“Just do it the way I do it”, is the universal command of teachers, parents, and any other figure of authority. Imitating is a natural way of learning. Children learn, good things and bad things because they imitate adults. During the learning process, creative expression is often frowned upon. The priority is to build a strong foundation where creative self-expression can later manifest. As learners, we are unable to build that strong foundation on our own. We need something to follow, to something to copy, something to imitate.
As a chef, novice cooks are not allowed to cook their own creations, they need to be able to cook the same way their chefs cook. The food has to taste the same even though the chef did not literally cook it himself. During a dinner event, many years ago, my chef was busy with other duties and he was not at the restaurant. I, as the Sous Chef or second in command, was tasked with preparing and executing this very fancy multi-course dinner event. Chef didn’t leave me a menu, so I created one. The dinner went smoothly and everyone was happy. At the end of the night, while cleaning the kitchen, the restaurant owner entered the kitchen and congratulated me on a successful night. Then he said, “nobody noticed Chef was not here”. I took it as a compliment, of course. I realized that I could imitate Chef to such degree that I could fool everyone, including the owner, to think he was there when in fact he wasn’t even when I was the one who created the menu.
We learn Aikido the same way. The instructor stands in front of the class demonstrates a technique and everyone grabs a partner to try to imitate what the instructor showed. If you don’t do it the same way the instructor demonstrated, you get corrected.
Zen Calligraphy is practiced the same way as well. We brush characters as shown in the samples given to us. In Zen, we even do this without proper instruction or guide before we attempt to copy what we see. Instead, we rely solely on unifying our breath and posture to wield the brush across the paper.
The most traditional way of learning calligraphy is through copying the work of ancient masters. In most schools of calligraphy, students copy not their teacher’s calligraphy but the calligraphy of ancient masters such as Wang Xizhi. The teacher grades students calligraphy based on how well they copied the work of the masters. In my lineage of Zen training, we copy the calligraphy of Yamaoka Tesshu, a famous swordsman, zen and calligraphy master from the Meiji Period.
I started my calligraphy practice by copying Toyoda Sensei’s work. Even though I wasn’t taking any formal lesson, I learned a lot simply by imitating his calligraphy. I studied everything: the strokes, the spacing, the size, the length. When I was learning calligraphy with Maki Sensei, we copied the calligraphy of Takatsuka Chikudo, a famous Japanese calligrapher, and scholar from the earlier part of the 20th century. We used Takatsuka’s book Kakikata Jiten (書き方字典). The title of this book translates as the “Dictionary of how to write characters”. Keep in mind though that most of my lessons with Maki Sensei were about penmanship or Shuji. We focused a great deal of time on how to write the characters correctly without much emphasis on the artistic side of the brushwork. Even today Takatsuka’s writing is always my starting point when learning a new Kanji. I study his version carefully learning his composition and the characteristics of his strokes. Then I let my inner self take over and see how my own version comes forward. Naturally, my own version doesn’t exist.
Beside Toyoda Sensei, I try to imitate other Zen masters which lineages trace back to Tesshu. You can clearly see the influence of masters such as Yamada Mumon and Omori Roshi in my calligraphy.
Having said all this, I have to caution you about the possibility of plagiarism in your work. Plagiarism is when you copy someone else’s work and claim it as your own. This, as we know, is illegal and a huge problem in today’s digital age. Notice how I say “imitate as a way of learning”, so never claim it as your own. Now, it is nearly impossible to re-create someone else’s calligraphy unless you’re a trained forger. No two hands are the same. No matter how much I try to make my calligraphy look like Toyoda’s, it will never look exactly like his because I don’t have his hands or his spirit. I am not him. I am me.
What is possible, however, is to copy someone else’s style without giving credit. I’m completely honest and transparent about where my style comes from and who I look up to. Even then, my brushwork is my brushwork. People who knew Toyoda Sensei have asked me to brush Aikido scrolls for them because they know it will be in the same style as Toyoda Sensei. That’s what they’re looking for and I’m happy to provide that for them. But again if you put a scroll of Toyoda Sensei next to mine, while similar they are also vastly different.
So you may ask, “how can I develop my own style if I’m constantly imitating somebody else?”. And that’s a good question. Originality doesn’t really exist. We are a species that relies on evolution to move things forward. We constantly stand on someone else’s shoulder to evolve.
*The calligraphy above is one of many I’ve done by imitation. The character is 任 makaseru and it means “to entrust”. They’re both brushed on shikishi board. The one on the left is by Tenshin Tanouye Roshi, former abbot of Chozen-Ji and dharma successor to Omori Roshi. The one on the right is by yours truly.