Year: 2016

From Kasumi An Study Center 　霞庵 スタディセンター by Kasumi An Study Center

The Japanese festival of Setsu Bun.  According to the Japan tradition, this the day before the start of spring and it is celebrated by family members throwing roasted soy beans at a person dressed as a demon and shouting `out with the demon! In with the prosperity!`. Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi! The roasted soy bean pelted demon must run for his life. 

What is this Demon who has cow horns on his head and tiger skin fundoshi (Japanese loincloth)? Well, Demon is pronounced Oni in Japanese.  It is said the this oni come from the character 陰, pronounced `on`。It could be associated with the the dark or inability to see. Metaphorically, some one who can not see or is in the dark, bad energy.  Interestingly this is also the character used in the expression In/Yo or Ying/Yang. Further, we can look at the characters 隠人=on nin, a hidden being, some thing or some form that can not be seen by the eye, an essence transcending our human imaginations bringing disasters and sickness. This is the demon we are sweeping out. As for his horns and tiger skin underpants, he is said to arrive from the direction of the Ki Mon or the demon`s gate. Perhaps you have heard of ki mon in the martial arts as well?  According to the Asian zodiac, kimon is in the direction of the cow and tiger.  Now you know. Poor Cow and tiger!

But you may ask, `why the beans?`.  Beans is pronounced mame in Japanese.  There are several play on words here. One reading of the character for demon 鬼 is ma and the character for eye is 目 me. Throwing mame at the demon to crush his eyes and drive him out.  Also the character Metsu 滅 means to a abolish, destroy, or die.  Ma 鬼 Metsu 滅. Abolishing the demon. Mame, mametsu, close enough, right? There are more hidden meanings in all actions of this festival. One charming and funny example is to place a roasted sardine head on skewer with holly thorns in front of your house because the Oni hates all bad smelling things and holly thorns! So your house is protected now!  Better than that expensive alarm system you installed! And Cheaper! But seriously, I wish everyone a joyous, healthy, safe, and happy new year. Happy Setsu Bun!

From Kasumi An Study Center 　霞庵 スタディセンター by Kasumi An Study Center

This year`s training started at the honbu with Sensei unveiling his latest art acquisitions. As Sensei often remarks the greatest martial artists are inevitable great painters and proficient in many fields of art. In a recent conversation over lunch, Sensei generously invited my visiting sister and I to lunch, he spoke of how, when he was a young man, he studied with a famous film director in Tokyo and had dreams of becoming a director himself. As well, after the end of World War II, he played the steel guitar in a music band. They were so poor that they had to make their own instruments and play together.
I remember a time, Sensei was not satisfied with the pictures being taken by the photographers for one of his books and decided to take matters into his own hands. He brought in a ladder and a collection of his cameras. Someya San was up on the ladder with the camera and Sensei was giving him a hard time yelling things like, `next increase aperture and decrease shutter speed!` `rotate the camera as you shoot` `time your arms to my movement and move the camera as you shot`. And poor Someya San was having all sorts of trouble trying to keep up. Those photos eventually made it into one of his books. He says he uses all the arts as reference to deepen his study and practice of the martial arts.
Of course we all know that Sensei is a very prolific painter. I watch him on a weekly basis whip out up to 100 pieces of calligraphy in less then thirty minutes as presents for his visiting students. His teacher Takamatsu Sensei was also a brilliant painter. But did you know that Miyamoto Musashi, the swordsman famous for his use of the two swords, was also a great painter? My first introduction to Musashi`s work was thru my 90 year old ink painting teacher who is from the same town as Musashi. Musashi was famous for his Daruma, Hotei and bird paintings among other compositions. He seems to like to create tension with the birds by having them intent on a nearby insect. Either staring at the insect or perched with a patient air as the insect unknowing crawls closer.
Sensei unveiled a copy of one such painting. Here you can see the bird patiently waiting on the branch above. At first glance, you may not notice the tiny caterpillar (which could be mistaken as a leaf or unrelated scribble) crawling his way up the branch. As explained, it is important to look at a scene and see or sense the subtleties or you may miss the whole essence of the situation. In life as well, if you can not sense these small things at a glance, you may end up putting yourself unknowingly in great danger or life threatening situations.
Further Sensei also unveiled at the first few trainings of the new year a great collection of `room dividers` with the beautiful calligraphy of Yamaoka Tesshu. Yamaoka Tesshu was a famous swordsman of Japan know as a Master of the Sword, Zen, and the Brush. He also founded the sword linage the School of No Sword. I truly enjoy spending time in appreciation of their art and often try to copy their works. It is my sincere hope that you too can use these great artists a reference for the deepening or your practice as well.

Thank you Doug Wilson for this picture! You may also want to check out this book dedicated to the art of Miyamoto Musashi.

From Kasumi An Study Center 　霞庵 スタディセンター by Kasumi An Study Center

This year`s training started at the honbu with Sensei unveiling his latest art acquisitions. As Sensei often remarks the greatest martial artists are inevitable great painters and proficient in many fields of art. In a recent conversation over lunch, Sensei generously invited my visiting sister and I to lunch, he spoke of how, when he was a young man, he studied with a famous film director in Tokyo and had dreams of becoming a director himself. As well, after the end of World War II, he played the steel guitar in a music band. They were so poor that they had to make their own instruments and play together.
I remember a time, Sensei was not satisfied with the pictures being taken by the photographers for one of his books and decided to take matters into his own hands. He brought in a ladder and a collection of his cameras. Someya San was up on the ladder with the camera and Sensei was giving him a hard time yelling things like, `next increase aperture and decrease shutter speed!` `rotate the camera as you shoot` `time your arms to my movement and move the camera as you shot`. And poor Someya San was having all sorts of trouble trying to keep up. Those photos eventually made it into one of his books. He says he uses all the arts as reference to deepen his study and practice of the martial arts.
Of course we all know that Sensei is a very prolific painter. I watch him on a weekly basis whip out up to 100 pieces of calligraphy in less then thirty minutes as presents for his visiting students. His teacher Takamatsu Sensei was also a brilliant painter. But did you know that Miyamoto Musashi, the swordsman famous for his use of the two swords, was also a great painter? My first introduction to Musashi`s work was thru my 90 year old ink painting teacher who is from the same town as Musashi. Musashi was famous for his Daruma, Hotei and bird painting among others. He seems to like to create tension with the birds by having them intent on a nearby insect. Either staring at the insect or perched with a patient air as the insect unknowing crawls closer.
Sensei unveiled a copy of one such painting. Here you can see the bird patiently waiting on the branch above. At first glance, you may not notice the tiny caterpillar (which could be mistaken as a leaf or unrelated scribble) crawling his way up the branch. As explained, it is important to look at a scene and see or sense the subtleties or you may miss the whole essence of the situation. In life as well, if you can not sense these small things at a glance, you may end up putting yourself unknowingly in great danger or life threatening situations.
Further Sensei also unveiled the first few trainings of the new year a great collection of `room dividers` with the beautiful calligraphy of Yamaoka Tesshu. Yamaoka was a famous swordsman of Japan know as a Master of the Sword, Zen, and the Brush. He also founded the sword linage the School of No Sword. I love spending time in appreciation of their work and often try to copy their works. It is my sincere hope that you too can use these great artists a reference for the deepening or your practice as well.

Thank you Doug Wilson for this picture!  You may also want to check out this book dedicated to the art of Miyamoto Musashi.