Iaido dude

Etsuzan Doshu (1629-1709). Born in China as Yueshan Daozong. He came to Japan in 1657 to study with Mokuan. In 1705, six years after he produced this calligraphy, he became the seventh abbot of Manpukuji temple of the Chinese Obaku sect of Zen buddhism near Kyoto. Regarded as one of the finest of the Obaku calligraphers and respected as Sho no Etsuzan (Etsuzan of calligraphy). He frequently started his poems with a dramatic large kanji character. Personal collection. Provenance, Zen Art Gallery (Belinda Sweet). Poem translation: "Small pebbles can build a great wall; purchase this kind of gold all life long!"

Kaizan Sokaku (1769-1846). Enso—the iconic and celebrated "circle" brushed by Zen Masters—often interpreted as a representation of both the void and the universe, emptiness and fullness, the one and the all. Calligraphy in cursive asks, "Where is it?" or "Why ask why?" to turn the experience of contemplation back to the Zen practitioner's sense of self and true nature. I use this image for the personal blog section of my website. Personal collection. [Published in Enso: Zen circles of enlightenment. Audrey Yoshiko Seo, Shambala Publications, Inc. Singapore 2007]

Kogan Gengei (1748-1821). Born April 27, 1748. Rinzai Zen abbot of Kogen-ji temple in Tamba. He was a disciple of Hakuin Ekaku and Genro Suio. When a Zen bull sits, it is immovable. The bull appears to be formed from an Enso. Provenance, Zen Art Gallery (Belinda Sweet). Personal collection.

This is a masterpiece by Fugai Ekun (1568-1654). In 1616 he became the Soto Zen abbot of Joganji in Sagami Province (now part of Kanagawa Prefect.), but after only a few years he gave up his position to live in caves of the Kamisoga Mountains, which earned him the nickname 「穴風外」Ana Fūgai ('Cave Fūgai'). Poem translation (Okabe Hisashi, "400 Years of Zen Painting"): The sound of roaring, terrifying Heaven and Earth Pitifully, the hundred beasts all run away in fright Suddenly, he strikes and breaks the front teeth "The paintings of Fūgai Ekun, simply brushed with ink on paper, convey a depth of spirit that makes them unique even within the sphere of Zen art. His works are imbued with a haunting intensity; the eyes of the figures he depicts penetrate deep into the human spirit, providing a sense of direct communication with the artist. Yet Fūgai has not received the recognition that other Zen artists have been given, in large part because he lived far away from the major cultural centers, had no pupils, and founded no school. Historically, Fūgai was the first and most important Zen monk-painter of the Sōtō sect. Fūgai also anticipated future directions in Zenga by inscribing his own poems on his paintings and by brushing informal self portraits. His final years were spent in nomadic travel; he died almost literally 'on the road'." Provenance, Zen Art Gallery (Belinda Sweet). Personal collection. [The Art of Zen: paintings and calligraphy by Japanese monks 1600-1925. Stephen Addiss; publisher Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York (1989)]

I picked up the new release in Singapore last month, which is much more nicely laid out than the original.

Here is another calligraphy of the character for "Dew 露" by Masamichi Yoshida (Kaijuan), head priest of the Kencho-ji School.

Takahashi Deishu (高橋 泥舟; 1835-1903) was a samurai, calligrapher, author, and an important compatriot of his contemporaries Yamaoka Tesshu and Katsu Kaishu during the transition from the Takugawa Shogunate to the Meiji Emperor. HE He was born the second son of the hatamoto Yamaoka Masanari (山岡 正業). He succeeded to his mother's side and was adopted by Takahashi Kanetsugu (高橋 包承). The Yamaoka family was well known for the Jitokuin school (自得院流, Jitokuin-ryū) of spearmanship, and he trained under his elder brother Yamaoka Seizan (山岡 静山; 1829-1855), who was regarded as a great master in the use of the spear. In 1855, Seizan died of illness at the age of 26, and Ono Tetsutarō, a student of his, married into the Yamaoka family. Taking the family name, he became Yamaoka Tesshu. Takahashi Deishu served as a minister in the district of Ise, retiring from public life soon after the Meiji Restoration of 1868 to devote himself to poetry, calligraphy, and painting. During the time he was studying calligraphy under Nagatani Kawakane. he stated, "In extending the brush head instead of the spear, one must reveal the truth of enlightenment." This aged and worn work shows a version of Takahashi's Mount Fuji as a zenga subject that stretches back along the dharma transmission lineage to Nantembo and his disciples including Yamaoka. Interestingly, no two examples of his Mount Fuji bear the same inscription (see below). I can't get a fix on the translation given his highly idiosyncratic script and the lack of a source for translation of any similar work. Reference. Ken Zen Sho: The Zen Calligraphy and Painting of Yamaoka Tesshu (Katsu Kaishu, Takahashi Deishu, Terayama Tanchu). Bankasha International Corporation (2014)

This is one that got away. Really wonderful waka with painting. I should have put in a higher bid.

I am not an expert on her ceramics, but I have seen a lot of them in my studies. She made simple ceramics by hand with equally simple glaze to sell cheaply at the market to her admirers who came from far and wide--and to be used, not collected. As you say, they are literally dripping with wabi and sabi. It seems that her method of incising calligraphy was by using some kind of stylus, which was somehow also done for her calligraphy to achieve a very fine and uniform line without ink splotches at the beginning of each stroke (remarkable control!). It takes a very steady and strong hand to achieve this kind of result. If the ceramic appears refined, it is not her creation. If there is a signature on the bottom, it is also not her work.

She has an idiosyncratic calligraphy style that can be spotted a mile away. I've said before that the first time I saw it, I was convinced she was likely a superb martial artist. John Stevens has a book about artworks by Budo masters. There is an interesting display in their work that follows martial principles of attack and defense with great precision in the spacing of characters and lines. Many of Yamaoka Tesshu's calligraphy works have the semblance of an impenetrable fortress; there is no way to enter from the periphery without getting entangled in the process. I have pieces by her that are collaborations with painters, although not signed by her mentee Tomioka Tessai. And I agree that rather than exhibiting a diminishment in her artistic faculties, her latter pieces are often quite sublime.

Roger that. Thanks, Steve. There is another famous poem referring to this koan by Zishou Miaozong (資壽妙總; 1095–1170), perhaps the most famous woman Zen Master: 東來黠兒落節 為法求人自作深孽 賴遇梁王是作家 有理直教無處雪 及乎隻履復西歸蔥嶺 無端重漏泄不漏泄 分明弄巧反成拙 Going east across the sea, the clever boy loses his discipline. Looking for followers, he himself commits offences. Only because of meeting the emperor does he emerge a founder, Directly teaching what is right, nowhere to sweep snow. Then he goes to the Pamirs with only one shoe; For no good reason, the secret of non-leaking leaks out. Skillfully manipulating but turning out to be clumsy.

What a gorgeous tea bowl to cap off your wonderful and heartfelt sentiments. I have found myself naturally drawn to women poets of Japan. There is something very delicate, keen, and enormously life affirming in their observations of everyday life. And I agree with you that with highly prolific artists, their work can be uneven. It’s important to look at hundreds, if not, thousands of their works to get a sense of what a quality piece is actually comprised of. The poetry is central, but for me the accompanying paintings add an enormous new dimension to their artistry. I missed out on one of Rengetsu’s paintings with inscription related to tea ceremony. She had such a down to earth and egalitarian sensibility.

My wife provided the kanji for this work: 起浪粱江飛雪魏嶺，只雁西歸漸入佳境 Waves rise on Liang River, snow falls on Weiling Mountain, the wild geese fly westward, and the scenery becomes better (Google translate).

The story of Bdhidaruma's return to india with one shoe is a famous Zen koan (from Google AI). I'm searching to see if it is among a known collection of koans: The legend of Bodhidharma's return to India with one shoe is a famous Chan (Zen) Buddhist koan, or story, that underscores the non-dual nature of enlightenment. It describes an encounter that occurred three years after Bodhidharma's death and burial in China. The legend of the single shoe The encounter: According to the tale, a Chinese emissary named Sung Yun was returning from the "Western Regions" (India and Central Asia) when he met Bodhidharma on the Pamir Mountains. The emissary was puzzled to see Bodhidharma walking barefoot with a single shoe hanging from a staff over his shoulder. The conversation: Sung Yun asked the master where he was going. Bodhidharma replied that he was "going home" to India. When asked about the shoe, Bodhidharma cryptically told him he would find out upon returning to the Shaolin Monastery and to tell no one of their meeting. The discovery: When Sung Yun returned to the Chinese court, he reported his sighting to the emperor, who had him arrested for lying, as Bodhidharma was known to be dead and buried. However, the emperor's curiosity was piqued, and he ordered Bodhidharma's tomb to be opened. Inside, they found nothing but a single shoe. Meaning of the koan This enigmatic story is used to teach central Zen concepts, serving as a reminder that the true nature of reality is beyond conventional understanding and form. A "special transmission": The legend embodies the Zen principle of a "special transmission outside the scriptures," meaning the true dharma (teachings) cannot be fully captured in words or texts. It must be directly and intuitively realized. The inadequacy of ritual: By leaving only one shoe, Bodhidharma showed the Chinese that the physical remains of a great master hold no special significance. It is his teaching, not his relics, that is the path to enlightenment. The true path is unattached: The shoe on the staff, instead of on his foot, symbolizes Bodhidharma's detachment from all worldly things, even the formal trappings of his own tradition. True wisdom is not bound by form or convention. Leaving a riddle: Ultimately, Bodhidharma turned his own death into a riddle, a final provocative act to challenge his followers to look past illusions and directly experience the profound truth.

Thanks, Steve. I can't find any calligraphy works of Daikyu Sokyu. Wiki doesn't mention him as an artist, although it does link him to Zuigan-ji in his later years. I wonder if Seki Seisetsu's Daruma is a copy of a well-known work from a prior century.

Here is Seki Seisetsu's front-facing Daruma.

I'm not quite sure how I came about having this front-facing Daruma, and I haven't been able to figure out the attribution of this likely likely 20th century work. It seems to have been done by a monk at the Zuigan-ji temple of the Rinzai sect, who was copying the Daruma rendering style of the Zen Master Seki Seisetsu. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Calligraphy (zenga in particular) with or without paintings, haiga (haiku/waka with paintings), and stand alone paintings of the 19th and 20th centuries by Zen Masters are relatively plentiful and undervalued on the market. Earlier than this the masterpieces of Hakuin, Sengai, Fugai, and others are rare and expensive. I acquired a relatively small, but highly curated collection of these when I was much younger and still single. I have been collecting for over 25 years according to taste and what enhances my zen practice. Since discovering the prolific artists Yamaoka, Nantembo, and Otagaki and their contemporaries and direct disciples, my interest in 19th/20th centuries has grown exponentially. Study of this 2-dimensional art form vastly precedes my study and collecting of 3-dimensional Japanese crafts such as tsuba and nihonto, which only really started in February 2024.

I am waiting to find a nice tea bowl or tea caddy with one of her lovely poems inscribed. She was still doing this with a steady strong hand into her 80's. Really remarkable soul.

Onisaburo Deguchi (王仁三郎 出口), born Kisaburō Ueda (1871-1948), was an extraordinary and highly controversial religious and artistic figure in late 19th and early 20th century Japan. Together with his mother-in-law Nao Deguchi, he was one of the two spiritual leaders of the new Oomoto religious movement. While Nao Deguchi was the Foundress (開祖, Kaiso) of Oomoto, Onisaburo Deguchi was the Holy Teacher (聖師, Seishi). He was one of the most significant religious leaders of modern time. He was a shaman, healer, miracle worker, artist supreme, standup comedian, martial artist, and soothsayer. Onisaburo had studied Honda Chikaatsu's Spirit Studies (Honda Reigaku) and also learned to mediate spirit possession (chinkon kishin 鎮魂帰神) from Honda's disciple Nagasawa Katsutate (長澤雄楯) in Shimizu, Shizuoka. Starting from March 1, 1898, he followed a hermit named Matsuoka Fuyō (松岡芙蓉), who was a messenger of the kami Kono-hana-saku-ya-hime-no-mikoto (木花咲耶姫命), to a cave on Mount Takakuma near Kameoka, Kyoto, where Onisaburo performed intense ascetic training for one week. While enduring cold weather with only a cotton robe, as well as hunger and thirst, he received divine revelations and claimed to have traveled into the spirit world. He was too busy communing with various deities to spend a minute in Buddhist medication. He would likely tell you that he actually met Daruma in person during one of his celestial excursions. Notably, he was Ueshiba Morihei's sensei. It is said that the Daruma painting of a Spiritual Master (in this case a Shinto Shaman, although he was still able to share the Zen vision) is his spiritual self-portrait. This work is signed Oni. Indeed, Onisaburo 's Daruma has his likeness. The brushwork is wonderfully executed with a light wash for the face and a powerful use of flying white to form the body in half seated position possibly with one knee up known as tatehiza. This is a starting position in some martial arts kata such as iaido and suggests an informal posture that one might assume while eating or drinking sake. This is in keeping with Onisaburo's personality. Throughout his life, he was often quite flamboyant, taking delight in wearing richly textured costumes of his own design and posing as a wide variety of deities, mostly Buddhist or Shinto. He would also dress like a shaman, and often even took up the appearances of female divinities in drag. His outlook on life tended to be eclectic, sometimes even to the point of being outrageous. At varying points of his lifetime, he claimed to be an incarnation of Miroku Butsu (i.e, Maitreya Buddha), and often referred to himself as a remodeler of the world. Onisaburo was an unbelievably prolific artist, rivaling Yamaoka in the number of works he created. He is known for coining the proverb "Art is the mother of religion" (芸術は宗教の母, geijutsu wa shūkyō no haha). This artistic genius produced hundreds of thousands of outstanding artworks: paintings, calligraphies, talismans, poems, songs, dances, and even operas. He also dabbled in cinema, sculpture, and pottery. His "scintillating tea bowls" are considered to be among the most creative and beautiful of any ceramics made in the modern age. His creations are now considered by many enthusiasts to be of great value; his paintings are relatively unavailable for purchase, unlike Yamaoka's work. He practiced kyudo and several occult martial arts. After a long and tumultuous career, Onisaburo "ascended to heaven" on January 1, 1948, at the age of seventy-six.1,2 1The Art of Budo: The Calligraphy and Paintings of the Martial Arts Masters, John Stevens (2022), pg. 140 and 240. 2Zenga: Brushstrokes of Enlightenment, John Stevens (1990)

My practice katana for iaido and shinken for tameshigiri are modern Japanese custom production. One of these days I'm going to put together a full nihonto rig that I use for both. I'm pretty confident that I won't cut off any fingers .

Here is the original Ohno Duruma tsuba I posted with massive thick rim and chunky tekkotsu, previously mounted on the same katana.

Very nice, Curran. I actually purchased the tsuba (<$50) that is the original topic for this post, to fit to one of my iaido practice katana. Perfect fit! As some of you know, I'm a sucker for kuruma motifs. I'm not beyond mounting genuine Ohno or Yagyu (if I actually had one) tsuba on katana that I use, but this is neither an Ohno or Yagyu. It does superficially resemble the Ohno that I posted previously and that was referenced in this thread, but what is it? In discussion with Steve Waszak, I have come to recognize a general tsuba category that we call "generic Edo"--a product of multiple influences. This is a homage piece or copy (not sure what the motive was for creating it) of classic design and composition that was originated by earlier provincial schools, but doesn't have the surface features and vitality, despite what appears to be tekkotsu on the mimi, that one expects of those genuine pieces. Nor does it fit easily into any one of these other categories/schools. Still, I'm very happy to see it and touch it on a regular basis.

Ōtagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875). This version is usually illustrated with a broom, rather than pine. However, both are equally apt and emphasize different elements of her waka. In 1865, she settled in a hut at Jinko-in where she lived out the rest of her life. Perhaps the subject of "the wind in the pines" is more suitable for painting on a fan, the only one I have in my collection. 世のちり(塵)を 余所にはらひて 行すゑの 千代をしめたる やどの松風 yo no chiri o yoso ni haraite yukusue no chiyo o shimetaru yado no matsu kaze the world's dust swept aside no concern about the future in my hermitage I have all I need-- the wind in the pines The Lotus Moon: Art and Poetry of the Buddhist Nun Otagaki Rengetsu," John Stevens, pg. 88

Excellent. Thanks. Sometimes “ya” is used as a connector to indicate a jump from the seasonal reference to a momentary experience or observation. I missed the “wa.”