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Fudoshin Calligraphy

 

This is H. E. Davey’s calligraphy of fudoshin, or “immovable mind.” You can click on the images to enlarge them.

Fudoshin is the goal of many Japanese arts and forms of meditation. It doesn’t describe a rigid, hardheaded state of mind, but rather a condition of complete mental stability, one that isn’t easily disturbed by whatever comes up in life.

It is painted using sosho and gyosho scripts, in the style of master calligrapher Kobara Ranseki Sensei. This piece of artwork was featured in Furyu magazine, along with the books Brush Meditation and The Japanese Way of the Artist.

All skillful Japanese calligraphy should display a unity of calm and action. In this case, Davey Sensei’s brushwork is so dynamic that it appears to be moving, but each character is still balanced and composed. This is the result of over 25 years of shodo training in the USA and Japan.

You can commission Davey Sensei, The Japanese Way of the Artist author, to create this fudoshin calligraphy for your home, office, or meditation room. He can be contacted at hedavey@aol.com.

H. E. Davey's Calligraphic Art

These two scrolls by Hiseki Davey Sensei were shown at a major exhibition of Japanese calligraphy held in San Francisco in 2000. They also were shown at the Kokusai Shodo Ten in Urayasu, Japan, where they received top awards.

The calligraphy on the left is an example of Davey Sensei's kanji art, and the Chinese characters read, "Rocky mountains are embraced by white clouds." The art on the right is an example of his kana calligraphy, with a large Chinese character meaning "waterfall," which was painted to resemble a waterfall. It reads, "The waterfall no longer flows, but its sound remains in my mind and heart."

Davey Sensei can create similar hanging scrolls for your home or office. Contact him at hedavey@aol.com.

Kobara Ranseki Sensei



The late Kobara Ranseki Sensei was the founder of Ranseki Sho Juku brush calligraphy (shodo). He received Kyokujitsu Tanko Sho—the “Order of the Rising Sun (with Silver Rays)”—from the Japanese government for his numerous years of promoting and preserving traditional Japanese art and culture via his contributions to shodo and tea ceremony. This rarely bestowed award comes in the form of the Kunsho, a Medal of Honor. You can learn about his style of calligraphic art and his remarkable life in The Japanese Way of the Artist. Order your copy here: http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Way-Artist-Living-Meditation/dp/1933330074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288634364&sr=8-1

Illustrations from The Japanese Way of the Artist

Japanese Calligraphy

Hiseki Davey Sensei, is known to readers throughout the world as the acclaimed author H. E. Davey, the creator of Brush Meditation, Living the Japanese Arts & Ways, The Japanese Way of the Artist, and other works. Davey Sensei can be commissioned to create distinctive calligraphic art for your home, office, or commercial use.

He can be contacted at hedavey@aol.com or reached by telephone at

510-526-7518.

Flower Arrangement

The Japanese Way of the Flower: Ikebana as Moving Meditation is one of three out of print books by H. E. Davey that is included in The Japanese Way of the Artist. You can purchase The Japanese Way of the Artist at your local bookstore or from Amazon.com.

Learn how to create your own classic Japanese flower arrangments.... Discover meditation in the midst of art and action.

Still more about the Book

Bonfire and haiku poem from The Japanese Way of the Artist

The Japanese Way of the Artist

By H. E. Davey

Including extensive illustrations and an all-new introduction by the author, The Japanese Way of the Artist (Stone Bridge Press, September 2007) anthologizes three complete, out-of-print works by the Director of the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts. With penetrating insight into the universe of Japanese spiritual, artistic, and martial traditions, H. E. Davey explores everything from karate to calligraphy, ikebana to tea, demonstrating how all traditional Japanese arts share the same spiritual goals: serenity, mind/body harmony, awareness, and a sense of connection to the universe.

Supplemented by resource guides and glossaries of Japanese terms, the three books in THE JAPANESE WAY OF THE ARTIST bring ancient teachings to life:

Living the Japanese Arts & Ways presents 45 essential principles—like wabi, “immovable mind,” and “stillness in motion”—that are universal in the Japanese classic tradition. It received a Spirituality & Health magazine Best Spiritual Books Award.

Brush Meditation provides an extensive introduction to Japanese calligraphy, showing how even the most elemental brush stroke reveals your physical and mental state.

The Japanese Way of the Flower examines practical methods for looking at nature and leads the reader through simple meditations as a prelude to learning how to create simple, elegant ikebana compositions.

H. E. Davey is Director of the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts (http://www.senninfoundation.com/) in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mr. Davey's articles on Japanese cultural arts, and his Japanese calligraphic art, have appeared in such magazines as Karate Kung-Fu Illustrated, Furyu—The Budo Journal of Classical Japanese Martial Arts and Culture, The Journal of Asian Martial Arts, Body Mind Spirit, and Yoga Journal. He has also contributed to Japanese publications such as Hokubei Mainichi, the Nichibei Times, and Gendo.

The Japanese Way of the Artist:

Living the Japanese Arts & Ways, Brush Meditation, The Japanese Way of the Flower

By H. E. Davey

494 pages, 6 x 7 ¾", 135 B&W illustrations and photographs

Paper, ISBN: 978-1-933330-07-5, $19.95

September 2007

If you are interested in printing an excerpt from THE JAPANESE WAY OF THE ARTIST, or in scheduling an interview with Mr. Davey, please contact Ari Messer at 510-524-8732 x116 or ari@stonebridge.com.

More about the Book

An illustration from The Japanese Way of the Artist

The Japanese Way of the Artist:

Living the Japanese Arts & Ways, Brush Meditation, The Japanese Way of the Flower

By H. E. Davey

512 pp

6 x 7.75"

Paperback

135 B&W illustrations and photographs

ISBN 978-1-933330-07-5

$19.95

Now in a single volume, three essential works on Japanese aesthetics, spirituality, and meditation.

About Living the Japanese Arts & Ways: 45 Paths to Meditation & Beauty

“Davey uses words with clarity and simplicity to describe the non-word realm of practicing these arts-calligraphy, martial arts, tea ceremony, painting-and the spiritual meaning of such practice. . . . A wonderful complement for practitioners of meditation, especially Zen.”

Publishers Weekly

The Michi Mission: From chado—“the Way of tea”—to budo—“the martial Way”—Japan has succeeded in spiritualizing a number of classical arts. The names of these skills often end in Do, also pronounced Michi, meaning the “Way.” By studying a Way in detail, we discover vital principles that transcend the art and relate more broadly to the art of living itself. . . . Books in the Stone Bridge Press series Michi: Japanese Arts and Ways focus on these Do forms. They are about discipline and spirituality, about moving from the particular to the universal.

The three works anthologized here are essential to understanding the spiritual, meditative, and physical basis of all classical Japanese creative and martial arts. Living the Japanese Arts & Ways covers key concepts—like wabi and “stillness in motion”—while the other two books show the reader how to use brush calligraphy (shodo) and flower arranging (ikebana) to achieve mind-body unification.

In the Michi series, H. E. Davey explores the mind/body connection that lies at the heart of traditional Japanese arts and culture. Mr. Davey is Director of the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts in the San Francisco Bay Area.

You can order The Japanese Way of the Artist here: http://www.amazon.com/.



About "The Japanese Way of the Artist"

The Japanese Way of the Artist is a collection of three of H. E. Davey's most popular books. It's published by Stone Bridge Press (www.stonebridge.com). Included in a single volume are:

* Living the Japanese Arts and Ways: 45 Paths to Meditation & Beauty

* Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony

* The Japanese Way of the Flower: Ikebana as Moving Meditation

The three works anthologized here are essential to understanding the spiritual, meditative, and physical basis of all classical Japanese crafts, fine arts, and martial arts. Living the Japanese Arts & Ways covers key concepts—like wabi and “stillness in motion”—while the other two books show the reader how to use brush calligraphy (shodo) and flower arranging (ikebana) to achieve mind-body unification. Illustrated with diagrams, drawings, and photographs.



About the Book

The Japanese Way of the Artist deals with the principles that underlie most of the traditional Japanese arts, with an emphasis on brush calligraphy, martial arts, flower arrangement, and tea ceremony. How these arts and their underlying principles can lead to personal growth is a central theme in the book. The Japanese Way of the Artist is packed with illustrations and exercises to help you discover mind and body unification, which in turn can help you realize your full potential in daily life as well as in these ancient arts. No prior experience is necessary.

Although the title seems to imply that the book focuses primarily on Asian fine arts, the Japanese definition of art is broader than this and includes active forms of meditation and beauty such as Japanese dance, healing arts, martial arts, and various unique crafts. Universal principles link and underlie all of these disciplines, and the same principles can be used to master the art of living.

Kyle Kurpinski Reviews "The Japanese Way of the Artist"

An Excellent Resource for Several Japanese Art Forms

Reviewed by Kyle Kurpinski, PhD

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in traditional Japanese cultural arts. All of H.E. Davey's works are well written and include numerous drawings and photos for easier comprehension of the presented techniques, but the real beauty of the texts is that they demystify these foreign art forms. Understanding such art forms can be a real challenge without the right resources, but this book makes it simple with clear explanations and easy-to-practice techniques. The best part about this book though, is that it's three books in one: 1) "Brush Meditation" (An introduction to Japanese calligraphy) 2) "The Japanese Way of the Flower" (A guide to Ikebana flower arrangement) 3) "Living the Japanese Arts & Ways" (Methods for reaching your full potential in life) Even if you're not directly interested in calligraphy or flower arrangement, anyone and everyone can benefit from increased relaxation, concentration, and coordination imparted by the various concepts in "Living the Japanese Arts and Ways." All in all, this is an excellent resource for several different Japanese cultural arts, and with three books wrapped into one, it's a real bargain too.

About the Reviewer: Kyle Kurpinski is a teacher of more than one classical Japanese art and the author of How to Defeat Your Own Clone: And Other Tips for Surviving the Biotech Revolution. He is also a leading U. S. cell biologist.