Sunday, April 15, 2012

Writing Brushes



I like all writing utensils.  I especially love pen and brushes.  I just enjoy them.

 


I wondered if I would ever come to the point of using a large brush like above.



The largest brush I saw at the center of the first floor in the Landmark Tower.



Various ink bars, not chocolate.



One ink bar gives various shades as this.    




This ink was made after the ancient model.  The ink did not shine.




This ink has a glow.  It was made included mineral.


writing brushes
go home with no purchase
spring dusk

筆ながめ
手ぶらで帰る
春の夕

21 comments:

Vincent said...

Nice. I share your interest in writing instruments, though a brush is outside my cultural familiarity.

Do you mind if I ask you about something not relevant to your post? I recently saw the film "Fear and Trembling" based on a novel by Amelie Nothomb, and wondered if you have seen it, & if so, what you think of it.

Some amateur reviewers took offence at the portrayal of Japanese office life and manners as if it were disrespectful or misleading. But it seems to me that such critics don't understand fiction, or satire.

Caroline Gill said...

A fascinating post, Keiko. I use to enjoy experimenting with bamboo (& horse hair?) brushes, ink sticks and rice paper.

keiko amano said...

Vincent,

I haven't heard of the film or book. But it's the job of critics to criticize?! Otherwise, they can't feed their families.

Anyway, I was listening to the English radio coming from the Yokosuka base this morning and the program happened to be about "Japanese Culture and etiquette." The guest teacher, a Japanese woman, explained in good English to receive each business card with both hands and do not write anything on it until you go back to your office or home, and also, she suggested to leave the received cards on the table in front of you while you talk business and so on. The American announcer said she would worry that she might forget all the suggestions she just heard and she would be scared to meet Japanese in such a formal meeting. Well, I thought, me, too.

I'm kind of immune to those stupid criticisms coming solely from the cultural differences. What can I say? I cannot ever satisfy anyone, so I won't try it. By the way, when I had to receive business cards with both hands for the first time, I felt so silly. But I think I do many silly things you might not know.

keiko amano said...

Caroline,

I'm surprised that you had a chance to use fude (writing brushes). I think it is a great artistic expression that crosses writing, painting, and playing. It is stress reducing activity. I recommend to all people. I hope those utensils are easily available in foreign countries so that people can touch Japanese culture.

Rebb said...

Keiko, I’ve not seen such nice large brushes before. It seems it would take a lot of practice to use such a brush. Thank you for the tour!

keiko amano said...

Rebb,

I think we need fighting spirit to use that brush, and we also need to be physically fit. If I would try it, as soon as I manage to dip the brush into a ink well, I'll drown. So, I won't even try it. How about you? By the way, I want Vincent to try it!

Vincent said...

I would love to do that, and try little rapidly-executed pictures, like the Zen monk Sengai. I saw his work in an exhibition in Paris in 1961, never forgot it.

Here, for example.

keiko amano said...

Vincent,

Come to think of it, I think you'll like it. Maybe not that largest one, but a bit smaller brush and try writing or just painting any line as you like it. I took once such class and I really enjoyed it.

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1582759800050444525#editor/target=post;postID=1767278927400533513

Vincent said...

Thanks for the link, Keiko, but it gives me this message:

Your current account (ianmulder@tiscali.co.uk) does not have access to view this page.
Click here to logout and change accounts.

I think it is telling me that the link will only work for you! Could you give me a link to the original post instead?

keiko amano said...

Vincent,

I sent you two email. Please let me know if you can access it.

Vincent said...

Thank you. Yes i could! I left a comment there, to cofirm that I got there.

keiko amano said...

Thank you, Vincent.

I'm also on Facebook and redroom. I keep at them because some people go to certain place, not other place. I also belong to tanka and haiku groups, but groups are not for all people which I do not like. This is the internet, and we have all the possibilities. What do you think?

Vincent said...

Well, we choose what suits us. Email, my blog and commenting on certain others is enough communication for me. I'm on facebook & certain other groups for historical reasons, but not active there.

ZACL said...

My goodness!....that was my first reaction at seeing all those brushes.

How delightful!.....my next reaction, to the variety, styles, thicknesses and depths of the prints.

keiko amano said...

Vincent,

I didn't see any message from you on Books and Talks, but I found Harry's. It doesn't notify me. I have to do something about that.

Thank you!

keiko amano said...

ZACL,

When there are too many in front of me, it's impossible to choose the one best for me. I feel as though I own such collection somewhere in my virtual closet.

ZACL said...

A virtual closet is a good place to have your collections.

:)

Vincent said...

I commented on your post of Tuesday, September 27, 2011, titled こころゆたかに!

Further to my mention of Amelie Nothomb, I'm now reading her extraordinary novel, The Character of Rain, in which a chapter begins:

And so, at the age of two and a half, in the province of Kansai, in the village of Shukugawa, I became Japanese.

To be Japanese meant living among beauty and adoration. To be Japanese meant inhaling the intoxicating odor of flowers in a garden moistened from rain ... Most of all, to be Japanese meant being Nishio-san's chosen one. If I asked her, she would drop whatever she was doing, cuddle me in her arms, and sing to me about gardens and blossoming cherry trees."

The narrator is a little Belgian girl, who remained in a kind of coma till she was two years old. Nishio-san is her nanny.

I recommend the book for its brilliant writing.

Rebb said...

Keiko, Yes, I would like to try smaller brush. Vincent has the spirit to use the brush as you decribe it. He would be good and strong!

keiko amano said...

Vincent,

Thank you for typing the beginning of the novel. I’ll itemize things popped out to me as I read it.

1. Kansai (west, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe) and Kanto (east, Tokyo, Yokohama) exist and they are contrast, and each has many prefectures or you could say provinces. But we usually don’t say close to the phrase such as the province of Kansai.

2. “To be Japanese meant inhaling the intoxicating odor of flowers in a garden.”
This sounds more Westerns’ tendency although I love the smell of roses. Japanese aesthetic especially in Ocha or Kodo, we use only odorless flowers. I’ve blogged about it in the past.

3. Nishio-san is like Mrs. Smith. If you had a nanny named Mimi Smith, do you call her Mrs. Smith? When my mother went to a relative gathering when I was in high school, she told me her nanny/maid called her ojosama. Nanny or maid could call the children they took care of with honorific, but most likely, not the other way. It isn’t out of disrespect, but out of closeness.

4. About the content of the songs nanny or any women tended to sing long ago was quite interesting subject. I can’t go into it because it’s very deep, but it has literary value, depicts the social ill of long ago, and so on, and we sang without knowing the meaning.

By reading just the beginning of the novel, I can tell that the author’s first five years in Japan didn’t turn her narrator into Japanese.

keiko amano said...

Rebb,

Yes, a big one for Vincent, and a small one for you! I hope you get a chance to use it in future.