The Bow and the Brush. Part 2.
The second part of my conversation with Mike Cundy, Renshi 5th Dan in Kyudo, the preserved ancient form of Japanese archery.
TS: Mike, I wonder if you could elaborate on how you crash-coursed into the whole Japanese language thing and then found yourself (wittingly) plunged into a discipline that at first glance looked as though it had very little to do with the archery that was your primary passion – by that I mean, Shodo 書道 (definition; ‘a form of calligraphy, or artistic writing, of the Japanese language’).
MC: In my early days, as an art student, I developed a fascination with a very pure form of Abstract Art. I was influenced by the work of artists like Piet Mondrian, who used geometric shapes to construct their compositions. I had a degree of success with this, which was recognised when one of my paintings was accepted at the prestigious “Northern Young Contemporaries” exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery in Manchester in 1969 and I was awarded a Peter Stuyvesant Foundation Award (a sponsor clearly not acceptable now). My Art Tutor, at the time, suggested I investigate traditional Japanese Architecture, as it was concerned with, and used, many similar ‘abstract’ forms. I threw myself into this, which came at the same time I started Kyudo, setting me on the path to going to Japan.
When I arrived at the Kyoto City College of Art I was given a space to work, and the freedom to travel around the city recording traditional buildings and gardens. However, my interests soon extended to include other aspects of traditional arts and crafts, and I felt the need to broaden my range of experiences. I had developed a particular interest in Shodo (Calligraphy), and joined the Shodo class at the college. This was a major step which ultimately changed my trajectory as an artist.
I suppose it is relatively easy to see why an Abstract Artist would be drawn to Shodo. Unlike European Calligraphy it is made using a brush, and in this case brushes of wonderful flexibility. This allows endless variations and subtleties in mark making. The characters are not a linear or truly phonetic alphabet but are generally speaking, pictograms or ideograms. They are either intended to represent a stylised (abstracted) picture of something (a man, a woman, a mountain etc) or combine different images to represent an idea (e.g. a person under a tree, equalling ‘to rest’). Developed in ancient China (scholars estimate about 1250 BC) and originally carved on animal bones or tortoise shells, a wide range of styles and approaches developed over the centuries, from the ultra- formal, used for imperial edicts and government documents to expressive and individual forms favoured by poets and painters.
I was attracted to many aspects of Shodo. The materials are beautiful, wonderful hand- made brushes, ink, and paper, but equally, the processes involved. Principally among these being the mixing of the ink in a slate Inkstone (Suzuri). This has to be done methodically and takes time. The ink releases a perfume as you are working, and you can see the changes in consistency and ‘colour. This involvement of materials, mind and body, brought together through a disciplined approach, echoed and complemented my Kyudo practice. It is no accident that many teachers of Budo are also master Calligraphers. In fact, another aspect of Shodo is its immediacy. Because of how the ink reacts to the hand-made paper you cannot return to, or alter anything, it has to be completed in one go. This echoes the ‘one moment’ of Budo (In Kyudo; “One Arrow, One Life”). It can also mean that to have a piece of your teacher’s calligraphy is like having a moment of their life and to feel as if you are in their presence.
An example of Mike’s Shodo; ‘Nintai’, ‘To Endure’.
My time in Japan completely changed my approach as an artist. I moved from an obsession with form and pictorial systems to a more developed sensitivity to materials and mark-making and to the importance of the process as much as the product. This informs my work to this day and has become central to my teaching, both in Art and Kyudo.
I developed a close relationship with my Shodo teacher. I think he sensed immediately I had a passion for the subject and that I responded to it at a deep level. He introduced me to a wide range of calligraphers, famous and more obscure, who he felt would challenge me. He was interested in modern art, beyond traditional Japanese and Chinese forms, and we would have long conversations after the daily lesson. I am sure that, as much as anything, this helped improve my conversational Japanese.
Mike Cundy, ‘Babel 01’, 80cm x 58cm, Ink on paper, 2020.
As a parting statement, which I hope expresses my deep attachment to him as a teacher, and Japanese culture in general, I would like to leave this anecdote.
During one of our after-hours discussions I asked Sensei what he felt was the most important characteristic of a piece of Shodo,- what, in his eyes, made it exceptional. He thought for a while, and then said:
“Something you can have on your wall every day of your life, yet every time you look at it, it feels as if the ink has just dried”.
Note:
Examples of most of the Calligraphers I studied can be found in this source:
Chinese Calligraphy by Ouyang and Wen C. Fong (translated by Wang Youfen) . Published by Yale University Press. ISBN: 978-030012107-0
Calligraphic image: Chinese artist Huang Tingjian (1045 – 1105) ‘Biographies of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru’, source; Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access.
Mike Cundy, thank you so much.
Anyone interested in Mike’s art can find it on his website.