Classes in Japan - Part IV
After several days going to the sensei's house, we took a two-day break, which we took advantage of to dedicate to free plans, and although each one's purposes led us to do different activities, we did not hesitate to visit together one of my favorite stores of craft materials for painting and calligraphy, both located on the same street, Nijo, very close to Kamogawa.
These amazing shops are a delight for those of us who love oriental art and for many it was almost impossible to contain our desire to buy everything that could be found in them, because for us, a place like this is impossible to imagine in our cities. It took us a long time, as it was important to think carefully about what was really necessary to take to Spain (and its consequent bulk and weight) since we had already received a large number of utensils from Hikita Sensei, all of them of Chinese origin and of very good quality. We then focused on the characteristic items of each of the shops, looking for something different from what we already had and also something that was really useful: papers decorated with all kinds of motifs, tanzaku and shikishi and their original supports, metallic coloured inks, sheets of chiyogami paper with a whole range of colours and prints that made it more difficult to choose… And more than one brush was a temptation that ended up in the shopping bag of more than one.
Looking forward to the next class, that Sunday we met up with our dear teacher again, and on this occasion we also got to meet his young daughter Kaori-chan, who took photos during the class and later gave us an album with the best memories of the day, with a beautiful arigatou written by her own hand on the cover. It touched our hearts, Kaori-chan, thank you. After having practiced for several days with one type of brush, it was time to use a smaller and finer one, the kofude, and thus begin writing the four seasons in hiragana, which served as an example for learning kana. Nakamura-san gave each of us a choice from a variety of small brushes found on one of the tables; and after carefully observing the directions marked by Hikita Sensei, we were able to begin repeating his guidelines. Just like we did with the big brush, we used the kofude in a different way than we were used to, and we liked that because we realized the richness gained in our strokes in terms of registers depending on how we held our brush.
We were also taught the importance of using sumi ink, especially when working on kana writing, as it provides the optimum variation from black to grey to achieve the true beauty of these delicate, small letters. To help us better understand his explanations, the master took out of one of the cabinets in the studio several drawers filled with ink sticks of all sizes and shapes, many of them perfectly decorated, and he even showed us some very old ones. Nakamura-san then gave us a demonstration on the correct way to grind the ink stick on the suzuri. It takes time to get enough to work with and the desired thickness and consistency. He added a few small drops of water to the top of the suzuri and then rubbed the stick in circles to break it up, with the necessary softness and delicacy, and at the same time we learned even more interesting things about its preparation, as well as its conservation.
Back to practice, an added difficulty in the writing exercise consisted of connecting with a delicate but visible line the two letters (actually syllables) that made up each of the names of the seasons of the year in Japanese: haru, natsu, aki and fuyu. Something new for many, since this type of uninterrupted writing, called renmen, has not been learned by everyone during my classes. We all liked the feeling that this subtle writing provokes in one. While we were all concentrating on our respective works, the teacher took advantage of Luciana's presence that day to share with her some of his knowledge about painting, and after offering her his box of gansai watercolors, he left her working at the table where she was sitting, on the floor, so that she could work on painting some chrysanthemums and also talk about the knots of bamboo and its twigs. From time to time I watched her, something that managed to make me smile, since I always enjoy seeing her take up her brush. I was very glad that she was there at last, sharing every moment with us, because without her I felt that something was missing. Since Luciana's field of study was not exactly calligraphy, Hikita Sensei did not hesitate to show her some books dedicated to painting published by his teacher and also unrolled several of the pieces he kept, so that she could enjoy them and, of course, analyze them and thus learn from them.
Time flew by, and much to our chagrin, the last day of practice arrived, and we already felt at home, thanks to our attentive and loving hosts. Many of us were already starting to miss this place and its family even before entering, but we were quickly overcome with joy when Hikita Sensei said good morning and Hiroko-san encouraged us to go up to the studio while greeting us with her deep bows. In reality, we couldn't be happier...
