Information
| Title: | 四海皆春, Shikai mina haru: “Four seas, all spring” |
| Media: | Ink on paper |
| Size: | 136 cm by 34 cm (framed/mounted size: 194 cm by 45 cm) |
| Date: | c. 2001 |
Description
A blend of sōsho and gyōsho (known as gyō-sōsho) calligraphy and a brush painting of three shrimp.
This piece was created when I (Mashuu) first met Matsuura Hokuryū-sensei back in late 2001.
I had been studying with Ikeda Keisen-sensei, the headteacher of the school at which I worked, for a few months. Keisen-sensei was a member of the Kyūryū Calligraphy Association that had been founded the year before by Hokuryū-sensei. I joined in August 2001 and began submitting small pieces to the association every month.
Hokuryū-sensei would visit Numata in northern Gunma prefecture one Sunday every month to give a lesson to the calligraphy teachers based in the area. He travelled from his home in southern Saitama prefecture, a journey of about 90 minutes by car. He would typically arrive mid-morning, leave in time to be home for dinner, and spend the intervening hours writing calligraphy constantly.
He would…
- correct the teachers’ and their senior students’ calligraphic works using red ink,
- write full-size versions of the pieces printed in the current month’s calligraphy magazine, and
- produce original works for the teachers and their students to use as examples (known as o-tehon) to copy for their own submissions to the calligraphy association and calligraphy exhibitions.
In addition, he would review the schedule of submission deadlines and events, distribute various forms and other documents, and sell custom-made brushes and paper for specific sizes and types of calligraphic works.
All the time, he would be smiling, joking, and smoking (brush in his right hand, cigarette in his left).
Matsuura Hokuryū (bottom right) in a photo taken during the Kyūryū Calligraphy Association’s 2005 trip to Xi’an, China.
As I was unsure at the time how much longer I would be able to stay in Japan, Keisen-sensei asked if I could be allowed to sit in on one of these Sunday sessions as it would be a rare chance to see a professional calligrapher in action. Permission was granted, and he took me along to a meeting room in the offices of a construction company in Numata (one of the other teachers had free use of the room on weekends).
It was remarkable. I have watched many other professional calligraphers write since then, but none of them writes anywhere near as wonderfully as Hokuryū-sensei. He dances.
It was while watching him that it first dawned on me that calligraphy was not simply about finished works; it was very definitely a performance art.
Because of his great skill – developed, according to legend, by a very Spartan training regime in his youth – Hokuryū-sensei is able to write characters with a small brush which have greater presence than run-of-the-mill calligraphers can write with much larger brushes. Indeed, one of Hokuryū-sensei’s favorite sayings is “write small, show big” (小さく書いて、大きく見せる; chiisaku kaite, ōkiku miseru).
Moreover, he holds the brush at 45 degrees to the paper. Normally, calligraphers write with the brush held vertically in order to generate plenty of spring in the tip. Hokuryū-sensei, though, can generate more-than-sufficient spring while holding the brush in a much more debonair manner.
I ended up going to these Sunday lessons every month a few years later. I would love to share some of the fantastic stories – bits of calligraphy lore – that Hokuryū-sensei recounted on these occasions, but I shall save them for another time.
At the end of this first lesson in late 2001, the other attendees had begun to wash Hokuryū-sensei’s brushes and help pack away his things. As I didn’t want to break anything, I kept out of the way. Hokuryū-sensei noticed me and said, “I haven’t written anything for you, Mashū. What would you like?”
I was naturally a bit starstruck and replied that the chance to watch Hokuryū-sensei write had been treat enough in itself.
Without saying anything, Hokuryū-sensei took a long sheet of paper, filled a clean metal ashtray with ink and water, picked up a brush, and began to write.
A few minutes later, he had produced the work above. If you look closely, you’ll see that even his signature (known as a rakkan) is in the shape of a shrimp.
The four characters at the top, 四海皆春 (JP: Shikai mina haru: “Four seas, all spring”), form a phrase which derives from the following notion:
All the oceans of the world are connected; at any point in time, it is spring somewhere in the earth’s oceans; spring sunshine generates vital energy in the ocean; this energy circulates throughout the globe throughout the year.
It is used as a metaphor for the blessings of international exchange.
The other attendees stopped what they were doing to watch Hokuryū-sensei. He occasionally produces ink paintings (墨絵 JP: sumi-e or 水墨画 JP: suibokuga), but I think it was the first time for any of us to witness him doing so.
As he handed the piece to me, he apologized for not having one of his seals/stamps with him to complete it properly…
I had the piece mounted on a scroll soon afterwards, and it has been a regular feature on the walls in the numerous places I have lived ever since – a very apt reminder of one of the many incredible experiences to which my love for Japanese culture has led.