Under a clear blue sky, horizontal lines seemed to be drawn irresistibly into a vertical structure. Witnessing this event, I wrote my first serious original poem. Driven by an overwhelming urge to write, I jotted down something akin to a poem in my notebook and later transformed it into calligraphy. (Autobiographical Record: Relating My Calligraphy)

This work is the first in a series based on Ishikawa’s poem about the September 11 attacks in the United States. The shock was so profound that he couldn’t immediately put it into words, but by 2002, he was finally able to articulate his thoughts in the form of prose poetry. This was his first serious calligraphic work that took the form of critical poetry, marking the moment he created calligraphy based on his own writing for the first time. Stylistically, September 11, 2001, Sunny expands on the approach Ishikawa had begun to develop in works like The Brothers Karamazov.

Ishikawa had long considered it ideal to turn his own words into art. Here, he brought that idea into fruition for the first time. More than through working from already existing, printed texts, the process employed here enabled Ishikawa to convey his innermost feelings.

Ishikawa Kyuyoh (calligrapher; b. 1945)

Born in Fukui Prefecture, Japan in 1945. Graduated from the Faculty of Law at Kyoto University. After serving as a professor at Kyoto Seika University and the director of the Institute for Writing and Civilizations, he is now an emeritus professor at the same university. Ishikawa has elucidated the concept that “calligraphy is the art of hisshoku (taction),” and interprets the structure and history of calligraphy. As a critic, he is also active in discussions on the Japanese language and culture, which have had a significant impact across various fields. In both his artistic creations and written works, Ishikawa continues to produce cutting-edge expressions and insights. His body of work includes over 2,000 calligraphic pieces and more than 100 published books.