Mitsuo Aida

I came back to Japan for the beginning of my winter holiday, and just randomly stopped by the Tokyo Kokusai Forum in Ginza where I encountered poet and calligrapher Mitsuo Aida's work.

It is simply amazing and so human. He started learning under a Zen monk and learned and absorbed all the sayings from Buddhism. Then he translated that into his own words and into a more human form poetry. His calligraphy also evolved from a sterile perfect writing, into a human, unsecular and touching form.

It's really unfortunate that it is impossible to represent his true work in English. This article explains the painstaking work behind having translated (funny that it is done by a guy who writes English lyrics for Japanese singers, a surprise that those eternally fake English were written by a non-Japanese!).

I've picked up a few below that I especially liked. My feeble attempt to translate leaves much room for improvement (excuse excuse).

It is (up to your action) now and here

Lifelong study (brings) lifelong prime

It is always your heart that decides your own happiness

You blossom your own flower, full of life

I will do it later, yes later. So we say, and the sun sets (this is not written as an admonishment, but just the mere fact that we procrastinate, and that this is a lovable human quality)

We are afterall, human (sort of asking for forgiveness)

The permanent collection at the museum are all brilliant works, so I hope everyone gets to see.