The event surrounding the publication of Itsuo Tsuda’s book Calligraphies de Printemps [Spring Calligraphies] was held on 18 and 19 November 2017 at Dojo Tenshin in Paris. The audience was able to enjoy nearly 100 reproductions of Itsuo Tsuda’s calligraphies and discover the 468-page book.
A look back in video, images… and text!
Presentation by Régis Soavi
« Not merely decorative art or simple craftsmanship,
calligraphy and seal engraving represent the art par excellence in China.
Better still, practising them is one of the paths to self-cultivation that makes a man refined. »
Laurent Long
Itsuo Tsuda’s calligraphies are a treasure. They take us back to the essence of writing, a medium for communication, and in this case, for teaching..
The author of nine books, he never stopped trying to convey a message to his contemporaries.
With his calligraphies, he offered us a kind of aid to understanding what he had already stated, but at the time, some forty years ago, few of us (his former students) were able to decipher what he had left us.
A master of Aikido and Seitai, his profound sensitivity was also expressed through recitations of excerpts from Noh plays, which he had studied for over twenty years with Master Hosada, and which we were able to listen to on certain evenings after the seminars. But his areas of expertise were not limited to this. Among other things, Itsuo Tsuda was the first to translate Paul-Émile Victor into his native language, followed by Marcel Granet, who was unknown in Japan in the 1940s.
Shortly after arriving in France, he decided to write all his books directly in French, even though he had obviously written in Japanese for most of his life. As a philosopher, he wrote in such a way that his books are accessible to all and are still published today.
Was he missing something at that point? Or did his desire push him further?
It seems that this man enjoys a challenge. Why does he practise calligraphy using the rōketsuzome technique, which is so difficult, especially in France, where there are no workshops, no craft materials, and it is even difficult to find dyes, when he could practise with ink? In fact, he does practise with ink on a few occasions.
But what is the force driving him? The need to rediscover his roots? To reconnect with his origins, or simply the desire to raise awareness of rōketsuzome, a traditional art form that was virtually unknown in the West at the time, while also introducing us to that branch of calligraphy known as Zenga?
Alongside Shodō, which is the most widespread form of calligraphy, there is another lesser-known, less commonly used path, one that allows messages to be passed on to the future and teaches lessons that affect the subconscious.
It is a path that also requires the ability to clear the mind and therefore spontaneity, but which presents particular difficulties, especially when, like Itsuo Tsuda, one uses the rōketsuzome technique, which is not only unusual but, to my knowledge, completely unused in the art of Zenga.
This is obviously the direction he will take. As usual, he chooses the most difficult path. Itsuo Tsuda is once again a researcher and an innovator.
He traces his calligraphies without any pretension, and in fact sells them for a few francs to anyone who is interested.
One day, as I was driving him somewhere, he said to me with a tone of regret, ‘The French don’t understand calligraphy. In Japan, it sells for thousands of yen and is exhibited in shows that attract hundreds of people. Here, hardly anyone is interested, except perhaps a few specialists.’
Indeed, at the time, very few people saw any value in it other than sentimental, often out of ignorance, always out of incomprehension.
The exhibition organised by the Itsuo Tsuda School is a tribute, and the book we have published is our way of bringing his work to a wider audience.
More images from the event (click on the photos to enlarge)
