The Zen of Calligraphy: Insights from Rie Takeda

Rie Takeda delves into the timeless elegance of shodo, the traditional Japanese art of calligraphy in episode 32 of the Ikigai Podcast.

Rie is a professional calligrapher, and produces Neo-Japonism paintings, calligraphy works, washi paper and vintage Kimono collages, illustrations, and works in body art; and also performs collaborations and exhibitions both in Europe and Japan.


*Watch the full playlist above.

Work on Yourself Through Calligraphy

We see calligraphy as a form of art. But are there benefits that we can attain from practicing calligraphy? Rie explains how calligraphy is not only doing art, but it is also working on one's self.

Calligraphy as a way of expression

Nick: Kind of similar to the statement, "the ink never lies", you also state that when you are doing calligraphy, you are not only doing art, you're working on yourself, too. I think our audience will understand that from what we've talked about, but would you like to touch on that, maybe, for you, personally?

Rie: Well, it's constantly because it reflects what you're doing and what you're feeling, and you can see that on paper. So the brush captures our present moment and makes it visible with ink on paper, that's a fact.

So you can check your own state of mind, if there is a tension or tendencies of your own body and mind, just like a mirror. So sometimes you discover certain body tendencies you never noticed before, or really like a particular hidden emotion, which you forgot all about, it comes out sometimes during this shodo session. 

We could reflect those elements and walk around them, and that's what I found as a very positive process. Sometimes when the said element comes, it's not always easy, but it's like our life: we go around and walk around them, right? 

So afterwards when the shaky strokes have become much lighter and softer, that also reflects your tension, emotional tension, or body tension, it's much lighter and has more freedom to move.

That's how I see it, when I see the final calligraphy of students or even for myself, you can see the process basically. I really like many people to experience that once, just the visible process of how one gets calmer and lighter.

The Benefits of Mindfulness Calligraphy

What is mindfulness calligraphy, and its benefits? Rie explains her own mindfulness-based calligraphy method; how one's energy flow on the paper can help a person discover his/her inner qualities.

A way to release body and mind tension

Nick: In Domestika, I really liked the way you describe calligraphy. You said: calligraphy as the ringing bell of mindfulness, reminding us of being here and now and touching the wonder of life.

And I thought, wow, what a beautiful way to express calligraphy. And you practice and teach mindfulness calligraphy. So how would you describe mindfulness calligraphy and what are the benefits?

Rie: Well, I've been teaching shodo with this method, my own mindfulness based method since more than 12, 15 years; and the essence of this method focuses on conscious breathing and paying attention to central detailed movement, and keeping our center point on hara, belly area, as well as the technique artistic elements.

In this way, it allows us to release body and mind tension and right chi energy flow, and its awareness during the practice. What I found is always fascinating: we can instantly see that body and mind connection on the paper in front of us.

I've seen so many benefits of this mindfulness method. I think by seeing our energy flow on paper, we can reflect our sort of present mind and discover individual inner qualities, and the process is very.. can be very healing and solid.

So it generates positive energy and makes us feel lighter, and more peaceful. So I would really recommend everybody to try once. Because I know, talking like this, it's hard to visualize how it feels like.

How Can We Experience Mushin?

Have you experienced a mushin moment? What exactly is it? Rie explains what mushin is and how people can achieve it.

A transparent, clear mind

Nick: This kind of leads to another amazing Japanese word, mushin. So would you like to explain what mushin is?

Rie: Mushin is the zen word written with two kanjis. So the first "mu" means emptiness, or nothingness, and "Shin", you can call it Kokoro: it's the heart, mind, feeling, the center intuition, and also spirit and soul.

So it's got a really diverse meaning and mushin is a transparent, clear mind. So the body and mind become one and you become aware of your own energy and can make your energy flow lighter and smoother.

Nick: Sounds like a good place to be. So how can we achieve or experience mushin?

Rie: I ask my students what is your mushin moments after I explain what mushin is and how to. I'm sure many people have some moments of mushin. Maybe not every day, but very often.

Because in order to sense mushin, we need to relax as much as we can. We can focus on breathing and letting our body tension go very slowly, little by little. Then we can slowly become aware of our senses and pay attention to the fine sensorial feels.

So it is like meditation. For some people, even if they like to taste and have a cup of tea, it can be a mushin moment. Or when they do any.. like playing music or drawing -- it could become a mushin moment.

Nick: It reminds me of a word that I've recently studied, yutori. It seems like if you have yutori,  you could then have mushin. So yutori is this idea of space or I guess space or you're not worried, you're not stressed, you're quite calm. Then I guess if you had that space, you could then maybe have these mushin moments.

What is Wabi-sabi?

The Japanese have these complex concepts. Though part of their daily living, these concepts are often hard to explain in words. One of them is the concept of wabi-sabi, another Japanese concept gaining attention in the West. But how do we define it? Rie shares what wabi-sabis and its role in Japanese aesthetics.

The nucleus of Japanese aesthetics

Nick: I'd like to touch on one more thing and we're sort of branching out a little bit here, but it is another Japanese word that's gaining popularity, and you mentioned it, and it's actually something you said inspires you with your calligraphy and it's wabi-sabi.

So how would you define wabi-sabi? And how does it inspire you as an artist?

Rie: It's a big word, as you know. I could really say, from my point of view, as an artist and calligrapher/teacher, I would define wabi-sabi definitely the beauty of imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete things.

I feel the central awareness of these elements is wabi-sabi too, and it is the nucleus of Japanese aesthetics, in all directions, right? And wabi-sabi helps you to understand a deeper sense of the natural cycle of our lives.

I mean, our own lives and including death, and it leads us to appreciate, let's say, every moment of life, and every here and now. Does it make sense?

Nick: It does make sense. There's a story behind this for me, it's the only word my father-in-law taught me. So he's actually a potter, he makes matcha chawan. So he's quite good at what he does.

Rie: He should know wabi-sabi.

Nick: Yes, so he actually built an anagama, for like a passion project. I mean, he's already retired, but he did this about 15 years ago. And he had to buy land and hire machinery and build the anagama and his big project, and he had to get the community involved in it.

Rie: Wow, sounds great.

Nick: So he's really dedicated; he makes shino-yaki, which is quite a beautiful form of pottery. At first, they had to do it at a certain time of year as well, they could only do it in, I think, in autumn or spring when the temperature was right.

So the first fire failed, all the pieces were listed and broken. Then six months later, they tried again, and they failed again. And I was like, oh, no, this is just painful, like all this effort. Then they tried again in spring or autumn, I can't remember, and yeah, they had this success and they had really good pieces that they could gift and sell.

So I was in the factory one day, and he was boxing these matcha chawan -- these tea ceremony cups, and I was looking at two of them. One was this kind of the perfect catalog, matcha chawan, it was well balanced, it was nicely curved, and this other one was slightly wonky and off.

Rie: Okay, you can see that..

Nick: But it drew my eye. I kept looking back to the one that was slightly off. And he said something like, I come in then he's like: dochi uereu no, something in his tono-ben, like, which one do you think will sell more?

And so he speaks with such an aggressive tone. I'm like, ah, and I was thinking, well, it should be the opposite of what I think. And I was thinking, well, all the catalogs have beautiful, well shaped ones. So I was thinking, it should be the opposite. 

But then at the last minute I said naname, it would be the one that looks like a catalog. So I said it must be this perfect looking one. And he's gone chigau, and he just finds it and says, wabi sabi and he walks off, and I knew it was significant.

I thought "Wow, he's never taught me anything. This is something important." But of course, he didn't explain it to me. Then I asked my wife and she's like, yeah, too hard to explain. And then I got online..

Rie: You hear that from everybody. This is really like a deep philosophy.

Nick: So it took me a long time to understand. It's like, in the West, people think it's an adjective, but it's actually a noun. It goes back to this idea of it's something you experience, you feel it from the object, and I had this idea, it's kind of tied into the natural elements of, in this case, clay.

So there's, you know, it's tied to nature -- with earth, water, fire. And he did produce it, but he really had no control of what he was producing. So people think you can make a Wabi Sabi table or you can make a Wabi Sabi cup or something, but you can't.

So there is this randomness, or this natural process. It took me like 20 years to find that out, or 15 years later, I found that out.

A Book About the Art of Shodo

With years of experience, Rie came up with her book on shodo, which aims to be a helpful guide for anyone interested in shodo.

A great resource for shodo practitioners

Nick: So who did you write the book for? Who was your ideal reader in mind?

Rie: Well, all my students. And also, I thought, more like calligraphy teachers and also shodo learners worldwide, who tried but struggled to get clear insight of shodo and mind and body connection in this art form. 

So everybody who is interested in learning the art form, but also the mindfulness aspect. I want all of them to understand, or to get a certain career view.

Nick: So it can be a resource for teachers of Shodo. It can be a guide for students of shodo. And I guess it could also just be ideal for someone interested in understanding what goes into the practice of shodo, and who's interested in 10 amazing words we'll talk about later. Makes for a great Christmas present, maybe.

Rie: Oh, yeah. Perfect timing, right.

A Detailed Explanation of Every Brush Stroke

Rie goes into details in her book on the proper flow of doing calligraphy, making it easier even for beginners to visualise each movements needed.

Visualising each brush stroke

Nick: Was it just a case of you thinking, all I have to do now is transfer my knowledge and I guess, your program maybe that you use for workshops and whatnot, into the book? Or did you spend a lot of time thinking about the book and thinking about each chapter?

Rie: Well, I thought that it would be a lot easier to finish the book, because I thought I just needed to correct and reorganise. But the fact was far more difficult and complex, because I needed to dive into that word and really imagine if I was a total beginner, how would I learn that art form without the video, but just through image and words.

Where did you learn the art form? Purely from the book, a long time ago.

Nick: Yeah,  we've been lucky to have video for 20 years.

Rie: That was the hardest part, to clarify every movement. And also, because I use a lot of the key energy movement combined with the brush movements -- that part alone was so hard to describe, so everybody has a clear image, how the brush is reacting to a particular energy movement. But in the end, it turned out to be really nice.

Nick: I remember you did a webinar for my community, and you explained the energy movements, so you drew the Kanji. But then afterwards, you'd say this is how the brush flows, here's the energy. So yeah, articulating that would have been a challenge, but I'm sure you found a way. 

So that's part of the challenge, finding a way to articulate or express ideas. But yours is also in words but visually. So that was challenging.

Rie: That was a good process for me also -- it really crystallised the element. And that was a good process.

A Book for Shodo Students

Rie shares how she finds inspiration from her students in creating an informative book on mastering the art of shodo.

Teaching shodo creates an intimate connection with people

Nick: So you dedicate the book to your grandmother, and all your students. So would you like to talk about that?

Rie: My grandma introduced me to this art of shodo, and I started learning shodo with her. That's why I thought that I need to dedicate that to her, but also all my students who shared their individual experience, and sometimes very intimate sort of hours. Especially in the one-to-one private sessions. 

And I appreciate that the way I teach shodo was maybe part of their healing process. Because without those experiences, I wouldn't have developed this method effectively.

Nick: Last time we spoke, you did mention how you learnt so much from your students in the process. And it was both a source of ikigai, oshiegai, manabigai -- all these values of learning and value of teaching. And as you mentioned, this intimate connection to people you're helping, some who have some challenges. 

I think some of your students have some disabilities or challenges, and you use calligraphy as a way of healing. So that's interesting. So we're privileged to be able to teach because we often learn so much from the people we share our knowledge with.

And I guess Calligraphy is very unique, because it touches on all these things we talked about last time: being present, being calm, being mindful, but almost at the same time, mindless, like no mind.

Ikigai is the Sparks of Life

Ikigai is one of the templates Rie used in her book as a guide for people who wants to practise shodo. It is a concept that has been gaining attention in other cultures, and she hopes that people will understand better this wonderful concept from Japan.

Ikigai has a very deep meaning

Nick: Something that's in your book, and it's one of my favourite words is ikigai. I love how you described it. How did you describe ikigai?

Rie: I said the sparks of life.

Nick: That's beautiful. Yeah. Because that's what it is to you.

Rie: That's what it is to me. What do you think of the explanation that I wrote in the book?

Nick: When I saw it, I was like, oh, wow, that's a beautiful way to describe it. Because there is this debate on whether you can have only one true ikigai or like Ken Mogi describes ikigai as a spectrum of many things in your life that give your life value, meaning, purpose. 

But it's often described, and my other Japanese friends said ikigai is something that gives you a little lift. It gives you that little bit of extra energy, and other Japanese have said that it's this beautiful concept that's tied to your sense of self, your soul and your spirit. 

But yeah, sparks of life are nice, because it suggests that there's possibly more than one, and it gives you that ki or that energy. So I like it.

Rie: It's a very deep meaning, ikigai.

Nick: Yeah, I'm still learning a lot about it. What I found actually is that it's quite a challenging word to write when you use kanji. Like behind me, actually, you can see you're using the hiragana script. What I found is most people only write it as hiragana except for the first character, and they tend to write gai with hiragana script. 

I've heard a few things, I've heard it's masculine if you use the kanji, and it's more feminine just to write it in hiragana.

Rie: Just a pure visual flow.

Nick: This is interesting, because I'm sort of thinking this is fairly challenging. So, why did you choose ikigai? Is it meant to be a challenging one for your students and also, obviously, great meaning in the word?

Rie: I wanted to use a word which has started to be known outside Japan, so people have a bit of idea, but they do not really know the meaning, like wabi-sabi, sometimes very much in use, but still abstract. So you don't have a clear idea what it is. I wanted to pick one or two words like that. Also, when the meaning is nicely fit. 

So like this, I could show the pictogram and ideogram, just the background of the kanji and the meaning of it. The rest they can sort of think and throw their individual ikigai. But I just wanted to keep the factual frame.

Nick: The first two characters are from the verb ikiru. So you've got sho, but it's really ikiru and ru is essentially dropped. It's an interesting way, because you're combining the verb ikiru. You're dropping ru and then you're compounding it with gai. And gai is interesting because it has two characters. So the first character, what's that? Because I've read it means either armour or shell.

Rie: Well, it pictures the hard shell of a newly sprouted plant or tree. So it's the shell. But not only the turtle shell, or the shell from the seashell. It's the idea that when there's a new plant or tree, the sprout comes. There is the shell. So that's another sort of description of the shell.

Nick: Then the last character is interesting, because I don't think I've ever seen it before and understanding it means beautiful or pattern or represents a pattern or a beautiful pattern. But maybe it has other meanings.

Rie: It's the ideogram, right? So the upper part illustrates being divided into two in a symmetrical pattern. So when you see the kanji there is the middle part. Totally free -- empty. So combining the two together means the value and the beauty. So that's the developed meaning. And then gai is like the worth or value of something.

Nick: It's a fascinating word.

Rie: Abstract but it makes sense in a sort of broader way, right?

Nick: Well, it should make sense to me, because I do a whole podcast on it. I was very glad to see that in your book. And I love how you describe it as the sparks of life.

Nana Korobi Ya Oki

Rie Takeda uses 七転び八起き (nana korobi ya oki) as a template when teaching shodo, Japanese calligraphy,  as it is not too complicated for beginners to learn and holds an uplifting meaning that we can always rise to the occasions that life offers us.  

Seven falls, eight rises

Nick: This one's interesting because it's a proverb, or actually it's a yojijukugo, so it's a four-character kanji, that's essentially a proverb, I guess. And it's Nana Korobi Ya Oki. Some people might know this, it's getting a little bit popular. So what does this one mean? And why did you choose this one?

Rie: That means seven falls, eight rises. I wanted to pick a yojijukugo in this style, not too complicated to practise, but also like the proverb which has the positive uplifting meaning.

Nick: So we should break it down first, so Nana is seven.

Rie: Nana is seven and Korobi is fall, to fall. And eight is hachi, and Ya is hachi, so eight or eight times. And Oki is to rise, to get up. So one can already envisage the abstract movement or the picture. So that means we will experience a lot of ups and downs in life, but we will be fine in the end. It's more like accepting our difficulties again and again.

Nick: So does it also mean to have persistence and not give up and to keep trying? Or is that a Western interpretation?

Rie: It's not necessarily that basically, you have a result. It's more like how we overcome difficulties. It's not always visible or physical.

Nick: So it's not always used in relation to one specific goal. In the West, as I mentioned, some people love this expression so much that they tattoo it on their arm or shoulder, and think, oh, yeah, like, don't give up, it's persistence. And if you've got a goal, you've just gotta keep trying even if you fail 5, 6, 7 times, you rise again.

Rie: Yeah, that's the clear meaning as well. But I understand a bit more like, the mental sort of ups and down. So even if you cannot see the light, it would be there, you just cannot see it at this moment. So maybe you open another door or go to another path. So it's got a deeper sort of darkness and light.

Nick: So it sounds like there's an element of hope to it. There's hope for you.

Rie: That's what I explain.

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