Rie Takeda - Shodo: The practice of mindfulness through the ancient art of Japanese calligraphy

To my dear grandmother, and to all my students.

Shodo

Rie Takeda

First published in the UK and USA in

2022 by Watkins, an imprint of

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Design and typography copyright

Watkins Media Limited 2022

Text copyright Rie Takeda 2022

Illustrations copyright Rie Takeda 2022

Illustrations copyright for images on Watkins

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Author photograph on the back cover

copyright Margrit Mueller 2022

The right of Rie Takeda to be identified as the Author of this text has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

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Commissioning Editor: Ella Chappell Assistant Editor: Brittany Willis Head of Design: Karen Smith Design Concept: Fra Corsini Senior Designer: Kate Cromwell Illustrator: Sneha Alexander Production: Uzma Taj

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 9781786786807 (Hardback)

ISBN: 9781786786814 (eBook)

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Contents

About the Author

My name is Rie Takeda and I am a calligrapher and artist. I am delighted to be sharing the art of Japanese calligraphy and mindfulness with you in this book. Ive been teaching shodo, a form of Japanese calligraphy, for more than 20 years, and Ive been teaching my own mindfulness-based approach to shodo for 13 years. I started practising shodo at the age of five under the creative supervision of my grandmother, Yumi Suga, a distinguished Gayu calligrapher. Later, I began to take lessons at a Gayu shodo calligraphy school, which was known for supporting artistic studies and research under the master calligrapher Mimatsu Okino. This provided me with a solid foundation not only for my development of various calligraphy techniques and skills but also for the practice of sumi-e, a Japanese ink-painting technique using calligraphic design.

Since 2000, I have worked as a freelance artist and a professional calligrapher in the UK, Europe and Japan. Besides being inspired by shodo and developing an effective way of teaching this art, my passion for creating neo-Japonisme artworks has increased. Neo-Japonisme combines the essence of traditional calligraphy, Japanese design and poetry with contemporary art forms.

Ive also worked on many interesting projects and collaborations from designing company logos to fashion collections and book covers. All these experiences and collaborations have enriched my creative process and inspired me even further.

Since 2019, Ive been teaching shodo online. My students and fellow teachers come from very diverse backgrounds, different age groups and locations worldwide. Ive been very lucky to teach many sensitive, open-minded and receptive people. Without them, I would not have been able to develop and enrich my mindfulness method so deeply and effectively. Whenever my students find any degree of peace during or after our sessions together, I feel very inspired to research more into this way of teaching and guiding others toward finding that sense of harmony and peace in oneself.

I have recently been working on using my mindfulness calligraphy technique to help those who are experiencing physical or mental suffering, and have been collaborating with therapists to develop a complementary treatment for people suffering from neural injuries and for use with autistic children.

I truly believe that mindfulness, in combination with shodo calligraphy, can help people improve their physical and cognitive capacities. This is because when the body and mind are connected, we become aware of our energy flow our ki, as it is known in Japanese, where it is written with the kanji . (Sometimes you see , which is the older form of .) Then we are able to make this energy flow visible on paper and to make it even stronger during our calligraphy sessions. This transformational process is powerful and healing, because it frees us from our thoughts so that we can be here and now, in the present moment. This is when my students look at their most relaxed and happy, and the same goes for us all.

I hope you will enjoy using this book as a means of selfdiscovery and to find your own inner peace and harmony.

Arigato,

Rie

PART

Shodo and Mindfulness

What is Shodo?

Lets start by considering the word shodo. Shodo is a Japanese word that is often translated as describing the skill of artistic handwriting or beautiful writing. I often call it the art of traditional Japanese calligraphy. The word shodo has become more commonly known in recent years outside Japan and the Far East as one of the -do arts, along with sado (the Way of Tea), aikido, judo and kendo (the martial arts) and kado (the art of flower arranging). It is written with two kanji or ideograms (the singular and plural forms of the word kanji are the same):

Sho, meaning to write, writing

Do, meaning the way, the path, arts, the Tao and symbolizing the life path along which we progress

Shodo, also called sho, is one of the oldest and most profoundly traditional art forms in Japan, where it has been developed and appreciated since the 5th century. It is also a skill and an aesthetic; the depth of beauty is the result of diverse techniques and complex brush movements. And, most essentially, the practice of shodo needs to be accompanied by an inner silence, calmness and bodymind connection. Some call it a spiritual connection.

Shodo can reflect the present moment of ourselves instantly. As you might know, in the Japanese -do ), with a clear mind. You become aware of your energy and you can make your energy flow lightly and smoothly. You can even make it instantly visible and tangible on the paper in front of your eyes when you learn the art of shodo mindfully.

ZEN PHILOSOPHY IN SHODO

Zen philosophy and shodo calligraphy are connected, especially through the practice of mindfulness, which can lead us to experience a state of mushin. The state of mushin (from