Long Time Expat In Japan
I’m not usually one to crow. I learned humility well and early, often with good reason. Tooting your own horn is unseemly. I am from a different age, I suppose. But I am disproportionately proud of this one bit of calligraphy that I did for a level up test recently. So enamored of it, in … Continue reading Proud – and a Little Ashamed of Being So
Ancient Chinese wisdom shows up in my calligraphy all the time. That’s kind of the idea. This week’s pulled on my heart strings a s being particularly true. 翰逸神飛 When the pen flows, the spirit flies.
Not a Zoom meeting but close. Don’t misunderstand. I’m very thankful for my job. I have so much to be appreciative for. But this meeting was loooooong
A while back, I started recording my dreams. I don't always remember, but last night I had a dream about BTS. If you’re neither interested in dreams not BTS, fair warning to stop reading. I am not a teenage girl. <dream>I was at a music festival in the states, which turned out to be Canobie … Continue reading Recording More Dreams
When I say awesome, I kind of mean “messed up.” Take the image below... This is in one of my favorite free health news magazines. I pass by a pharmacist near my neighborhood, and every month or so there is a new magazine. The above is from the end of last year, but it was … Continue reading Japan is Awesome – Health News
My kana practice from last month is another waka poem. The rough translation is below. The fragrance of plumsAmong the sounds around youThe familiar chirp of the bush warblerMountain village in Spring 梅が香に、類へて聞けば、うぐひすの、声なつかしき、春の山里 As a side note, the bush warbler doesn't really have the poetic punch that another bird might have, say the nightingale or … Continue reading Shodo – Mountain Village in Spring
Like a lot of people these days, I am working from home for a little bit. Apropos of nothing, or perhaps just to pass the early morning hours (I get a little more time in the day sans-commute), I decided to start recording my dreams. For a long time, it seems, I haven't been remembering … Continue reading Passing Time
Sometimes, more often than I’m willing to admit, I don’t really know what I’m writing when I practice Shodo. For me it’s art. Art for the sake of art. I fell in love with it so long ago I don’t know exactly when. Words are art in a way that seems different from western calligraphy. … Continue reading Shodo – Polaris Aligned
Working on another waka for kana practice. It goes kumo nakute, oboronari tomo, miurukana, kasumi kakareru, haruno yonotsuki 雲なくておぼろなりとも見ゆるかな霞かかれる春の夜の月 Which I think means Despite the cloudless sky, it’s still obscured, can one see, the haze covered moon on this spring evening
A short poem by Mantaro Kubota, who I’d never heard of till I tried to write his poem in my Shodo class. Pretty cool though. It reads: shiragikuno yuukage fukumi someshi kana しらぎくの夕影ふくみそめしかな -久保田万太郎の句 Do the white chrysanthemums, in the evening shadow, seem tinged red
B.S. Donovan 