Shingai Tanaka (born 1942 in Tottori, Japan – 6 October 2007 in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ...

) was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as " ...

who studied under Master Goshin Yasui, becoming one of the country's best

shodō also called is a form of calligraphy, or artistic writing, of the Japanese language. Written Japanese was originally based on Chinese characters only, but the advent of the hiragana and katakana Japanese syllabaries resulted in intri ...

artists. He is the author of the book ''Sho, Le calligraphes de kyoto'', ed. Cénton, 2008 (). In the 1980s Tanaka founded the

Calligraphers Association (Kyoto shodō Renmei) to promote Japanese calligraphy (書道,

). He was president of Sho International, president of the Kyoto Artists Calligraphy Association, and special professor at

Kyoto Saga University of Arts is a private university in Ukyo-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin m ...

. From 1987 he lived between

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

and Japan, teaching shodō to students and artists in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

(France),

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

(

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

) and Kyoto. From 1998 until his death, he gave lectures at the Japanese Center in Lyon (53, rue de Montesquieu 69007) and in Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. In 1998 he was invited by

Radio France Radio France is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: * France Inter — Radio France's " generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed with a wide variety o ...

to do a special concert in the music festival "98 Presence". In this experimental concert, Tanaka improvised 24 works live on stage, responding to the images and inspirations of the music played by pianist Thierry Ravassard and composed by twenty French composers such as

Gilbert Amy Gilbert Amy (born 29 August 1936) is a French composer and conductor. Career Born in Paris, Amy entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1954, where he was taught and influenced by Olivier Messiaen and Darius Milhaud and studied piano with Yvonne Lo ...

and Pascal Dusapant. Each composer chose one

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, ...

from the 24 poems of the four seasons, and composed according to the image of the poem. This concert gained a good reputation, and three concerts were performed again at the National Supreme Academy of Music in Lyon. Muzzik European Channel decided to make a film of this music project for world-wide release, and beginning production from 2001 to 2002 through four seasons in Japan. In Paris Tanaka collaborated with the musician of crystal sound, Michel Deneuve. He also made some other experimental performances with music, called "music and the art of the moment" in the Netherlands. He also performed at St. Jean Cathedral in Lyon in December 2000. A concert also took place in October 2001 with two Japanese musicians of the traditional

Yokobue A is a Japanese transverse flute or fue. The various types include the Komabue, Nōkan, Ryūteki and Shinobue. These flutes have an extra closed chamber (for improved timbre and tonal qualities) that extends past the chin to the left shoulder ...

(bamboo flute). Tanaka exhibited worldwide and in 2005 he received Kyoto's Art and Culture Award. About his life and work he wrote:

References

External links

Video performance
Spring 2005 on AOL

*
"Cultural Diversity and Globalization: The Arab-Japanese Experience"
proceedings of the International Symposium, 6–7 May,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

, Paris
Exhibition
in Venice, Italy, 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Shingai Japanese calligraphers 2007 deaths 1942 births