Carpe Diem #1518 Inkstone and pencil (free style)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Nowadays we have computers, tablets and smart-phones we can as we are writing our haiku, tanka and more. By the way I am a little bit old-fashioned, because I still use paper and pen before writing our episodes for CDHK. I love to write old-fashioned, because than I can strikethrough what I have written before I publish it.

In Basho's days they used inkstone and a pencil, like we do nowadays with Sumi-e. Basho, as a traveling poet used those materials very often. It was easy to take it with him and it made it easy to write immediately.

I remember that we had the same theme in our 4th anniversary month, I will give you the URL to that post at the end so you can revisit it. I searched the Internet for a few examples of haiku in which "inkstone and pencil" are used, this example you will know:

suzuri ka to hirou ya kuboki ishi no tsuyu

Saigyo's inkstone?
I pick it up -- dew
on the concave rock

© Matsuo Basho (Tr. Barnhill)

Inkstone

Jane Reichhold's translation of this haiku by Basho I like more:

"inkstone"
picking up a hollow stone
with dew

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

I also found a few examples of haiku on inkstone by Issa and Buson. Here are those haiku:

iiwake no tegata ni kooru suzuri kana

upon writing a note
of apology, ice
in my ink-stone

© Issa (Tr. David Lanoue)

kiku no tsuyu ukete suzuri no inochi kana

chrysanthemum dew
is the life blood 
of this ink stone

yamadera no suzuri ni hayashi hatsugoori 

the ink stone
of this mountain temple has it early -
the first ice 

© Buson (Tr. Gabi Greve)

young maple leaves (photo © Olga Volodina)

Another nice classical haiku by a not so renown haiku poet is the following:

waka-kaede kage sasu suzuri araikeri

young maple leaves 
cast a shadow 
I wash my inkstone 

© Mizuhara Shuoshi (Tr. Gabi Greve) (1892-1981)

(*) inkstone is translated in Japanese as "suzuri"

For closure I have a nice haiku from my archives on inkstone:

pen and inkstone
the only things needed on this
uninhabited Island

© Chèvrefeuille

A nice collection of haiku I think. I hope it will inspire you all to create your own Japanese poetry. As you can read in the title you can write in the free-style way. The haiku translation by Jane is an example of "free style", in the free style way you can let go of the rules for writing haiku.

This episode is open for youre submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until October 16th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now .... have fun!

Revisit: "pencil and inkstone" episode 1070 October 1st 2016

Carpe Diem #1081 Feather pen (or Quill pen)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the penultimate episode of our 4th anniversary month in which we celebrated Carpe Diem Haiku Kai as a warmhearted family of haiku poets and haiku poetesses. This month we had several guests to inspire you and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to use the beautiful photos of Paul Militaru, the beautiful haiku and tanka by Kala ramesh and the beautiful haiku by Herman van Rompuy. And of course there was the presence of Jane Reichhold in that new special feature "Universal Jane". And last but not least I tried to inspire you through tools for art and creativity. Today we have our last regular prompt of this festive month and it has to do with our art ... writing ... today's prompt is feather pen or quill pen.

Ages ago there was no PC, tablet of smartphone to write your notes or haiku on, they had only a sharp pin and clay or later the use of ink and feather came in vogue. In the Middle Ages the most people couldn't write or read. In our regions the monks were one of the only groups who could write and they did that with a great precision ... they copied books with only the use of ink and a feather. A lot of work and of course very tough to do ... but they did a great job. Look at the beneath image, look at the beauty of that "monkish work":

"Monkish Work"

Isn't it awesome? Look at the beauty. It's a shame that "Monkish Work" was seen as "useless work", but ... what to say ... it's in a way true, because why did monks copy books in this way? And for whom?

What can I say about this placed in Japan? I think the "Monkish Work" we can compare with the work of the Japanese monks in for example their Zen Garden or with Bonsai or with that beautiful calligraphy ... also "useless", but extraordinary I would say.

What has this to do with our prompt for today? Well ... it takes time, a lot of time, to write with a "feather pen" or "quill pen". I think we can easily compare this with the fountain pen used for calligraphy. Many years ago I had another beautiful hobby next to writing haiku ... I calligraphed my haiku into watercolor paintings ... in one of my first haiku anthologies, written by hand at the end of the last century, I had calligraphed all the used haiku, of course I brought them to be printed ... I hadn't the urge to copy all the copies by hand ... no "Monkish Work" for me.

Quill Pen

migrating
back in time again I write
with a quill pen
screeching paper
the poet writes his poems

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope I have inspired you with this post.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 3rd at noon (CET). I will post our last episode of our 4th anniversary month, the last CD Special by Kala Ramesh, later on. For now .... have fun!

By the way: I have published our new prompt-list for November 2016 in which we will dive into the matter of Tanka through the "Ten Tanka Writing Techniques" by Teika (1162-1241). You can find our new prompt-list above in the menu or by clicking HERE.

Carpe Diem #1080 fountain pen

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This wonderful 4th anniversary month is running towards its end. We seen wonderful photos by Paul Militaru and have read wonderful haiku and tanka by Kala Ramesh, Jane Reichhold and Herman van Rompuy. They all inspired you and I am so happy that we could celebrate our 4th anniversary. I am looking forward to another year of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.
This month all our regular prompts were tools for art and creativity and the last two regulars are both for writing and that's what we all do here. We all write, not only letters or novels, but also haiku and tanka. Haiku and tanka are creative ways of writing and today's prompt fits that like a glove. Today I love to challenge you with fountain pen. "Fountain pen" is the English translation of the Dutch word "vulpen", a kind of pen in which you have to use ink refills, you have to fill the pen with them. As I read the translation of "vulpen" "fountain pen" I was amazed and thought "Why is it called a fountain pen". I couldn't retrieve the origin of this word, but I like its name. It sounds awesome and I immediately thought "this is a pen from which the inspiration flows like a fountain". I hope this prompt, fountain pen, will let your inspiration flow.

Fountain Pen

Several of you have already written a haiku inspired on this prompt, but one had my attention immediately as I read it. That one was by Ese (a.k.a. Noor on Twitter), she wrote the following haiku inspired on " fountain pen":

was it fountain pen splashing the black stains on butterfly' s wings

© Ese (a.k.a. Noor)

Of course this means not that you don't have to visit her, its just to give you an idea what to do with this regular prompt "fountain pen". I had some difficulties with this prompt, but difficulties are to be overcome ... isn't that also what life asks from us? So here is my attempt to create a haiku with this prompt:

hand moves slowly a fountain of letters appears on a blank leave

© Chèvrefeuille

Japanese Brush fountain pen

Another one, a tanka:

meditating monk 
releases his realization 
characters appear  
one by one they form 
a koan of love

© Chèvrefeuille

With this tanka I conclude this episode. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 1st at noon (CET). I will try to post our next episode, the last Imagination With Paul Militaru episode, later on.

Carpe Diem #1079 folding paper

a paper boat
on drift in a puddle
strands on a pebble

© Chèvrefeuille

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

A new episode has started. This time I started with a haiku and I must say I like that way of starting. Today our prompt is another tool for art and creativity, folding paper, as in origami that beautiful Japanese way of folding paper.

origami ni yama to tani ari tsuru kaeru

in folding paper
there are mountains and valleys . . .
cranes flying home

© Kawaguchi Hitoshi

I found this haiku about folding paper on the Internet and had to share it here because of its beauty. The oldest unequivocal document of origami is a short poem composed by Ihara Saikaku in 1680. It reads: Rosei-ga yume-no cho-wa orisue (The butterflies in Rosei's dream would be origami.) Here he referred to an origami model called Ocho Mecho (Male and Female Butterflies) as "orisue." The Japanese use it to wrap sake bottles mainly at the wedding ceremony.

Ocho Mecho

It is obvious what this origami model means, the both parts fit each other like a glove. Ocho Mecho is often used in weddings, but also in coming of age ceremonies.

first sunlight

caresses our bodies

we unfold

© Chèvrefeuille

Origami is a nice art and very aesthetic ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 29th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, a new Universal Jane, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1078 embroidery thread

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As you have noticed I have published already two episodes today, so this third episode will not be a very long one, but I think there is no need to create a long episode. Today I love to challenge you to create a haiku or tanka with another nice tool for art and creativity embroidery thread.

As I was younger, say a teenager, I loved to embroider, yes even guys can love that. I was studying to become a teacher and I had to learn to embroider (and all other kinds of art-work) and I loved it. I created several "art-pieces" with embroidering.

Japanese embroidery (with silk)

Take a close look at this image above ... it looks like a woodblock or a painting, but it is a real piece of embroidery art. The above image shows a beautiful piece of Japanese embroidery with silk. Isn't it awesome?

stitch by stitch
paradise birds come to life
an empty cocoon

© Chèvrefeuille

Enjoy this short episode and be inspired through it.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will will remain open until October 27th at noon (CET). I will try to post our next episode, the fourth CD Special by our second guest Kala Ramesh, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1077 Hammer and Anvil

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First I have to apologize that I am late with this episode (and the following) I had a few very busy days, so ... time wasn't on my side.

Today I will try to catch up with posting, this is the first ... another wonderful regular prompt, hammer and anvil, something I not know much about, but recently I saw a preview of a new TV-show on History channel. "Forged in Fire", it's a kind of competition between hammer smiths who are challenged to create ancient weapons like samurai swords.

I haven't seen this TV show, so I really cannot tell you more about it, but I liked watching the preview of this show. Strong guys forging weapons in great fires and hammering the iron into shape. In a way I became excited to see them at work. It's a ancient craft and those hammer smiths are cool to watch. By the way ... forging isn't really my thing, but it did seem awesome.

hot air
sound of iron on iron
shape with fire

© Chèvrefeuille

Would be an awesome idea tor try this once.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 27th at noon (CET). I will post our next episode, Imagination with Paul Militaru 4th, immediately hereafter.

Carpe Diem #1076 clay

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our daily haiku meme Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. This month we are celebrating our 4th anniversary and until now we have had wonderful regular posts, but also wonderful specials e.g. the Imagination with ... episodes have really inspired you.

Today we have another nice regular prompt which has to do with tools for writing and creativity, today I love to inspire you with clay. Just for the record, I like pottery, but I am not a potter or something, I am just a writer (photographer and painter) nothing more nothing less.

Maybe you remember that episode about Jane's other creativities, beads and pottery. I shared a few beauties of her pottery and her beads-art. Today ... no beads, but pottery and clay tablets.
Clay ... was always used for pottery, but also for 'writing'.
In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets were used as a writing medium especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylus often made of reed (reed pen).Once written upon, many tablets were dried in the sun or air, remaining fragile. Later, these unfired clay tablets could be soaked in water and recycled into new clean tablets. Other tablets, once written, were fired in hot kilns (or inadvertently, when buildings were burnt down by accident or during conflict) making them hard and durable. Collections of these clay documents made up the very first archives. They were at the root of first libraries. Tens of thousands of written tablets, including many fragments, have been found in the Middle East. 

Sumerian Clay Tablet

But nowadays, clay is used especially for pottery. And I know I have seen wonderful art-work made with clay. As I was preparing this episode I also thought of that movie-scene in "Ghost' with Patrick Swayze. (By the way "ghost" is one of my favorite movies).

At kindergarten I learned to create something with clay and when I grew up and started studying to become a teacher I again needed to work with clay, ... working with clay ... not my cup of tea, but as I see how artist work with clay than I am a little bit jealous, but well .... 

pottery by Jane Reichhold

I hope I have inspired you to create haiku, tanka or another Japanese poetry form. It will not be an easy task to create a haiku (or tanka) with this prompt, but I have to try it myself ... of course.

ancient writing skills
forgotten ... children play with clay
creating animals

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... this episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 22nd at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, a new "Universal Jane", later on.

PS. Jane inspires me almost every day and at tumblr I created a special "tribute to Jane" tumblr, where I am trying to post every day too ... feel free to visit.

Carpe Diem #1076 camera



Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Yesterday we had a wonderful CD Imagination With Paul Militaru episode with a beautiful photo. In our modern time we see this very often, because since we have smartphones its easy to make a photo on every moment of the day without having a real camera with you. A few decennia ago this wasn't possible and we had to take our camera with us to make photos.

Since digital photography became something for everyone the whole photo shooting started to become different. Nowadays we don't need film in our cameras, the only thing we need is a USB-cable to plug into our PC's.

Today's prompt is camera ... also a tool to become creative. As you know there are several of you who use photos on a regular base to create haiga (poetry + image) or to make their post more attractive to read.

As I look at myself, I use sometimes photos taken by myself, but in several occasions I use public domain images to create our posts here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

Paul Militaru makes awesome photos and I am glad that he gave permission to use his photos to inspire you this month. In our first celebration month (October 2013) we had also a great photographer and haiku poet to inspire you. Maybe you can remember him, Garry Gay. Garry also makes beautiful photos and turns them into haiga.

Here is a haiga which I created myself some time ago with a photo of my Sakura:

old Sakura
regains its strength
winter departs

© Chèvrefeuille (April 2016)

This is what you can do with a camera ... its a really great tool to use and show your creativity, but it also gives you the opportunity to remember a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water, and to create haiku (or tanka) later on.

Well ... enough to inspire you I think. Maybe its an idea to make a photo and use it for your post as an inspiration to create haiku, tanka or another Japanese poetry form. Have fun!

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 20th at noon (CET). I will try to post our next episode, the third CD Special by Kala Ramesh, later on.

Carpe Diem #1075 beads (in honor of Jane)



Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new regular CDHK episode. This month all our regular prompts are tools for writing and creativity and today our prompt is beads (in honor of Jane). Maybe you remember that I shared an episode of CDHK on all of Jane's other creative activities, one of them was her passion for creating pieces of art with beads. So today's episode is (maybe) a reprise of that episode, but I just had to do this prompt another time.

Last year I got a present from Jane, she send me a copy of "Basho's Complete Haiku", but she also send me a calendar for 2016 with all beautiful art-work by her made with beads.

Here are a few examples of her "beads-art":

beads bound
into a work of art
notebook cover

© Chèvrefeuille

The above image shows a "notebook / sketchbook cover" made with beads, this was the second "notebook-cover" Jane made.

And what do you think of this one:

One of her beads "fish", which she was discovering and interested in her last years. She created several, but as the perfectionist she always was, she wasn't satisfied.

on the beach

silent witness of sadness

beads fish

© Chèvrefeuille

Jane really was a creative spirit and she will be missed not only in the world of haiku and tanka, but also in the world of arts.

together
colorful flowers
meadow in a vase

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you did like this episode about Jane's "beads" art-work and that it will inspire you to create haiku, tanka or another Japanese poetry form. Have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 18th at noon (CET). I will (try to) post our next episode, our third Imagination with Paul Militaru episode, later on.



Carpe Diem #1074 knitting wool

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy it is to create an every day episode based on prompts. Today (sorry for being late, I am on the nightshift) I have another nice tool for art and creativity for you ... today our prompt is knitting wool and I think that needs no more explanation.

With knitting wool you can create wonderful woolen clothes, but also more creatively, puppets and as you can see hereafter ... a spiderweb:

spiderweb made from knitting wool

Or what do you think of this "Guerilla Knitting" or "Yarn Bombing" a new kind of playing with knitting wool to decorate trees with it or other objects like busses and caravans.

Guerilla Knitting

I am not that good in knitting, but I can appreciate the above use of knitting wool. Looks awesome and makes trees even more beautiful.

And what do you think of this ... pockets for plants:

Well ... how to create / write a haiku or tanka on knitting wool?

I have given it a try and "knitted" the following haiku:

knitted jackets
coloring the trees in town -
everlasting spring

© Chèvrefeuille

Well .... good luck and have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 15th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, our 2nd Universal Jane, later on.

Carpe Diem #1073 3D print(er)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

In this festive month all our regular prompts have to do with tools for writing and art-work and today I have a nice episode about one of the modern ways to create art ... 3D printing.

“You can look but you can’t touch.” That’s one of the first rules of museums, which house priceless works of art. But what about the community of blind and visually impaired who use their sense of touch to experience the world? The Unseen Art Project is an initiative to make art more accessible and inclusive by using 3D-printing technology to create replicas of masterpieces that can be touched ’till your heart is content.

“There are many people in the world who have heard of classical artworks their whole lives but are unable to see them,” says Marc Dillon, a Helsinki-based designer who wants to make works like the Mona Lisa touchable.

3D art is reletavily young, of course there were the sculptures, but in last few decades a new way of 3D art has grown a lot. Through the use of 3D printers art-works, like the Mona Lisa, can be touchable and re-done in 3D. One of the leading artists in this new art form is the Helsinki based designer Marc Dillon who wants to make a 3D interpretation of that renown art-work Mona Lisa.

You all will know the Mona Lisa (painting by Leonardo Da Vinci) and it's really a beautiful painting. I had the opportunity to see her in the Louvre (Paris, France) and I was overwhelmed by her beauty.

Mona Lisa (painting by Leonardo Da Vinci)

 Wouldn't it be wonderful to touch this beauty? Travelling back in time isn't possible, to touch her in real life, but with 3D art you can touch her, feel her until you are satisfied. How would she look in 3D? Well ... I found a wonderful image in which the 3D result of the Mona Lisa is shown.

Mona Lisa (3D interpretation by Marc Dillon)

Now ... try to imagine that you can touch this beautiful female once painted by Leonardo Da Vinci and feel the intensity of her beauty ... must be awesome.

By the way 3D art work is very young and I think it will become a wonderful kind of art. How would it be to touch the classical haiku poets? How would it be to experience for example Matsuo Basho. I would be flabbergasted I think, because Basho is "my hero", my sensei.

It will not be an easy task to create a haiku or tanka with this prompt, but I have to try it ... so here I go:

back in time
feeling the warmth of La Gioconda *
morning glory grows

© Chèvrefeuille

* La Gioconda is the real name of the Mona Lisa

Or what do you think of this one:

writing haiku
together with Basho
dream on

© Chèvrefeuille

Okay not as strong as I had hoped, but it's really not an easy task to create a haiku or tanka with our prompt 3D print(er). So ... I am looking forward to your beauties.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 13th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, the second CD Special by Kala Ramesh and our first "encore" a new CD Full Circle episode, later on. For now, have fun, be inspired and share your haiku or tanka with us all here at our Haiku Kai.

Carpe Diem #1072 paint

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of Carpe Diem today I have a regular prompt for you. As you maybe know our regular prompts are all tools to write and create with, so all art tools, and today that's paint. Several years ago I not only wrote haiku, but I also painted, most watercolor paintings, but through lack of time I stopped painting. Sometimes I feel that I hadn't done that, but ... well you never know what time will bring.

This episode is about paint and I love to tell you something more about the haiga of Buson. Maybe you know, maybe you don't know, but this year it's Buson's 300 th birthday. Three hundred years ago Buson was born and in his life he became intrigued by haiku. He attended several haiku schools and got the best teachers I could imagine, because all his teachers were once students of Basho.
Buson was really into the beauty of haiku by Basho and he even traveled along the small road into the deep north, Basho's Oku no Hosomichi. He enjoyed the journey, but more than the beauty of Basho's haiku he was amazed by the beauty of the nature of the deep north. So he decided to start painting or in a better way said ... he became a haiga master and he published the first illustrated version of Basho's Oku no Hosomichi.

Haiga by Buson part of Narrow Road to the Deep North (source: wikiart)

Paint ... sometimes we need it to create our haiga, or another wonderful painting. Haiku, as we know, is an impression, a painting with words ... so maybe that is the goal for today:

Try to create a haiku or tanka in which you use paint or try to "paint with words" ... I know you all can do it ...

This time I tried a tanka inspired on this episode:

in the backyard

in the shadow of the willow tree

a seated man

in deep devotion to Mother Nature

painting his first haiga

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you did like this episode and I am looking forward to your inspired haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry forms.

PS. I noticed that several of you are very intrigued with tanka, not exactly my cup of tea, but I love to explore this poetry form further. So next month, November 2016, I will have a special tanka month. I will keep you posted.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 11th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, our second Imagination with Paul Militaru episode, later on.

Carpe Diem #1071 brush (zen-calligraphy)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today another nice regular prompt in which I love to share with you the tool that is mostly used by the so-called Zen Calligrapher, the brush. The art of calligraphy is an ancient way of meditation and contemplation.
In ancient Japan the technique, or art, of zen calligraphy has been brought to a level of perfection which we cannot find on other places on our globe. To inspire you I have chosen to share a You Tube video in which a few examples of writing with a brush are shown.

Japanese calligraphy was influenced by, and influenced, Zen thought. For any particular piece of paper, the calligrapher has but one chance to create with the brush. The brush strokes cannot be corrected, and even a lack of confidence shows up to the work. The calligrapher must concentrate and be fluid in execution. The brush writes a statement about the calligrapher at a moment in time (see: Hitsuzendo, the Zen way of the brush). Through Zen, Japanese calligraphy absorbed a distinct Japanese aesthetic often symbolized by the "enso" or circle of enlightenment.
Zen calligraphy is practiced by Buddhist monks and most shodou or shodo practitioners. To write Zen calligraphy with mastery, one must clear one's mind an let the letters flow out of themselves, not practice and make a tremendous effort. This state of mind was called the "mushin" ("no mind state")
by the Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitaro. It is based on the principle of Zen Buddhism, which stresses a connection to the spiritual rather than the physical.

Before Japanese tea cermonies (which are connected to Zen Buddhism), one is to look at a work of "shodo (shodou) to clear one's mind. This is considered an essential step in the preparation for a tea cermony. (source: wikipedia)

Tokonoma in which we can see a calligraphy, this is the "shodo" to clear the mind before attending a tea ceremony 

a charcoal drawing
in the tokonoma
koan of life

© Chèvrefeuille

young monk
brush in hand one with nature
writes Mu *

© Chèvrefeuille

* One of the most popular Ichijikan (One -word barriers) in Zen calligraphy is that of Mu(無), which can be translated as nothing or nothingness. This Mu probably is the best known Koan in the Zen Buddhist tradition, and to penetrate on its true meaning, the endeavor in the practice of Zazen or Zen sitting is essential. By the same means, Zen calligraphy must be understood as a realization of this practice, since the Zen calligrapher manifests in his art not just mere technical ability, but his No Mind ( Mushin). So by the gate of Zazen practice, the calligrapher can enter into the practice of Zensho (Zen calligraphy).

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 8th at noon  (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, our first Universal Jane, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1070 pen and inkstone

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Our 4th anniversary month has started with a wonderful photo and wonderful responses on the photo. So I think this really will become a celebration month. As you (maybe) have read in the prompt-list all the regular prompts this month are tools used for all kinds of arts and ways of creativity. Today I have a nice one for you pen and inkstone and these are the classical tools writers in Japan used as did Matsuo Basho for example.

Let me tell you a little bit more about pen and inkstone, maybe I had titled this episode "the four treasures of the study", because next to the pen and inkstone, they used an inkstick and paper, and instead of "pen" I could have used "brush", but that prompt is coming later this month.

Inksticks (Sumi) or Ink Cakes are a type of solid ink (India ink) used traditionally in several East Asian cultures for calligraphy and brush painting. Inksticks are made mainly of soot and animal glue, sometimes with incense or medicinal scents added. To make ink from the inkstick, it has to be continuously ground against an inkstone (suzuri) with a small quantity of water to produce a dark liquid which is then applied with an ink brush. Artists and calligraphists may vary the thickness of the resulting ink according to their preferences by reducing or increasing the intensity and time of ink grinding.

Inkstick (Sumi)

Traditional East Asian ink is solidified into inksticks. Usually, some water is applied onto the inkstone (by means of a dropper to control the amount of water) before the bottom end of the inkstick is placed on the grinding surface and then gradually ground to produce the ink. More water is gradually added during the grinding process to increase the amount of ink produced, the excess flowing down into the reservoir of the inkstone where it will not evaporate as quickly as on the flat grinding surface, until enough ink has been produced for the purpose in question. The Chinese grind their ink in a circular motion with the end flat on the surface whilst the Japanese push one edge of the end of the inkstick back and forth.

Inkstone

Water can be stored in a water-holding cavity on the inkstone itself, as was the case for many Song Dynasty (960-1279) inkstones. The water-holding cavity or water reservoir in time became an ink reservoir on later inkstones. Water was usually kept in a ceramic container and sprinkled on the inkstone. The inkstone, together with the ink brush, inkstick and Xuan paper, are the four writing implements traditionally known as the Four Treasures of the Study.

As I mentioned above in the time of Basho the inkstick was used commonly, and in our times we see this "inkstick" in the Sumi-E art.

suzuri ka to hirou ya kuboki ishi no tsuyu

Saigyo's inkstone?
I pick it up – dew
on the concave rock

© Matsuo Basho, trans. Barnhill

A nice episode I think, I enjoyed creating it.

pen and inkstone
the only things needed on this
uninhabited Island

© Chèvrefeuille

And now it is up to you ... have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 6th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, our first CD Special by Kala Ramesh. later on