The “Miles Davis” of calligraphy visits Whitman's new tea room

Fujii Yoshiyasu, the only calligraphy teacher in the United States recognized by the Japanese Ministry of Education, gave calligraphy demonstrations recently in Whitman College’s new tea room.

“Thick, powerful, lunging, aggressive, extroverted, free-wheeling, purposeful, spontaneous, deliberate, risky.”

Akira Takemoto, assistant professor of Japanese at Whitman College, uses those words to describe the creation of calligraphy by his mentor, master calligrapher Fujii Yoshiyasu, who performed recently in Olin Hall’s new tea room.

Takemoto, who describes the performance as being like a jazz musician’s, delights in such events that expose the tea room to the campus and community.

The new tea room, which opened in October 2009 as part of the expanded Asian Studies Center, is officially called the “Chikurakken,” or Enjoying the Bamboo Room. The center is located in Olin Hall East and features Whitman’s Asian Art collection, a display and study area, a breezeway, two faculty offices, and an office for the Associated Kyoto Program, which will move to Whitman in July when Takemoto becomes chair of the AKP board of directors.

“The tea room is in my opinion the best classroom on campus,” said Jason Sease ’10. “It encapsulates everything you would want in a classroom. I use it every chance I get.”

Though other colleges have tea rooms, Chikurakken is one of the only tea spaces in the country that is actively used, said Takemoto, who devotes eight hours a week to giving students individual lessons in tea ceremony.

“There are lots of tea spaces in colleges across the country, but many of them are just display areas, he said. “What I’m trying to do is make sure this place is both a room for displaying works of arts, but also a place for people to practice, perform, and then learn.

Fujii’s visit is only the beginning of Takemoto’s plans for the Center this spring, which include a display of Fujii’s work, workshops with master flower arranger Yabe Keishu, and tea ceremony demonstrations Takemoto will conduct for both campus and community groups.

Fujii has long been a part of the program at Whitman and remains close to Takemoto.

“Fujii sensei, who is my mentor in the art of calligraphy, has inspired hundreds of Whitman students interested in the art of writing Japanese beautifully,” said Takemoto, who has studied with Fujii since 1991.

Students said they appreciated the chance to see their own teacher’s mentor at work.

“Takemoto sensei often talks about the rhythm of writing – pausing and then flowing and drifting and then stopping. I could see this very clearly when Fuji sensei wrote ... It was wonderful,” recalled calligraphy student Iris Alden ’10.

“The most striking moment for me was when he did the painting of a cherry blossom tree. He took out a large brush and loaded it up with a lot of ink to make the first stroke- the trunk of the tree. He did it with immense power and force, but there was still this grace in it,” she said.

– Eleanor Ellis ’13