Kakizome no Hi Writing

This work is not done on a Shikishi because it will be used for a customer at a bonsai convention seminar I will be doing. The inkan has not been established yet, but will be in the futute. This was written by Ryugyoku Yamada, and she was mimicking the Gyousho style out of the 禅語古語字典. This phrase fell under the Serenity phrases, which is the idea that the bonsai artist was trying to use as the theme.

The deeper meaning from the book has been translated from Japanese in shortform below.

I am not applying the actual reading at this time out of respect for the customer.

True Calm/Quietness Is…


The saying “There is Nothing” is really quite a difficult concept to comprehend. Even while you are thinking that there is nothing here, in actuality you are there. In fact, it is claimed in the academic world there is no evidence for the existence of “nothing”. I wonder if you feel this discussion is getting more difficult.

The real scriptural phrase for this saying is, “Tori no Naku Koe ga Kikoe, Yama no Shizukesa ga Issou Fukumatta.” This phrase means, “Hearing the voice of the crying bird, the solitude of the mountain became all the more deep.” As one pushes oneself deeper into the mountains, upon hearing the song of a bird, the thoughts of there are no other sounds here but this bird races through the mind. The feeling of “This is quiet”, is contrary to what “quietness” actually is.

“Furuike ya Kawazu Tobikomu Mizu no Oto (古池や蛙飛び込む水の音) & Shizukesa ya Iwa ni Shimihairu Semi no Koe (静けさや岩に染み入る蝉の声)”The sound of the water after the dive of the frog” & “The stillness of the sound of the cicada sinking (absorbed) into the rock” (Jonathan’s Translations into more everyday English usage; Others are listed below) are two famous Matsuo Basho verses. The theme of the passages is the sound of the water and the sound of the cicada, but in actuality the verses are really about serenity and quietude.

In the beginning of our life, we use comparison to be conscious of our surroundings. If that is the expected way of going through life, at most one will barely be able to perceive the deepening emotions. Within deeper understanding, would arrive the dearness to ones heart of realizing that there is always “something” around us, even the “quiet”.

Sources for Matsuo Basho Poem translations.

http://www.bopsecrets.org/gateway/passages/basho-frog.htm

Into the ancient pond A frog jumps Water’s sound!

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Matsuo_Basho

How still it is! Stinging into the stones, The locusts' trill.