The Seeds that make us the Golden Chariot of the Sun: A Prayer and a Hymn for Japan (march, 2011)
One Hundred Flower Series, Japanese Woodblock, Kono Bairei (1844-1895)
The One Hundred Flower Series Japanese Woodblock print is Kōno Bairei, Japanese painter, book illustrator and art teacher who was a member of the Ukiyo-e school. Bairei was a master of kacho-e painting (depictions of birds and flowers) in the Meiji period of Japan. Following Bairei works and by others, there was a resurgence of the Japanese Woodblock Print Movement in the early 20th century. The Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters like Monet, Degas etc. in Europe followed their inspiration from the Japanese ukiyo-e masters. The Japanese printer makers were in demand, Monet himself an art collector, purchased a lot of Japanese prints from the art dealers of Netherlands. His art collection included works of the legendary artists like Hokusai, Hiroshige, and Utamaro. Japanese print making revived the natural beauty of life that was getting lost in the heavy philosophy of pragmatism and utility.
Consciousness-Analogue: One Hundred Flower Series
The spring brings memory of a hidden alter of love:
The bee-hive we built around the circle of the sun
Our years have passed toiling in the seas
Kayaking on the dangerous 13feet waves
We lived without fear, without tear, without sorrow
Melting like ice in the soft summer breeze
We are the seers, the rishis of the glorious past
Living like the miracle of the Infinite One
A cosmic power drives our souls
Born from the supernal consciousness of light
It acts in our acts, thinks in our thoughts
And made us aware of the emblem of truth
Invoking the strength that exceeds the frail humanity’s cry
To live beyond the tragedy of the severing earth
Beyond the horror, the despair and the death
For time unfolds the hidden seeds planted inside
The seeds make us the golden chariot of the sun.
– Joy Roy Choudhury
The Cranes, KORIN Ogata (1658-1716), Japan/ Claude Monet’s Japanese Print Collection
This is Japanese Art Print by the famous 17th century Japanese painter and lacquerer, KORIN Ogata. An artist of the Rinpa School, many of Ogata’s art prints show the influence of nature (birds/flowers/natural scenes) in their varying moods and the subtle relationship it has on the artist’s mind. Its art as something beautiful, natural and simple with colours that reflect nature’s impressions like on a film that speaks the haiku of the heart. Here, art doesn’t appeal to the vital instincts of the viewer or to the prana but directly to the heart or hridaya, the birthplace of emotions. Sri Aurobindo in the “The National Value of Art’ spoke about art’s role in the ‘purification of the heart, the cittasuddhi, which Aristotle assigned as the essential office of poetry”. Here, Ogata’s art not only ‘stills the emotions and teaches them the delight of a restrained emotion’ (The National Value of Art, Sri Aurobindo) but it also evokes a mood of peace and silence that’s instilled in the very verve of nature. It must also be said this art was bought by Claude Monet, who himself was the pioneer of impressionist painting in Europe, but here, Ogata’s art seemed to have the early seeds in an involuted form that would finally emerge later in Europe as Impressionism proper by Monet, Courbet, Lepine, Morisot and others.
Consciousness- Analogue: The Cranes
Serene are the cranes by the waterside
They await a ripple to dance in the pool
Some are born others are washed away
By nature’s own tidal hands
But beauty resides in the land of the sun
Forever they glow in the spring and the fall
Their million voices rising in the air
Makes the heaven shake its slumber and sleep
To see young ones blossoming with the hope of light
And Death cannot tear their veil of the soul
For immortal they are in cycles of time.
– Joy Roy Choudhury
IIMPORTANT INFORMATION: Please note that in the wake of the recent earthquake & tsunami disaster in Japan on 11th March, 2011, we all are there with the people of Japan. Those who want to donate, please follow the following links on Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund
1. GlobalGiving: http://www.globalgiving.org/ (Please Read Website Instructions to Donate)
2. citizen effect Japan Earthquake Fund: http://citizeneffect.org/projects/japan-earthquake-relief-fund (Please Read the Website Instructions to Donate)
3. Japan Society, NY, USA Japan Earthquake Relief :
https://www.japansociety.org/japan_earthquake_relief_fund (Please Read Website Instructions to Donate)
Peace on Earth: OM Shantih, Shantih, Shantih
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