Forest of Words: Origin of Japanese Kanji Ideogram, Sept. 29

 

Cultural News, September 2007

 

 

 

 

Ideogram of “Tree” and “Forest” created by Hirokazu Kosaka (Courtesy of Japanese American Cultural and Community Center)

 

     Titled as “Forest of Words: Origin of Japanese Ideogram Painting with Visual Language,” the traveling lecture series which explores the evolution of Chinese ideogram with an intimate speech and calligraphic demonstration by an outstanding scholar and a renowned artist, will take places from September 29 to October 8 in Western states. The programs are presented by the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles and organized by the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles.

 

     Early written signs of Chinese script were found on tortoise shells and ox bones and date back to the Shang dynasty (14th-11th Century BCE) in China. These first characters were direct interpretation of nature, signs of medicine, practice of divination and agriculture.                                                                                                                              

 

   The Chinese characters, being composed of ideograms, has preserved and enriched these original pictographic images. The Chinese characters has carried on ancient memories of natural surroundings, animals, insects and sensitivities.

 

    Chinese characters and Buddhism came to Japan via Korea in the sixth century and over the centuries in Japan, Kanji, or "words from the Han Dynasty," has developed into a present form where little has changed.

 

   Through the Japan Foundation's international program, two outstanding figures working in collaboration, Tetsuji Atsuji, Professor, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University in Japan, and Hirokazu Kosaka, Artistic Director of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles, will explore the evolution of Chinese ideogram with an intimate lecture and calligraphic demonstration at Aratani/Japan America Theatre in Little Tokyo on Saturday, September 29 at 1 p.m. Admission free. For RSVP, call Gavin Kelley in the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center at (213) 628-2725 ext 133 or email kelley@jaccc.org.

 

    After the Los Angeles venue, the lecture and demonstration will tour to: Lane Community College Art Gallery, Building 11 in Eugene, Oregon on Tuesday, October 2 at 2:30 p.m.; University of Washington, Odegaard Library, Room 220 in Seattle on Thursday, October 4 at 3 p.m.; College of Santa Fe Tipton Hall, Visual Arts Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Friday, October 5 at 7 p.m.; and University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Barrick Auditorium in Las Vegas on Monday, October 8 at 2:30 p.m.