One of my favorites now too are the buds of the Moose-Maple or Striped Maple. They are such a lovely pale green against the  smooth red and green stems. I was involuntarily enticed to draw both stem and luscious bud across my lips and was not disappointed; a polished smoothness like woody asparagus to the stem and a silky-skinned softness like the inside of a cat’s ear to the bud. And they didn’t ask anything more or less of me!

The Moose-maple Bark seems exotic and tropical compared to the dryness of most of our northern hardwoods. It has a tactility quite unlike anything else around.

Murata Masayuki, director of the Sannenzaka Museum escorted me to Okayama to view the exhibition. He and I had travelled to the same museum in 2008 but it was closed for some unforeseen reason. At that time we were also going to ask the museum people where Shoami Kasuyoshi’s grave-site was, but obviously it didn’t happen.

This time we were welcomed by the museum director, Tamura Keisuke. We had a very enjoyable time visiting with Tamura-san and he had independently asked Murata-san if we wanted to visit Katsuyoshi-sensei’s grave-site!

Another unexpected joy was the inclusion in the exhibit of some tools of Shoami Katsuyoshi, a few unfinished works that were in process when he died and a design drawing folio. Afterward Murata-san told me he had discovered these when visiting Shoami Katsuyoshi’s granddaughters, still living in Tokyo. I was strongly affected by seeing these items, especially as I was not expecting to and they appeared by surprise as we rounded a corner. I was quite overwhelmed by viewing the tools, designs, unfinished works and the many, many masterpieces by so many masters from that era. Murata-san, taking pity, kindly took me to tea after which we proceeded to Shoami Katsuyoshi’s grave, guided by Sato-san from the museum. Heavy rain broke out as soon as the car parked.

It was a day I will not forget, filled with kindness, generosity, great beauty and palpable humanity contained in a few simple tools and a grave-site.

Kogo (incense container) by Shoami Katsuyoshi:

Kogo by Shoami Katsuyoshi

Tools and unfinished works of Shoami Katsuyoshi

Unfinished metal parts of chickens, insect wings and a frog:

Design drawing of a metalwork:

To be clear, the business will continue and the gallery will be moved to Orcas Island, WA and welcoming visitors when construction is finished early in 2013. Until then they are functioning from a Seattle office.

Jeff and Bill are renowned for their taste, knowledge and scholarship and have produced eight ultra-fine hard-cover catalogues, most still available.

Many works can be viewed online at: Kagedo Japanese Art

Below are a very few of my favorite objects from their collections. I think the reason many people find a resonance in Japanese art is well summed up by Jeffrey Cline in his introduction to the Spring 2010 catalogue:

“All of the work reflects a feeling for the natural world. This we believe to be one of the essential elements of Japanese aesthetic in all periods and mediums. A sense of the mutability of things, the transience of life and its beauty shadows and deepens many of these pieces. Even the most abstracted or stylized of these works respects the rhythms and physical perfection of the natural world. The more closely one looks at the components of life, the more exact and balanced do they seem. None of these artworks exist in the airless world of humanity alone. They connect us with the broader universe and make us feel its brilliance.”

Gaku or framed panel mounted with a painting on silk in mineral pigments, sumi ink, and gofun or clam shell gesso depicting matsutake or pine mushrooms growing on a forest floor carpeted with pine needles, ferns and a flowering plant with bright red autumn leaves. Sealed illegibly in red on the lower right corner by the artist. Taishō – early Shōwa era, circa 1920 – 1930. Artist unknown.

Vase in the form of a small gourd with a section of scrolling vine and leaves, on which crawls a ladybug. The vase of  uchidashi or hammered and assembled iron, the larger vine of shibuichi hammered and cold-chiseled, the curling tendrils of hammered and twisted silver, the upper leaf of hammered and cold-chiseled iron and the lower leaf of hammered and cold-chiseled shibuichi inlaid in gold, the ladybug of shakudō inlaid in red bronze and silver, the eyes of gold. Signed on the back with a chiseled signature by the artist: Shōami, and then with an inlaid, carved gold seal: Katsuyoshi (Shōami Katsuyoshi, 1832 – 1908). Meiji 9 or 1876.

Painting in sumi ink, gofun or clam shell gesso, and mineral pigments on silk mounted as a gaku or framed panel, depicting a winter scene of icicles in a waterfall. Signed by the artist: Shizan, and sealed twice (Miyata Shizan, 1889 – 1971). Shōwa 9 or 1934.

Okimono or sculpture in the form of a persimmon branch. Of hammered and cold-chiseled iron, the persimmon of gilt bronze. Signed with a chiseled signature on the leaf by the artist: Kōmin Saku or Made by Kōmin (Kuroi Kōmin, active early 20th century). Shōwa 16 or 1941.

Kōro or incense burner in a low ovoid form on three feet, the sides with relief designs of swimming ayu or sweetfish and the pierce-work lid with designs of bamboo. Of hammered and cold chiseled shibuichi, inlaid in gold and shakudō, and with gilt detailing. The rim and incense well of silver, the interior of which is gilt. Signed on the back with a chiseled signature by the artist: Mitsuharu and with an inlaid gold kaō (Katsura Mitsuharu, the gō or art name of Katsura Yonejirō, 1871 – 1962). Early Shōwa Era, circa 1933 – 1934.

Kōgo or incense container in a flattened circular form of the full moon, the exterior with a design of a sagi or snowy heron flying through a snowy night. Of cast shibuichi, inlaid in silver, shakudō, and gold, the interior lined in chiseled silver. Signed on the exterior of the lid with an inlaid gold and shakudō seal form signature by the artist: Katsuyoshi, and on the reverse of the base with a chiseled signature: Heian, Nanaju-nana Sai Shōami Ju or Kyōto, at the age of 77 Cast by Shoami (Shōami Katsuyoshi, 1832 – 1908). Meiji 41 or 1908.

The Japanese, with characteristic resourcefulness and hard work have made large gains in clean-up of certain areas of the non-nuclear desolation. Other areas remain overwhelmed by the amount of debris and loss. The nuclear contamination and continued leakage situation also remains highly troubling and complex.

The most reliable information in English that I have found comes from Arnie and Maggie Gunderson at Fairewinds:

FAIREWINDS

Also much good information here:

KAGEDO

The mood of the Japanese people seems largely swayed to not return to such a high dependency on nuclear power generation and only two of 54 plants have been restarted after routine maintenance shut-downs. A huge sacrifice in power use has been made by the Japanese people.

Please follow the link below to see a very tender interview with a humble farmer who has spent his life savings to buy a radiation detector to monitor his and his neighbors food supply.

FARMER INTERVIEW

The photographer Denis Rouvre has created a stunning photo essay of faces of elders affected by the calamity.

PHOTO ESSAY

Kohei Itami, 77 ‘‘I can’t rush for things to be better. I try not to think far into the future. I take good care each day.’’

My aim with this work was to evoke the mystery around a narrative that has already passed.

I had begun the carving before the tragic events in Tohoku, Japan, March 2011, and I was certainly struck with how water can reshape our lives as well as create tranquil beauty. I had many moments while making it to reflect on the quiet endurance of the Japanese people in the wake of the destructive Tsunami. This was driven home last August with the devastating effects of hurricane Irene in Vermont and elsewhere.

During many quiet and restorative hours in Nature, I am fascinated with the ever-changing details of stream beds after high-water events such as spring run-off or a large rainfall. One of the phenomena that appeals to me in this regard is the patterns left by the water in sand-bars, and in the reshaping of sand-bars. Objects large and small, such as logs, stones and twigs come to rest in the sand, creating a small still-life, charged with the power of the water and the mystery of how objects came to their position.

A stream-bed focuses several powerful visual and dynamic realities. In the short term, every visit unveils new courses of water, and new arrangements of sticks, stones, leavings and bits. In the longer run, the work of water for ages reveals rocks uplifted when North America and Africa were one continent. I find it impossible to be emotionally unaffected by this display of transformation and beauty, both short and long-term. I hope the evocation of this work will involve the viewer with their own imaginative emotional response.

I carved an undulating surface in the wood representing the sand patterns, and textured the surface to appear as sand. This texture was done with a triangular chisel point, moved in various angles so that the reflected light would dance as grains of sand might in the light.

The stones are made from, iron, lead, two alloys of shibuichi and pure silver. The twig is made from shakudo with traces of gold.

Even the Wild Turkey leaves an unselfconscious angelic print as it lifts to the future.

Happy New Year!

I don’t know if in those days astronomers knew that every bit of Earth was once part of a star.

Being a fiend for snow, snowstorms and other frozen phenomenon, it is a sad winter to have so little happening here yet this season. It drives me crazy to hear significant events described solely on a relative scale of disaster, seemingly only related to our ability to motor around or not. Some shots below from years past.

Thanks to   SnowCrystals.com   for the snowflake photo and the quote. Please visit their website for a treat.

Murata-san is always very kind and generous in making pieces available for me to examine in hand and to photograph. It is an amazing opportunity as they are among the finest in the world of this type of work. Some pieces have only been in private collections and have never been published or viewed publicly.

I would like to share some of these works and Murata-san has kindly agreed. The first is a tsuba(sword guard) by Shoami Katsuyoshi (1832-1908). For those not familiar with Japanese metalwork or sword fittings(kodogu) a little background may be necessary. Many will know how highly the sword was (is?) esteemed in Japanese culture. It is, no doubt, less well known that the various kodogu, especially tsuba, were also highly valued and often made as stand-alone art objects that, while technically functional, were probably never destined to be mounted on a sword.

Another historical consideration around the story of Shoami Katsuyoshi is that his career as a maker of sword fittings was interrupted dramatically by the Haitorei edict of 1876 limiting the carrying of swords. The subsequent demolition of demand for kodogu can hardly be overstated. Some older craftsmen/artists such as Goto Ichijo were so devastated by this that they could hardly continue. Goto Ichijo was the master heir of 14 generations (400 years) of uninterrupted superb metal craft in the Goto line. He had supplied sword mountings to the Emperor and Shogun but was reduced at the end of his career to what he described as a “hand-to-mouth” existence.

The connoisseurship for kodogu continued somewhat after the Haitorei edict and some younger exceptional craftsmen such as Katsuyoshi were able to adjust and adapted to making artistic fittings as well as vases and sculpture for a growing European market, fueled by the extravagant international exhibitions of the day, such as London 1862 and Philadelphia 1876 which opened the world’s eyes to Japanese art.

This tsuba is made primarily of the Japanese alloy shakudo, with inlays of shibuichi, copper, silver and gold. The subject is a crane and reeds. The beautiful inlaid sosho( grass script) poem is from Lady Ise and refers to a crane crying in winter reeds. For more information on Japanese alloys please go:  HERE

Some tsuba collectors object to the sumptuous nature of such works as this, but as a metal engraver, I am in awe of the skill, artistry and sensitivity needed to produce such an object.

Acknowledgements to the Kiyomizu-Sannenzaka Museum for allowing me to photograph this tsuba and to Hiruta Michiko for biographical information on Goto Ichijo.

The search for wild comestibles yields rewards beyond the edibles. Just being out there leads the list. Learning the identification and habitat of the prey leads to all sorts of discoveries related to said habitat such as how other plants figure into that particular mini ecosystem.

Also, once one becomes familiar with the habit and appearance of a plant you begin to look less intently, and then to notice them naturally as they almost jump out at you, and how they look in different seasons.

“You can observe a lot by watching”  Yogi Berra

The harvest is rich of course in so many inestimable ways by merely being and absorbing.

It’s been a fine year for mushrooming.

A basket of Chanterelles and a rotting Black Cherry tree with Chicken Of The Woods: