Friday, March 23, 2012

Shikishi Kake Scroll for Bonsai

This scroll was made for a customer that ordered a shikishi long ago. This person makes pottery for bonsai. He has some very beautiful and elegant glazes with his pottery. The striations in the pottery reminded me of his beautiful glazes so I was finally able to make a scroll to hang for the shikishi.

This particular shikishi is by an artist that does work on silk, and her silk work is mounted onto the shikishi and then hung within the scroll.

The scroll is adorned with a simple Ivory Plastic Jikusaki and a gold hanging string kakehimo.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Selecting Appropriate Scrolls for Bonsai

I wrote an article published at http://www.bonsai.ie/ on some general principles used to select scrolls for a bonsai display. This is an excellent beginning read to learn more about this piece used in a formal bonsai display. The full article is referenced at this link. http://www.bonsai.ie/selecting-appropriate-scrolls-for-bonsai-display/

Photo provided courtesy of Al Keppler, and the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Dojo Scroll...

Does the scroll in the background look familiar? It does to me. You have to go way back, 3 years, but here it is at http://quansbushido-kai.com/

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Customer Comment

This just about made my entire day!

Hi Jonathan,
My boyfriend received his scroll on Saturday. He loves it! It looks beautiful on his wall. Thank you so much for your hard work, we both really appreciate it!
Regards,
 
M.K.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Wallscroll 掛け軸 for Engagement/Wedding Gift

This scroll is for a customer’s engagement/anniversary gift to her fiancée. This is written in the かな kana style, which is a Native calligraphy style of Japan. It is a poem, and in English it reads, “You are my Sun and Stars, the light of my Heart, the moon in my Dark Night.” In Japanese it reads, 「あなたは私の太陽であり 星であり 心を照らす光 そして暗い夜に浮かぶ月」Anata wa Watakushi no Taiyou de ari, hoshi de ari, Kokoro wo terasu hikari, soshite Kurai yoru ni uakubu tsuki.


My wife was busy at this time, so I had the calligraphy done by Natsuko Horinouchi. She is a Japanese calligrapher, who lives in Germany. I thought she did a very good job, and offset the lines slightly to emphasize the meanings of the lines.

The scroll is done in a light red, to symbolize love. Because this is a gift to her fiancée, for the Ichimonji I used a cloth that has the characters 福 fuku and 寿 kotobuki embroidered in the cloth. These two words mean Happiness & Congratulations respectively. I made it this way so that they will be able to celebrate many happy years together. The scroll is finished with the 桜花 ouka or Cherry Blossom colored Kakehimo. This is a light pink, and it is a good complimentary color to the light red. The scroll is also completed with 紫檀shitan Rosewood jikusaki.

Dimensions of the scroll are as follows:

Name in Kanji Name in English Size in Bun (Inches)

天 Ten 106 (12.64)

上一文字 Ue Ichimonji 11 (1.31)

紙本の幅さ Artwork Width 78 (9.30)

紙本の長さ Artwork Length 113 (13.48)

柱 Pillars 20 (2.39)

下一文字 Shita Ichimonji 7 (0.84)

地 Chi 80 (9.54)

掛け軸の幅さ Scroll Width 118 (14.08)

掛け軸の長さ Scroll Length 317 (37.82)

Friday, March 2, 2012

摩周道場 Mashu Dojo Kakejiku

This scroll was commissioned as a gift to a Dojo called the Mashu Dojo. At first I thought it had reference to a Koryu system based in the Satsuma region of Japan, but it actually is in reference to a lake in Hokkaido, which you can read about at this link.

It is written in the gyousho semi-cursive style by Yoshimi Yamada Maples (Ryugoku). The scroll is unique in that the reference is to a lake, I inserted fish into the Ichimonji to add to the meaning. It is completed with a Rosewood (紫檀) Jikusaki and the Kogecha, Navy Hanging string.

Dimensions as follows:

Name in Kanji Name in English Size in Bun Size in Inches
Ten 110 13.12
上一文字 Ue Ichimonji 17.5 2.09
紙本の幅さ Artwork Width 54 6.44
紙本の長さ Artwork Length 218 26.01
Pillars 25 2.98
下一文字 Shita Ichimonji 13 1.55
Chi 80 9.54
掛け軸の幅さ Scroll Width 104 12.41
掛け軸の長さ Scroll Length 438.5 52.31