Emmen, where the “King’s Birthday Celebration” was recently a great success. I participated in a manga-themed event – Manga Genesis2024 vol. 1 – at the Facet cultural center there with calligraphy.
It happened in March, so already far away . But I tried to do some interesting things , I will write about that.
I will not write a name but・・・
I got a offer from organizer of event ,they are looking to someone who write a name of the visitors.
It is good to participate as much as possible in opportunities to promote calligraphy, but “that” is not my preferred method of presenting calligraphy.
I thought about declining, but the person in charge was so courteous that I decided to accept the offer. Even this is the firstime or the last time , I hoop that I could do something.
With a copy of an old calligraphy.
I suggested them that I prepare some “words” in advance to write and ask visitors to choose one.
Because it was a Manga event, I thought it would be better to use characters related to Manga…but the person in charge of the event wanted to “ordinary good ” words.
There are people who purchased my calligraphy, it is nog good idea to give away “my calligraphy” for free on the event.
After much deliberation, I decided to give them Rinsho of my calligraphy that it is a copy of an old beautiful calligraphy.
Which is something I could not sell from the beginning, also I can tell them how to practice calligraphy.
master Kukai and master Guseinan
Originally, Rinsho( copy ) is usually written on a piece of scripture or a poem, so it is difficult to find short words that make sense (laughs).
I selected the characters of Master Kukai and Master Guseinan from a character dictionary.
「愛 Love 」
「継続 continuation」
「創造 creation」
I made 3 kind of text, and I was practice until the day.
Manga genesis 2024
Emmen is famous for its zoo, this was the first time I went inside the city.
The Facet building is in the central square of Emmen (I think). Manga Genesis 2024 was on the second floor of the library.
I got a place for calligraphy between tapioca drinks and Star Wars robots while people with pink, light blue, and other colorful hair walked around in costumes of “manga” (pretty interesting♪).
Pikachu in costume, Jutsu Kaisen, Kimetsu no yaiba , the only thing I know about it ( hahaha ).
My husband helped me again. The table was smaller than I had heard and there was no roof, so I arranged fewer works and asked him to hang the sign on the wall behind me. He is a very reliable husband (thanks a lot ♪）.
Demonstrations of Rinsho in front of the people
I’ve become somewhat accustomed to “calligraphy demonstrations” lately, I think (so much so that I sing (laughs)).
However, the demonstration of the calligraphy of the Rinsho (old brush) … it was nerve-wracking.
My hands were shaking for the first few times (laugh).
First of all, I told them the difference between my own works and those of the old calligraphers. And explained that one learns calligraphy by imitating the good works of one’s predecessors as in other arts.
I wrote the characters that them have chosen from the three choices.
I am not a very fast writer and it takes me a long time to finish my work due to my nervousness. However, everyone was surprisingly patient.
There ware more young people than small children. I was pleasantly surprised because many of whom weer interested in calligraphy.
The most popular word was “Love” (one person requested “Love” twice), followed by “Creation” .
“Continuation” was the most difficult, so it was a relief that it was not popular.
Even if it was only once in a lifetime.
I was writing aaaaaaaall the time during the 4-hour event . I missed drinking the tapioca, couldn’t see anything, couldn’t take any pictures (-\-).
The person responsible for the event was happy to hear that the guests were happy to take their “calligraphy” home with them. (Irelieved)
Even if this was our first and last encounter, even if they displayed mine calligraphy with care or it abandoned , I felt that the greatest harvest and gratitude was to have shared “Shodo” in this space.
If I had stayed in Japan, I don’t think I would have done this kind of promotional activity.
I hope that the number of people interested in calligraphy will gradually increase. ……
Again, thank you to facet Emmen, the event participants, and all the people who came to the event,
Thank you very much!
See you again!
