Suibokuga (水墨画)- Japanese traditional painting art
Suibokuga is sometimes called Zen Painting.
Sumie is painting with ink.
And Suibokuga is one of Sumie painting, with the gradation of dark black to light black.
Main tool for Suibokuga, “Sumi ink” is made from mainly soot, animal glue, and perfume.
sumi ink 墨
We add a little water into an inkstone (suzuri) and rub sumi ink, it becomes dark black color.
Ink stone SUZURI 硯rub ink with ink stone
By mixing this black ink with water, we can create the gradation color of black to light grey.
mixing ink with water to make gradation colorgradation black color
In Japan, Suibokuga is not just about paintings drawn with only ink, but we include some colored paintings drawn with mainly ink and some pigments also.
Sumie: The way of painting with ink was already in Japan since Nara period (710 – 794).
And Suibokuga style was brought in Japan at around Kamakura period (1185 – 1333), then became very popular especially at around Muromachi period (1336 – 1573), as Suibokuga style paintings were deeply connected with ZEN temples.
Until 14C, the subjects of Suibokuga were humans called “Jinbutsu ga” (人物画) , and flowers and birds called “Kacho ga” (花鳥画).
In 15C, “Sansuiga”(山水画) , meaning “mountains and water paintings” became popular.
Subjects of this Sansuiga is nature, such as mountains and water falls, rocks, trees etc.
I love to paint Japanese nature and symbols in Suibokuga.
Sakura cherry trees, bamboo tees, pine trees, Mt. Fuji, crane birds, and koi fish.
Sometimes tigers and Ryujin dragon god as well.
Tigers and Ryujin dragon god are also very popular subjects for Suibokuga.
I love to express Japanese beauty with the amazing gradation of ink with some colors.
That is my Suibokuga.
Sakura cherry blossoms painting art Kimono silk kakejikuJapanese calligraphy art bamboo hanging scrollExtra-large Mt.Fuji and Japanese Pine tree hanging scroll, Impressive landscape ZEN style wall decorGorgeous Kimono silk obi Japanese painting Mt. Fuji, crane birds, pine tree wall decorJapanese painting of Koi fish in ZEN circle, EnsoJapanese painting calligraphy art hanging scroll Kakejiku wall decor crane birds, Mt.Fuji, Japanese pine treeJapanese painting Tiger and bamboo ink art kakejikuUnique tiger & bamboo Japanese painting Kakejiku hanging scrollExtra long Drago Ryujin calligraphy art kakejiku hanging scroll
Japanese painting calligraphy art hanging scroll Kakejiku wall decor landscape Sakura cherry tree
I am obsessed with Sakura cherry blossoms.
Sakura is Japanese symbol.
We admire Sakura cherry blossoms in many ways.
Sakura is connected to our Japanese culture deeply.
Since ancient time, Japanese people enjoyed watching Sakura, called “Ohanami” (meaning “watch flowers”)
Spring time, under Sakura trees were full of people, sitting and having picnic.
This “Ohanami” habit is still very popular in Japan.
We see “Sakura forecast” (when cherry blossom start to bloom) on the TV news.
When Sakura starts to bloom, people start going out to have picnic under the Sakura trees.
This is our major Spring event.
We also eat Sakura flowers and leaves.
Pickled Sakura flowers and leaves are used for sweets or tea.
Tea leaf container or other tools are made using Sakura trees.
We have music about Sakura, called “SAKURA”, and all Japanese should know this song.
We have color called “SAKURA color”, which is light sensitive pink.
Sakura is used as Japanese symbol in many situations.
Sakura is very familiar flower for Japanese people.
Sakura cherry blossom time is very short, about one week.
When it starts blooming, it goes very quick to be full bloom, and as soon as it becomes full bloom, leaves start to come out and flowers start falling.
So the short period in full bloom and the beauty of Sakura flowers are often likened to the fragility of human life.
That is why cherry blossoms are symbol of beauty and transience.
I love Sakura, and cherry blossom time makes me excited.
Painting Sakura makes me happy and this is a good meditation for me.
That is why I keep painting Sakura.
Japanese painting calligraphy art hanging scroll Kakejiku wall decor ZEN style SHIDARE SakuraJapanese painting calligraphy art hanging scroll Kakejiku wall decor ZEN style Sakura cherry blossom artJapanese painting calligraphy art hanging scroll Kakejiku wall decor landscape Sakura cherry blossom in full moon nightJapanese painting calligraphy art hanging scroll Kakejiku wall decor Sakura cherry tree in full bloomJapanese painting calligraphy art hanging scroll Kakejiku wall decor Kimono style YOZAKURA night cherry blossomJapanese painting calligraphy art hanging scroll Kakejiku wall decor Sakura cherry blossom
calligraphy art painting
We have learned calligraphy since we were small kids. This is not unusual, as all kids learn calligraphy at elementary school.
Calligraphy is a part of our culture. Calligraphy comes from China, same as Chinese characters “Kanji(漢字). Now we have not just “Kanji(漢字)”, but “Katakana(カタカナ)” and “Hiragana（平仮名)”.
And learning calligraphy is to learn Japanese words and meaning.
Our history is a little bit different and a little more.
Our grandfather who lived next door, was a master of Calligrapher and both our grandfather and grandmother were calligraphy teachers. They used to have calligraphy class at home and so many kids came to learn calligraphy on weekends.
We, of course, used to go to the next door every weekend, and learned calligraphy from our grandparents.
When we grew up, we stopped writing calligraphy and almost forgot about calligraphy for long time.
And this calligraphy came back into my life all of sudden 2 years ago.
We received many calligraphy tools from our grandparents.
They are almost 100 years old, and cannot do calligraphy anymore, and decided to give up all the tools they used for long long time.
Very valuable calligraphy brushes, special paperweight, inkstones, came to our house.
When I smelled the calligraphy ink, I had nostalgic feeling and remembered 40 years ago.
I started enjoying calligraphy again.
Calligraphy became a part of my life again.
This is the great way to express Japanese culture.
That was the beginning of our calligraphy art.
And I start realizing Japanese beauty from calligraphy.
