【Eight Round】We Ask Calligrapher Mr. Taku Kosugi What Travel Will Look Like in 5 Years
Table of contents
The New Buds of Tourism, Exploring the Shape and Future of Tourism Five Years Ahead
Mr. Kosugi is involved in a range of works. What is the “writing” that will clarify those words and that work background?
Today’s column focuses on knowing and pinpointing changes in future tourism and travel trends and brings an expertise from specialist outside of the travel industry to share their thoughts. We’re joined by Mr. Taku Kosugi, a calligrapher involved in range of works from individual exhibits, classroom teaching, regional and corporate community designs, and performances overseas.
Mr. Taku Kosugi
Mr. Taku Kosugi is from Kanuma, Tochigi prefecture, born in 1990. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from ICU (International Christian University). He started calligraphy at his grandmother’s calligraphy school and spent time practicing under Kando Kayashima and Kazuo Tsurumi. He devoted himself to his studies while living in Paris from 2017 to 2018 and is currently located working from Kamakura. He manages calligraphy school, “Calligraphy School: Kamakura San.” He’s engaged in exhibitions of his works, design work, calligraphy performances, lectures at universities or art museums in Japan and overseas and workshops. In recent years, he’s been working on expressions on stage such as “in between sounds and words.” He’s also involved in corporate commercials, workshops, productions, designs, and event planning.
The Charms of Calligraphy that Engage the Heart and Move People’s Hearts
Explorer: Mr. Kosugi, after you graduated, you worked at Microsoft Japan, but why did you decide to walk down the path of calligraphy?
Mr. Kosugi: I started calligraphy at my grandmother’s school. I loved calligraphy since I was in elementary school and thought I’d continue it when I grew up. I worked at my calligraphy with the purpose of getting awards at contests by following the examples as they were. My purpose changed in a significant way when the earthquake and tsunami hit in March 2011. I was a college student at the time and volunteered in Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture which was an evacuation shelter location. We talked about hobbies and I ended up talking about calligraphy. People asked me, “Since you’re here, can you write us something?” That was the first time I drew something that wasn’t part of the instructions. I revisited Otsuchi and brought my work there. The person who requested it was very happy and complimented me saying, “Calligraphy can move people’s hearts.” It surprised me. After I graduated university, I held exhibitions and worked with companies. More people started to support me and even now I still want to be more involved in calligraphy than ever before.
Explorer: When you were first requested to write something without any instructions, what were you conscious of when you did the calligraphy?
Mr. Kosugi: This is something that I’m careful of when I make a new work. I think about what’s the most important word for the person requesting and I think of what I can write first. The people who inspired me to create my works performed in the regional areas, and even though their town was covered in debris, they still practiced their art. I asked about the art that was loved by the region (shishi odori) and how it was tied with the local region and decided on a theme. The work is titled, “Rokumei,” and the first part of the word, “roku” uses the oracle bone script style. The classics have many different styles of calligraphy, so I learned about the history of different characters in typeface dictionaries and how they came to be. I also think about my past experiences and think about what’s in front of me at the moment as I create my new works.
Explorer: You decide on the words you want to express your art and the typeface. But there are other ways to express your art such as the type of Japanese paper you want to use and the richness of the characters. How do you go about deciding those factors?
Mr. Kosugi: I have two approaches: I decide beforehand (to a certain extent) of what I want to do, or I decide as I write. The more blurred the image is, the more I’m able to visualize what sort of work I originally imagined, but materials are like living things, Japanese paper and ink can change due to fluctuations in temperature and humidity. There are ways to bleed the ink only in this season so I’m making the most of my time now. Although I can buy Japanese paper in Tokyo, my feelings and how I approach a work might change if I choose a Japanese paper that’s unique to a place such as Tosa.
Calligraphy Illuminates the Backgrounds of Words, It’s One Method to Do So
Explorer: We felt like you choose how to express words and the meanings behind them at the core of your work, but what is the most important thing for you when you write?
Mr. Kosugi: The most important thing for me are words. I want to put in all my efforts in how I’ll express the most appropriate word for the place, which naturally leads to something in the background and nature. You’ll be able to see a circle that widens larger which shows what the word really wants to express. By making that circle clearer, little by little, the word in the center of the work becomes more definite. These are the kinds of works that I want to write.
Explorer: Do you leave something that’s like a word with a fond memory and its background when you travel somewhere?
Mr. Kosugi: When I travel, I really don’t take pictures. You’ll see many people take pictures and videos at fireworks shows. I do want to record those as memories, but I also want to experience things with my own eyes, I want to smell the scents and listen to all the sounds with my body. After you watch those firework shows, I think how fresh that image of the word “firework” in your mind is important. Travel is the same. I don’t narrow down the input of everything and write what I felt at that time. When I get home, I’ll express it as a work of art.
Explorer: Mr. Kosugi, you lived in Paris for a year. Did you feelings or how you approached your work changed as a result of living abroad?
Mr. Kosugi: When I lived in Paris, I encountered the uniqueness of the Japanese language. The Japanese language we speak uses hiragana, katakana, and kanji. There are words that have come from Chinese and there are original Japanese words mixed in too. For kanji, when we see the character for “shika” or “deer,” Japanese people will go back and think of the words origins to a drawing of a deer. In English, the word “deer” is a combination of sounds. Japanese contains a lot of information in one character. You can look at them as pictures or a code, changing your perception of them. I felt it was difficult to teach calligraphy for those who haven’t studied any Japanese but I thought it would be interesting if I could.
Explorer: You mean, how you express something depends on the word, right? Mr. Kosugi, you do consulting work for local regions and companies in MATCHA, media that’s geared for foreigners visiting Japan. Is there any way of thinking about words in calligraphy that have proven to be useful when doing so?
Mr. Kosugi: A lot of travelers going to those regions won’t necessarily make the regions or companies happy. As such, I place an importance on how I want to convey something, the future I want to create, how these regions and companies want to communicate with foreign visitors for any given project. For me, I would like to create words that convey my intentions. I believe calligraphy is one way to do this. You can write them with a brush or pencil, type them out, or relay it on social media. The moment I’m able to express my words in any fashion, that’s the moment I consider “written” by a person. I carry out workshops in local regions and at companies. By using calligraphy, I ask participants to think about what a particular word means to them, whether that’s the image and the innerworkings of that word. Doing so allows me to see the true nature of things.
Sending A Message Using Calligraphy, The Thoughts I Must Relay
Explorer: I know you think about the true nature of words in your calligraphy workshops which you teach children and adults, but what do you think will happen to calligraphy in five years?
Mr. Kosugi: I don’t necessarily think it will be always positive. Elementary and middle school students learn calligraphy, right? I think that’s a great thing, but I also don’t think there are many people who would enjoy calligraphy if it’s taught in a way that shows there’s a right and a wrong to do it. Of course, it’s important to write characters out correctly that are beautiful, but “wrong way, right way” type of grading means a red pen being drawn over the work and instills a uniformly rigid structure. However, high school elective classes will teach it as an art form that allows students to dig deeper. I want to tell elementary and middle school students that there’s a larger world out there for words and characters.
The Word “Travel” Written with Different Expressions to Showcase Different Meanings
Explorer: Calligraphy is about the history of characters and the thoughts of the person who wrote them. There are so many things we should know about it, but there aren’t many chances to learn about it more. It would be nice if there were opportunities to experience and learn the background of calligraphy while traveling too.
Mr. Kosugi: Old buildings will often have books and stone monuments, right? I think it’s important to wonder why certain words are at specific locations and wonder who wrote those words too. I believe stone is perhaps longest data saving medium in all of history. The items we save on computers or the cloud – I don’t think much of it will still remain after 4,000 years. We’re in an age where we can output many characters, but are those words we want to leave forever? We should be asking ourselves that. Travel is a great opportunity to come into contact with precious words that have been left to us.
Explorer: Mr. Kosugi, what do you want to challenge yourself in calligraphy in five years?
Mr. Kosugi: I want to draw my calligraphy in the fashion industry. I think clothing with words on them such as those in the Paris collection or on stage would become more intriguing. I’ll listen to what a brand wants to do with their clothing, what they want to express, and what I want to express with my words. We’ll bounce ideas off each other and decide if they want to sew those words on the clothing, print them on, project them on or even write them at the event. I first must foster a good relationship with them so that I can have that opportunity to bounce ideas with each other. I want to my calligraphy to be as good as the fashion itself.
The “Bud” We Found in this Exploration
The bud we found on this exploration was calligraphy and how the words and its background were simply one way of expressing calligraphy as an art. When we communicate with each other, we interpret the words people are saying and look through to its true nature. At the same time, we must also convey that message in a way we’re able to. In addition, we try to leave a picture of the beautiful sceneries we see, but if we’re able to remember a word along with the five senses that experience in the moment, we’ll be able to leave an even more wonderful memory and be able to express it in an even better way. (YVR)
