English | ImamurArt

Chieko IMAMURA is a Japanese caliigrapher.

She studied Shodo from the age of 4 with her grandmother, her mother and three masters by family tradition, born in a family descendants of Samurai where the practice of the Shodo was common.

She first obtained 9th dan (degree, level of practice of traditional Japanese art)

and at the age of 11, she won the 3rd prize in Japan.

She still practices with her master of Japan and she is one of the rare calligraphers who has the title of “master” in France.

When she arrived in France (1989), the French asked her "What is Japanese calligraphy?".

This is where she began to ask herself questions that she had never asked herself in her childhood.

Little by little she discovered the true meaning of traditional calligraphy thanks to life in France,

it was the French who made her rediscover the pleasure of practicing this art. She works by the inspiration

from Taoism, Buddhism and Zen which evokes all the spirituality of these philosophies.

Today, a large French and foreign public are interested in Asian arts and it seems important to her to present her work and pass on her knowledge all that she has learned in Japan.

She proposes calligraphy courses for adults and children, and researches ancient Japanese writing before the emergence of Chinese writing in Japan.

In 2018 she brought the great Japanese calligraphy masters to the Asian Arts Museum in NICE and made the link between Japan and France.

The Museum organized the Japanese Calligraphy Exhibition "L'Esprit d'Harmonie".

Then she organized "Journée Japon" (2011, 2012, 2013) in Éze Village to support the victims of the Tsunami.

SHODO

The practice of Sho-dô is a real work of concentration as all Japanese martial and traditional arts,

awareness and harmonization of fullness and emptiness.

This principle gives its richness, its meaning and its depth to Japanese calligraphy which takes root in

the philosophy of yin and yang.

Shodo is an artistic discipline. In Japanese calligraphy, the Chinese characters "Kanji" and "Hiragana" are drawn in a way that makes them feel aesthetically pleasing.