#209 High in the mountains, people live quietly,…
| Size： | about 25×37 cm |
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| Dressing： | framed |
What kind of verse?
| verse: | Yama no uhe ni, kasokeku hito ha, sumi ni keri, michi kudari kuru, kokoro ha nagome ri |
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| (imho): | High in the mountains, people live quietly, tucked away. As I descend the mountain path, my heart feels at peace. |
| poet: | Shaku, Choku |
| in: | before 1922 |
brief comment
The presence of ryōshi, which is paper for kana-sho, is truly mysterious.
No matter how well-crafted the composition, when writing on plain paper, there was always a sense of something lacking, and I never felt the work was complete. However, when I suddenly set my brush on ryōshi depicting autumn skies with swaying susuki grass, it was as if magic had brought the scene to life, and I was enveloped by the sensation that the entire piece had been breathed into existence. The high, clear autumn sky, like a play on words (住むsumu = 澄むsumu, “to live” = “to clear”), seemed to harmonize with the gently swaying susuki in the paper, and I could feel the depth of the season permeating even the characters themselves, alongside the visual beauty of the scene.
The exhilaration of autumn, which could not fully be conveyed on plain paper, and the vastness of the sky, where a refreshing breeze could almost be felt, were vividly expressed through the patterns of the ryōshi, and the writing and the background merged into one harmonious world.
Through this experience, I came to realize once again the power that paper itself holds, and I strongly felt the significant role ryōshi plays in calligraphy. Ryōshi is not merely a surface on which to write, but an integral part of the work itself, with the patterns enhancing the meaning and emotion of the characters and giving them a deeper resonance.