Meito Calligraphy Association’s 16th Calligraphy Exhibit

On September 7 and 8, a weekend of lingering summer heat beneath a clear blue sky, the Meito Calligraphy Association held its 16″ exhibit at Seattle Center’s A/NT Gallery. Counting from the 2019 exhibit in Tokyo, it had been 5 years since the school’s last, but counting from the 2018 exhibit held at the same Seattle Center gallery, it had been 6. Titled Listen to the Silence, the exhibit featured works from the school’s students, as well as a special guest piece called Kodou (Heartbeat), contributed by Renshi Maruo Sensei, a judge from Mainichi Shodo Association and Meito President Yoshiyasu Fujii’s former supervisor at Seiritsu High School. Fujii Sensei’s large piece, Koe naki wo kiku (Listen to the Silence) was the centerpiece of the exhibit, and was surrounded by 153 scrolls displaying the work of Meito students from Seattle, Tokyo, Kyushu, Hawaii, Los Angeles, and Portland.

The exhibit attracted more than 600 visitors over the weekend. A main draw were the demonstrations given by the master, roughly 1-hour sessions Fujii Sensei offered on both days. As the other guests looked on in delight, he drew bamboo leaves, plum flowers, and a host of crabs with one lucky guest, then added a fitting poem to each work. Outside of the demonstrations, his hanging scrolls, white paper dense with black characters and thoughts of his hometown, captured eyes and hearts.

Before each demonstration, Vice President Naoko Fujii entertained and educated the gallery with a quiz, helping guests appreciate the variety of colors you can get from an ink stone, while also teaching them the origin story of a few kanji characters.

On late Sunday afternoon, sunlight streaming through the gallery windows warmed the orderly lines of scrolls—a sight that spoke the exhibit’s name. How many hours did their authors spend facing the blank paper, waiting for inspiration from the quiet voice within?

It was the first exhibit for those who’d joined the school during the time of Covid. Seeing their works transformed into scrolls, hanging on the walls of a beautiful gallery, many must have taken home a rare gift-renewed motivation to deepen their art.