S ouun Takeda. KIZUNA The Human Bond. Bonding and Bonded 1 I N T E R V I E W. Japanese calligraphy artist

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We are all intertwined by human bonds and we live our lives laughing at times, and crying at times.

1 KIZUNA The Human Bond Bonding and Bonded 1 No human can live alone. Every individual is supported by many other people and every individual supports many others. We are all intertwined by human bonds and we live our lives laughing at times, and crying at times. What is it that is born out of these many human bonds that are nurtured by the people raising us? S o u u n T a k e d a Japanese calligraphy artist S ouun Takeda Text:Akira Yokota Photograph:Yukio Yoshinari 1 FIND Vol.30 No.1

The Great Power of Just a Single Letter Written Triggered by the Thoughts of the Joy of Moving People's Hearts Making somebody happy is also happiness itself.

The happiness of communication with the hearts of the viewers is what supports the calligraphy of a popular calligraphy artist.

The classroom has a capacity of 250 students and is almost always packed to the brim with boys, girls, men, and women of all ages, from various walks of life, eager to learn the art of Japanese

2 The Great Power of Just a Single Letter Written Triggered by the Thoughts of the Joy of Moving People's Hearts Making somebody happy is also happiness itself. Being thanked for making somebody's heart move becomes a driving force for one's own growth. The happiness of communication with the hearts of the viewers is what supports the calligraphy of a popular calligraphy artist. A style of calligraphy born out of the yearning to convey has gained popularity There is a calligraphy school in a residential area of Fujisawa city, Kanagawa Prefecture, close to the Enoshima coast. The classroom has a capacity of 250 students and is almost always packed to the brim with boys, girls, men, and women of all ages, from various walks of life, eager to learn the art of Japanese calligraphy. The teaching in these classes is conducted four times a week and is very different from the teaching in the usual calligraphy schools. Here people put their happy or sad experiences into words. They write those words in calligraphy, or write the Kanji characters almost like pictures so that the meanings of those characters can be understood even by foreigners. In some classes they do relay calligraphy' in which a few people form a team and each member of the team writes one stroke of a letter. Several teams compete against each other as to which team has written the most beautiful letter. In other classes the students leave the classroom to feel the wind or sunshine, and then express their emotions on the spot using calligraphy. The head master of that calligraphy school is Mr. Souun Takeda, who is a popular and well-known calligrapher. He is known for many of his artistic creations among which is the logo mark K, of the supercomputer K, which made headlines for achieving the world's fastest computing speed. His ingenious method of teaching calligraphy completely discards the traditional methods that train the students to sit in front of the writing paper with a quiet mind, write neat letters according to a writing model, and acquire titles. His original method has been praised even on the TV program the most wanted lesson in the world which top personalities from different fields give lectures that can be enjoyed even by adults. These days, not a day goes by without us seeing one of his creations in the titles of movies or TV dramas, on logos of products, or in collaborative performances with rock musicians, Kyogen performers, or the like. Mr. Takeda explains his own driving force as a calligraphy artist is this: From long ago, I have been far more easily thrilled than other people. For example, if I found a shop selling very tasty ramen noodles I was so overwhelmingly excited that I desperately wanted to go around telling everybody that the ramen noodles in that shop were great and that they should certainly go there and try them. I have found that the best way of conveying my message to people is It is very easy if one only wants to write neat letters and get a title. But the process of reaching there is in itself interesting, says Mr. Takeda. The happy lessons that do not necessarily follow the preset model are a means of conveying this fact to the students. There is never ending laughter in the classroom every day. through calligraphy. Even the K logo was born out of my eagerness to convey my feeling that a large number of scientists and engineers had worked ver y hard to become number one in the world. Although I do not understand anything technical about computers, behind achieving the number one performance in the world is the culture and history of Japan as well as the nature of the Japanese people. I put my eagerness into conveying these factors of greatness into my creation of this logo. The cheerful words coming from this husk y man standing over 180 centimeters tall are full of what he calls his easily thrilled nature and his extraordinary eagerness to convey this thrill to others. But he feels that his calligraphy expresses his feelings more FIND Vol.30 No.1 2

However, he says that this success has not been achieved by his strength alone. He says, I did not become what I am by thinking I want to be this or that.

3 strongly and more deeply than the words themselves. Even his singularly unique lessons at the calligraphy school are mediums for conveying to the students his feeling that calligraphy is for conveying one's own feelings to others. However, he says that this success has not been achieved by his strength alone. He says, I did not become what I am by thinking I want to be this or that. While I was struggling hard to find out what I can do and what only I can do, the present Souun Takeda is what he is now thanks to a large number of people. His original style of calligraphy was pursued because he wanted to see the people surrounding him happy During his childhood Mr. Takeda had been trained thoroughly in the fundamentals of Japanese calligraphy by his mother. But he did not actually think of a life as a calligrapher right from the beginning. After learning information science in the university he joined a large telecommunications company. When I was very young I had taken various individual enhancement lessons including calligraphy. I did not even select my first job with any serious intentions, but just happened to join that job by chance, he says. But in that place of work one day he met with a very fateful incident that led to the blossoming of his own latent talent. By chance my boss happened to see my calligraphic writing and liked it so much that he asked me to write his name because he wanted to use it on his personal business card. Saying that it is an easy thing to do, I wrote it and gave it to him. Very much to my surprise he was extremely happy and immediately my calligraphy became so popular that one by one all the people there started asking me to write their names. At that point, Mr. Takeda took a bold step. After working there for three years, he suddenly left his job and started a shop on the internet making business cards. People around him were shocked at the boldness of throwing away his stable and secure life in a big company. Some of his colleagues and superiors tried to stop him from making such a risky decision. Yet he smilingly looks back, I was happy because everybody else was happy to see my calligraphy, and I wanted more and more people to feel that same happiness. At that time, I imagined in my head all people in the world feeling happy about the business cards I had written. That was just what an easily thrilled person would do. Not that he had any big grouse against his life in that job at the large company. He did not even have any confidence that 3 FIND Vol.30 No.1

4 However, that timidity was also one of Mr. It would be great if calligraphy brings world peace he could make a living as a calligrapher. for an unknown young man to attract any But he says once the thought came to students. him, he could not help acting accordingly. On one of those days, Mr. Takeda had a Looking back, perhaps at that time chance meeting that would later prove to I had selected my own way of life for be another turning point in his life. He was the first time in my life. It was possible enchanted by a street musician playing because I was young. While I had gone his music in the street, and he thought to many individual development classes of writing calligraphy on the street and long ago, I had been making selections wanted to make people happy. according to what my mother and other In the beginning I was very shy, and people surrounding me said. When there would pack up and run away when was something that I was interested in I people walked past while I was spreading could not see anything else once I made my tools on the footpath. I may appear up my mind. different but I am extremely timid and As other people had worried, the full of various complexes. internet shop selling business cards did not While being resolute in definitely doing take off for some time. He then started a things that he has decided to do, being calligraphy school at home and distributed shy and afraid when actually doing it is pamphlets about it, but it was not possible perhaps common to all young people. Takeda's weapons. Actually, even my present method of teaching calligraphy classes was born out of the apprehension that I would not be able to compete with other calligraphy schools if I followed the conventional methods of teaching, and the result of my thinking was to search for something that only I could do. I had this strange conviction that I would definitely not succeed if I followed the method of teaching that everybody else was using. My decision to go ahead with a teaching method that only I can do is the another side of my complexes. Anyway, the street performance of calligraphy that he courageously started made him rediscover the great power that calligraphy can have. A young boy who was looking from afar came forward to buy a calligraphic rendering of Hitamuki' (meaning dedicated or single-minded ) clasping a tiny coin in his hand. A young lady who asked me to write Ai (meaning Love ), burst into tears when I finished writing it. Through such experiences I realized that my calligraphy could move people's hearts, and that in turn made me happy. I was struck to know what great power calligraphy had. Even now he says he feels great happiness when he receives letters or s from fans saying his calligraphy gave them courage, or that a person decided against suicide because of one of his writings. It means more than a creation of his getting a prize or being praised in the mass media. It is a great feeling of happiness for him to know that he has contributed to someone through his thinking or actions. And finally, the young man who pursued his own way was in the limelight. FIND Vol.30 No.1 4

One day a magazine reporter wrote an article saying that there is a unique internet shop selling calligraphic business cards produced by a young ex-employee of a large telecommunications company.

His unique calligraphy lessons were shown on TV programs and his popularity soared, putting him in a permanent position as a calligraphy artist.

Takeda who has become a popular calligrapher of the times insists that he is still a pack of complexes.

5 One day a magazine reporter wrote an article saying that there is a unique internet shop selling calligraphic business cards produced by a young ex-employee of a large telecommunications company. That triggered a number of media people to come and write articles about me. As desired, something only he could do had attracted people to him. His unique calligraphy lessons were shown on TV programs and his popularity soared, putting him in a permanent position as a calligraphy artist. The overflowing energy he was born with touched the hearts of people through his calligraphy. The power of feelings embedded in calligraphy now spreads the human bond throughout the world Mr. Takeda who has become a popular calligrapher of the times insists that he is still a pack of complexes. Even now when I appear on a TV program, I feel dejected because I feel that I can never beat the talents or speaking skills of the TV artists on the program. After all, my thought processes are negative. I can never equal these people. Then again I feel that they let me make them happy through the calligraphy that only I can do. His words are strongly forward-looking, but he says that they are the result of his conscious effort to push himself away from his natural tendency to look backwards. Because I am a person who tends to think negatively, I am always trying to correct myself into living positively. However, that is probably why he can understand the feelings of people who have lost hope or who are in the depths of darkness. Surely, that is why his calligraphy can give courage to people, can save them, and can soothe them. He is able today to wield his brush only because of his ex-colleagues who made him aware of that power, because of the support he received from the people he met on the streets and from the fans that send him letters or s. He says, That is why I am what I am now is thanks to the feelings of a large number of people and the human bond with them. Even the plan for World thankfulness day 69 being promoted by him now is a project that started rolling because of chance meetings with a number of people and their support. Peace and thankfulness are things that do not create a mental image when merely said with words. Therefore, I feel things may change if one day the world celebrates a thankfulness festival even if it not real. I wish to make June 9th 2020 a thankfulness day. Even wars should stop for at least that day. Initially I was talking about this jokingly with my friends, and one day this reached the ears of people in the government, and now this concept is being taken to the United Nations. Many a truth said in humor. To realize such a day, the harmonic force uniquely present in the Japanese people is necessary and is something I think that only Japanese can do. Calligraphy is also one of those forces. I think it can be a tool for conveying a strong message of harmony. In this context, it appears that talk is under way to have his solo exhibitions abroad. The bond that has spread through his calligraphy, is now attempting to cross borders. It would be a wonderful thing if Mr. Takeda's calligraphy of Thankfulness is hung in the UN Headquarters on June 9, KIZUNA The Human Bond Bonding and Bonded 1 Mr. Takeda wrote this year's theme Kizuna (the human bond) during his lecture in the head office of FUJITSU SEMICONDUCTORS. When he faced the writing paper with a quiet heart, he wrote it with a sudden burst of energy. P R O F I L E Souun Takeda was born in Kumamoto cit y in He was trained in calligraphy by his mother, Souyou Takeda, from the age 3. He worked at NTT after graduating from the faculty of science and engineering of the Tokyo University of Science, and left his job in 2001 and started his activities as a calligraphy artist. He received the Longhuacui Art Award from the Shanghai Museum of Art and the Costanza Medicci Family Art Award in Florence, Italy. He has written the titles of TV dramas and movies such as the NHK serial drama Tenchijin, the movie Kita no reinen, and the logos of many products. He writes regular essays and columns in many magazines about living every day in a forward looking manner. He has published more than 20 books including collections of his art, and guidelines on the way of life that makes one's heart lighter. There are many fans of the contents that make people happy by just looking at them. 5 FIND Vol.30 No.1

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