hurriedly occupying every space in that large wooden shelf in the old Chinese style (possibly it was) and which occupied the entire surface of one of the walls, which seemed to be supported by stacks of boxes and packages of papers and study books piled at various heights. Our work place, two long tables, more than enough to be occupied by the twelve new and excited students who had just arrived; one of them with a normal height to be used with chairs or stools, and the other traditional style, lower, to work sitting on the floor. Covered with long shitajiki of dark blue, almost black, and with all the necessary materials to begin, Hikita Sensei began with the first explanations of the work that awaited us. Akiko translated while showing us several examples that the master had prepared for us, and which we could then choose according to our preference, either for the meaning or for the aesthetics of the calligraphy. They were phrases and words related to Zen Buddhism, calligraphed in regular kaisho style, and all presented in the same format, within the figure of a fan. After learning the meaning of each one of them and each one taking the one chosen to learn, we learned more about the kaisho style and its variants through practical examples from the master himself. These variants of the same style, which do not have names but are linked to the period or dynasty to which they belong by their origin in order to refer to them, also served to observe a new way of holding the brush (different from the one we knew and used), the correct position of the arm and the movement that we had to make with our body to be able to make each stroke.
A first day of school so exciting and encouraging that, despite the tiredness we still felt after the trip, it made it difficult for us to sleep that night.
On a later trip to Kyoto, I visited him again, and during a snack offered by the master in his home-studio, I spoke to him about the possibility of traveling to Japan with some of my students from Madrid to take instruction with him. This proposal was received with great acceptance by him, and almost immediately, I began preparations with the help of my friends Akiko and Reiko, upon arriving back in Madrid. For almost the entire year we were involved in organizing a group trip, made up of some of the students who accepted the invitation to accompany me. In order to make the most of the purpose of the trip, it occurred to us to schedule some activities related to Japanese calligraphy and painting, such as visits to some factories and workshops for the artisanal production of brushes, papers and ink, which I will talk about later in other articles. And after a lot of work and great expectation, the big moment arrived. It has been a fortnight, without a doubt, unforgettable for everyone.--------------------------------------------------------------- We arrived in Japan, after a long but very fun trip, on a Sunday, to start shodo classes the next day in the morning. Akiko was waiting for us at Kyoto station to accompany us to Hikita Sensei's house, since one of her jobs was to be an interpreter for the duration of the classes. I was very restless and eager to get to the teacher's house. Also, I wanted to see the look of astonishment on the students' faces when they discovered where we were going to receive the classes, I knew they were going to be very excited (just like I was the year before). I had told them a lot about that house, a 300-year-old architecture, which, despite having undergone some reforms, completely maintained the traditional Japanese structure and style. As we walked through the entrance door, a plum tree as old as the residence itself greeted us, and crossing the noren of the house, Hikita Sensei and his wife Hiroko-san were waiting for us with a smile. In the same entrance hall we were able to enjoy several works of calligraphy hanging on the walls, antique Chinese-style carved furniture, and of course, an ikebana in keeping with the autumn season, which was the star of the room.
How many things we were already learning, and we had only been in his house for an hour! Still open-mouthed, we prepared to go up to his studio, which for me (and I think for everyone else) was the best place in the house. The upper floor was intended for Hikita Sensei's workplace, with a small office and his personal studio. We went up in single file up those steep wooden stairs, crossed a hallway flanked by a bookcase, until we reached what was to be our workspace for several days. Before we could assimilate all the visual information that was coming to us and that we had no time to digest, the smell of ink enveloped us, causing us to enter a state of relaxation conducive to practice. I could spend hours trying to describe this wonderful studio, which immediately provokes a strong need to take up the brushes for hours, because all you could find there were samples of a long history of study and dedication to the practice of the disciplines of Japanese painting and calligraphy. The paintbrush racks protected the corners at the back of the room, as tall as a person; and another of the tasks carried out by Hikita Sensei was to advise on writing and painting materials to various factories in China, so that each of the samples of brushes to be analyzed and studied by him were present there. Brushes of all thicknesses and sizes, of all kinds of animal hair, also of feathers and down and even of bamboo canes crushed at their ends to make their fibers behave almost like a lock of rough and shaggy hair.
Two hours after practicing in strict silence, one by one we went to where the master was so that he could choose from each of us the practice that he considered best elaborated, and later we received from his hand the seal with each of the stones that he had carved himself for each of us with a kanji that we had chosen before the trip and that we wanted to use as a nickname and signature. The next day he showed us the final result while he informed us of his intention to present these works in kakejiku, also adorned with a painting of his own and that can be seen in January in the annual exhibition that the master organizes with the works of his students. We really felt flattered and excited with the news of being part of his group of students and collaborating with an exhibition in Japan, what an honor!
