Edoardo Rossi
CALLIGRAPHY IN BONSAI EXHIBITION

For those who may not know the characteristics, it would be difficult to understand the beauty and the importance of a calligraphic work in its Japanese classical form of Sho-doo.
It is determined by numerous factors like, the meaning of the text (which represents the most evident interpretative problem); the style chosen to represent it; the effect produced by different intensities of the ink; the different shapes and sizes of the paintbrush used to write; the relationship between the black colour of the mark and the space in which its inserted; the shape and the position of the seal (or seals); the kind of paper or fabric used; and lastly the brace, more or less decorated, used as a frame.

As for the exhibition of a bonsai or a suiseki, what is fundamental is the balance between the demonstrated element, which must be the most important subject of the composition, and the calligraphic work.
The Occidental bonsaist often use the calligraphic element without knowing any of the above-mentioned characteristics (usually the final work arouses bafflement in the Japanese Master). Therefore Nippon Bonsai Sakka Kyookai Europe proposed to its members some meeting about this topic. The first meeting was held on September 2005 and its supervisors were Professor Giangiorgio Pasqualotto (Professor of ‘History of Philosophy and Aesthetics’ in the department of Arts and Philosophy at Padova University, and professor of ‘Philosophy of Cultures’ in the Intercultural Studies ‘Masters’ program, within the same department) and Master in calligraphy Norio Nagayama ( Described in Japan as the “master who one can no longer judge”). The second meeting was held on March 2006 during the Italian congress hosted by the Higan event (www.Higan.com) in Abano Terme. Master Tomio Yamada, President of Nippon Bonsai Sakka Kyookai and one of the greatest experts of traditional bonsai in the world, (see Bonsai & News march-April 2006) collaborated with Master Norio Nagayama and released some traditional form of settings in a tokoma, expressly prepared for that. They were supported by the translation of Professor Aldo Tollini (Associated Professor of Japanese language at ‘Cà Foscari’ University of Venice, Oriental Asia Dept.)

Master Yamada chose three trees very different from each other. They aroused within him emotions that he translated in some writings and poems of Japanese tradition.
Master Nagayama rendered Master Yamada’s thought, his feeling about each bonsai and about the present season and made a calligraphic work for each setting using different styles

The first tree chosen was a wisteria which still had the typical winter pods and at the same time had the flower buds already displaying their beautiful typical colours. Master Yamada also chose a very important sentence which was full of good wishes: “This environment is full of positive energy”. Master Nagayama developed this subject releasing a work in a style which he called “archaic” ,as he used a very tough calligraphic style, with very severe and definite marks, which he believed would harmonize well with the droopy fruits of wisteria.



For the second exhibition Master Yamada chose an elm and he asked to Master Nagayama to interpret a poem of the Japanese tradition:” At the beginning of spring, strolling about the garden, without speaking”. In this case Master Nagayama composed the work still using a formal style but lighter and softer, without using Chinese ideograms Kangi but the pheonetic form Kana.



As for the third exhibition, Master Yamada chose a pine, Bunjin style, with which he matched a sentence of the Buddhist school: ”On the top of the mountain in winter stands alone a marvellous pine”. For the Buddhist tradition and philosophy, the solitary pine on the top of the mountain represents, with its austere beauty, a man who, by practising Zen, is able to detach from the material things of life and to preserve his spirit pure, while everything around him is covered with snow and the leaves of trees are falling down. Master Nagayama made his work using the so-called “style of herbs”; a very fluid and free kind of style in which the artistic part of the mark is very evident

The matching introduced during the demonstration communicated to the audience strong feelings, it opened some kind of window to a world they didn’t know and made them understand the importance of the right matching between the calligraphic element and other elements in the tokonoma. We will discuss the subject of calligraphy, with the help of experts of international level, during bonsais’ exhibition, which will be hosted by Higan event on the next March 2007.