On 18 and 19 May 2018, we presented the book entitled Itsuo Tsuda, Calligrafie di primavera [Itsuo Tsuda, Spring Calligraphies] in our dojo in Milan. We exhibited more than 80 high-quality photographic reproductions of Master Itsuo Tsuda’s calligraphy (chosen from the 116 featured in the book) as well as three original calligraphy pieces.

An article, photos and two videos to relive the event!

The event at Dojo Scuola della Respirazione	Presentation of the book at RAI radio

It was in May 1978 that Itsuo Tsuda began tracing calligraphies and exhibiting them in his dojo in Paris, for his students to purchase. At first, almost no one in Europe knew what oriental calligraphy was; Itsuo Tsuda’s students themselves were certainly not experts, even though they followed his teaching of Aikido and Katsugen undo and read his books. They did not have a great sensitivity to calligraphies and bought them primarily out of admiration for their Master. However, the sensitivity of some of them grew over time and they began to take an interest in calligraphy in general.

It was this interest that prompted a couple of practitioners, Tania and Régis Soavi, to visit an exhibition of Zen calligraphy in May 1981. The next morning, they told Itsuo Tsuda about it, and he went to see it and came back enthusiastic about the works he had seen. So the idea was born to give him one as a gift, and the choice fell on a calligraphy by Hakuin.

It was a very expensive piece of calligraphy, which meant that a fundraiser had to be organised in various European dojos in order to purchase it as a gift.

This appreciation for Master Tsuda’s calligraphic work led, some time later, to a desire to bring together reproductions of the original calligraphies that had been purchased by French, Swiss, Spanish and Italian students and were therefore scattered across various European countries. Master Tsuda gave his consent, but when he passed away, the project came to a halt. In any case, this desire remained strong for some of his students, and over the years attempts were made to gather at least some of these works.

Régis Soavi, in particular, never missed an opportunity to mention it to his students during the courses he taught in Paris, Toulouse, Milan and other European cities. It is mainly thanks to him that this desire, which never faded, was finally realised after almost thirty-five years, or even forty years for Master Tsuda’s first calligraphies.

Itsuo Tsuda, Calligrafie di Primavera is a book that showcases these calligraphies and introduces the Italian public (after the French public) to this immeasurable heritage, thus making it accessible to future generations.

Personally, together with Carla d’Ambrosio and others, I had the honour and pleasure of participating in the creation of this book by working on its translation from French into Italian. This allowed me to get closer to and gain a deeper understanding of the world of Itsuo Tsuda’s calligraphy, which I had known about for many years. Indeed, thanks to the presence of Mr Tsuda’s calligraphies in our School’s dojos, which we salute when entering the tatami mats, I am accustomed to them, but I had never had an in-depth knowledge of it before the publication of this book.

During the two days we presented it, we were thrilled to see the large number of visitors: about a hundred on the opening night and the following day a less massive but steady stream of about fifty interested people, for a total of 150 visitors over the two days. What matters most is not the number but the impact that the event has had and will have in space and time, thanks to the intrinsic quality of the work and also to the intense preparation, installation and communication work that we did in the months leading up to the event. Despite the intense activity involved in this work, we had moments of joy and excitement.

We are ultimately satisfied, and rightly so, because we wanted to invite the people of Milan to a celebration worthy of the name, and that is what happened. The presentation and exhibition gave the necessary resonance to a book that is so unique, both in terms of the wealth of teaching that Mr Tsuda has conveyed through his calligraphies and the precision and care with which it has been written and published.

Andrea Quartino