Yoko Nishina: Japanese calligraphy

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Yoko Nishina likes to use black Japanese Sumi ink in her calligraphy work because of the variety of colours , from blues through to browns. Craftsmen still use traditional methods to create the ink from vegetable oil lamps with wicks made of reeds. She creates both large and small works - and is collaborating with photographer Kenro Izue for an exhibition in Osaka - as well as preparing a special exhibition for her upcoming 60th birthday, an age which is considered a "re-birth" in Japanese culture. This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from In the Studio, exploring the processes of the world’s most creative people.

Transcript

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0:00.0	So how was that, Yoko?
0:06.8	Hi.
0:07.9	Trega, after marathon, after running.
0:11.6	It's very physical.
0:15.5	That's the breathtaking art of Japanese calligraphy.
0:19.5	You're listening to the documentary in the studio with me, Rosa
0:23.0	Johnston Flint. The important thing is how I can harmonize paper, ink and brush.
0:35.3	I want to take you to Japan to follow a calligrapher at the top of her game.
0:40.5	It's a craft passed down from master to apprentice, involving precision but with a flourish,
0:46.9	displaying the individual calligraphers' own unique interpretation.
0:51.3	My name is Yoko Nishina.
0:53.3	I do Japanese calligraphy. I write the poems in Japanese and in Chinese
1:00.6	with a brush and the sum ink. The brush has pringness and that makes you spontaneous to express
1:10.2	richer. So tell me about the project that you're working on at the moment. I have and that makes you spontaneous to express ritual.
1:14.1	So tell me about the project that you're working on at the moment.
1:19.8	I have the project to collaborate with the photographer, Kenlo-Izu.
1:23.2	And the title of project is Monono Aure.
1:25.5	And what does that mean?
1:27.9	What's the idea of that in English?
1:35.5	Monon-Awa-Lear is pathos and appreciation of the fleeting nature of beauty.
1:39.8	The fleeting nature of beauty, wow. It sounds very poetic.
1:45.0	I think this is Japan's aesthetic sensibility for the beauty.
	...

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