A good encounter

Ten years ago, I set up a tea ceremony room featuring works of contemporary art and craft that I had selected, and with the idea of "questioning the present regardless of school of tea ceremony," I began holding tea ceremonies for tea ceremony enthusiasts at Kakiden in Shinjuku. Last June, we held our 50th ceremony, and the 53rd ceremony was held on March 18th.

Over the course of about ten years, I encountered many artists, but I felt a particular affinity for the abstract paintings of a painter named Ken Matsubara , and in 2012, I hung his works six times throughout the year in a ten-tatami-mat room that could be considered the anteroom to the main tea room.

I had never met Ms. Matsubara before she was introduced to me by Ms. Ikue Kuroda. However, from the very beginning, I was captivated by her character—she doesn't pursue fame or fortune, but walks her own path. As I myself consider myself to have lived without being bound by fame or fortune, I think I was particularly drawn to Ms. Matsubara's calm and composed personality.

Over the course of a year, I had his abstract paintings displayed in the alcove at six tea ceremonies, and while we discussed his style, I began to wonder, perhaps unnecessarily, what kind of work this painter would create if he tackled Mount Fuji, a symbol of Japan. So, in December 2013, I asked him, "Mr. Matsubara, why don't you try tackling Mount Fuji yourself?"

He looked at my face with a bewildered expression, but I firmly told Matsubara, "If there's one thing the Japanese can be proud of to the world, it's Mount Fuji. You should definitely take on the challenge."

Around that time, he and I were developing a deep understanding of each other, so he took on the challenge of climbing Mount Fuji, understanding my intentions. From then on, he repeatedly approached Mount Fuji with all his heart and soul, confronting not Mount Fuji as a mere landscape, but the sacred mountain head-on. He also created unique techniques in his materials and expressions, and within just two years, a unique depiction of Mount Fuji, unlike anything anyone else had ever seen, emerged.

The ideal relationship and dialogue between a painter and the person who commissions their work to hang in the alcove remains unclear, but to me, Matsubara's painting of Mount Fuji is a true masterpiece that is unparalleled.

And recently, Ms. Matsubara completed her first landscape painting of a distant view, "View" (the picture above), a painting of Mount Fuji by Hakurei. When I saw the photograph of it, I was deeply moved. The vividness and tranquility of the scenery, with Mount Fuji as seen from the shores of Lake Kawaguchi, the waves and stakes in the foreground, and Mount Fuji in the distance, was simply magnificent.

 Seizo Hayashiya

Mount Fuji

On the floor of the crescent moon, a four-foot-square basin of water reflects the withered lotus seeds and the "ring" hanging on the wall. A single drop of water falls onto the surface, creating ripples that spread and return, repeating several times until it returns to its original mirror-like state.

In the quiet moment after setting up "Kan Itteki" and waiting for customers to arrive, the sound of a single drop of water resonates throughout the space.

"We got a great view, thank you..."

The host, Professor Seizo Hayashiya, narrowed his eyes.

This installation, combining "ring" and "single drop," represents the moment when heaven and earth meet.

This work, themed on the Eastern view of time and space, and the cycle of birth and death, where heaven and earth meet, life sprouts and is nurtured, is completed when the host arranges withered lotus seeds in the alcove.


And for the artist, who can deeply resonate with this space, it is a moment of pure bliss.

After observing quietly for a while, he suddenly said, "Ken, why don't you try painting Mount Fuji here?" "Huh? Mount Fuji??" "Go ahead and try. If you can create a good painting of Ken Matsubara 's Mount Fuji, we'll hang it at the first tea ceremony of the year next year..." It seemed he already had a pretty clear image in mind.

On December 1, 2013, the 43rd and final tea ceremony of the year at Shinjuku Kakiden, the Tea Ceremony Enthusiasts' Club, took place in the morning during the "Zangetsu" (Lingering Moon) period.

Ken Matsubara