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Event Description
KAKIZOME
Surrounded by beautiful and peaceful Origami Cranes hanging on the wall designed by our member, we again started a New Year celebrating "Kakizome", the first writing of the year, at the Arts Mid-Hudson in Poughkeepsie with people from local communities. There we saw regulars, new faces, different ages, nationalities and races all seriously focused on the characters they were writing. Some chose Kanji from the samples we had prepared, while others challenged to write their own "this year's resolution". As always, the Resolution in English required to be translated into Japanese and found appropriate or suitable characters, mostly in Kanji. And that was when OUR challenges begun - Many words are no longer commonly used in our daily life here or simply (ashamedly) we forget the spelling. Without a dictionary or iPhone (note, it wasn't existed years ago) we need to put our brains together to figure out what exactly the right Kanji to fit his/her choice of word. It felt like the harder the Resolution to achieve, the tougher to find the Kanji. I guess the resolution or goal shouldn't be that easy anyway.
One of our instructors later informed me regretfully that she mistakenly told a wrong Kanji to a guest. I'm afraid she may not be the only one. On behalf of all of our non-professional calligraphy instructors, I would like to apologize to our Kakizome guests for our errors or lack of knowledge of characters. I do believe, however, the communication between the guests and our staff while trying to understand each other and figure out the translation, is the most important and joyful part of this special program - The very first step of our cultural bridge! There was this baby held by her dad who wasn't at the Kakizome last year because, as I remember, she was still in her mom's belly. Without actually watching her growing in the last 12 months, I felt like I already knew her. It is such a wonderful feeling to think she will be growing up with a little knowledge about Japan through our Kakizome. Then I realized what a great program this is to our community.
Thank you Polly-san and the Arts Mid-Hudson for coordinating and sponsored this wonderful collaboration program for us again. And thanks, as always, to our dedicated volunteers who never give up on challenging Kanji in spite of some embarrassing moment. I'll make sure we will bring a dictionary next year. After all, everybody had fun, and that's the best way to start a New Year.
Midori Shinye
Program leader
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