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Aya grew up seeing the traditional Japanese Kana calligraphy in her home. She remembers a folding screen with the writings of about twenty different with their own composition on the theme of ñ Harusame " spring rain. As a child she was only able to read a few of ñ Hiragana ñ the Japanese alphabet in the poem, but her childhood memory of her fascination with the writing and the feeling of appreciation for the brush writing, has remained with her ever since.
She always compares those individual versions of the poem with her own judgment as to which style or version of the calligraphy is the most attractive on her and which one is not. Fifteen years later she leaned from her grand mother, Sato Uematsu,that the poems on the screen had been written for Aya's great -grandfather, Aritsune Uematus's memorial " Utakai ", poem composing gathering,, in 1936.
After she moved to Hanover, New Hampshere, with her physicist husband and her three children in 1964, she studied Art History classes at Dartmouth College and there found her great- great- grandfather, Arinobu Uematsu's poem and calligraphy in a library book. That moment ignited the fire that persuade her to pursue SHO calligraphy study as her life work. Her art work has been changing for the last thirty years along with her life experiences, but her basic philosophy of her life is similar to that which can be found in this haiku by the famous Japanese poet, Basho:
- Do not follow in the footsteps of the Ancient great,
- Seek what they sought
In her imaginary journey to ancient China, Aya meets people and listen to their inner voices. Once she began her work, her task resembles that of a conductor who choose the theme of the next concert and then works out the individual pieces to complement the theme. The selection of the tone of the Sumi ink, the type of paper and brushes is analogues to assembling the musical pieces and working out the balance of the musical works. The final performance, or creation of the image, which is an opportunity in her lifetime that must to be grabbed and may take only minutes, requires searching for the highest peak of spiritual, emotional, and physical harmony. To capture that right moment of her brush work is to feel the hand and blessing of God. The final result is beyond her. Her feelings of that moment can be found in BashoÍs poem:
- Yeiled to willow
- All the loathing
- All the desire of your heart
In her flower painting, she tries to listen to the flower's inner voices as though to ask them how beautifully they wish to bloom.
Also her new training of Okinawan Shorinryu Karate for five years has helped to shape her physical stability and to find many similarities in brush movement. Karate practice helps her to feel her own freedom and enjoyment of life.
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