One of mine

One of mine
Originally uploaded by shodoboy.

No full understanding of Japanese aesthetics can be reached by those who do not appreciate the written characters. They are symbols of ideas, but they are not pictures of things; and therefore a man who takes up his brush to trace them is not distracted by any desire to represent or even to suggest a concrete reality, but rather aims at making shapes whose beauty is their very own and does not sepend upon their significance. He moves, as it were in a world of pure form and he is concerned only with abstract design. For him, to write beautifully is to solve fundamental problems of art. The line must be unerringly placed, it must be in relation to it's fellows, and though it may pass from strength to softness it may never falter, but must be alive throughout it length. The ink must merge with the soft paper, neither lying inert upon it's surface nor spreading aimlessly beneath. The brush, suitably charged, and directed, not as is the pen by a niggling motion of the fingers but by a bold impulse of the whole body transmitted from the shoulder to the wrist, will produce a subtle range of tones between the faintest grey and the deepest black. To a discerning eye such modulations under the sure touch of a master, can give as profound satisfaction as the most harmonious blend of colours.