Hiromi Peterson

My daily life starts from writing calligraphy for fifteen minutes. I try to forget everything and just write. Calligraphy is an indicator of my physical and mental health for the day. When I am relaxed and focused, I can write well. If my mind is occupied by something else, I cannot write well. My mind has to be just right to write good calligraphy. Even though I don't feel right, once I start writing with a brush, my mind starts getting focused and I gradually gain energy inside my body.

When I was a child in Hiroshima, I took calligraphy lessons with my older sisters. Later at Funairi High School in Hiroshima city, I took calligraphy for three years as an elective course. After moving to Hawaii and teaching Japanese language at Maryknoll High School, I restarted calligraphy because I wanted to write Japanese traditional graduation certificates well with a brush. Then, I started to study calligraphy at the Nihon Kyoiku Shodo Kenkyukai of Hawaii on every Saturday morning. Guided by their monthly magazine, I practiced calligraphy and sent the best work to Japan where they advanced me to a higher level continuously. The most fortunate thing was I met Amaishi Tohson-sensei who was one of the top calligraphers in Japan and a founder of the second largest calligraphy school in Japan. His calligraphy works and philosophy influenced me strongly. I passed the 7-dan exam with the top grade. After Amaishi-sensei passed away, I met Yamashiro Meikaku-sensei from Fukuoka, who was a student of Amaishi-sensei and a great teacher. I studied Chinese classical calligraphy works in different styles and how to create my own calligraphy work under his guidance. In order to take the final exam for a teacher's certificate, I had to go to Tokyo and I had to write eight different calligraphy pieces in different styles and different sizes from the printed characters within three hours. The day before the exam, I had a very unusual occasion to shake hands with the Emperor four times and with the Empress twice at the Japan Prize events for my husband. With the same right hand, I wrote each assigned work on only one sheet of paper and finished one by one. My mind was set and my right hand followed as I intended. As a result, I passed the 8-dan exam in Tokyo. I started to teach calligraphy at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii and a new course "Calligraphy and the Asian Soul" at Punahou school, which introduces Asian philosophy in calligraphy. It must be the first calligraphy class at high school in the U.S. I also studied Japanese kana calligraphy and passed the 7-dan exam. Kana calligraphy challenged me to have more flow in writing, more sumi color contrast, and more spacing like Japanese flower arrangement.

After having received the top award in the north America competition and the Hawaii Bijutsuin competition, I started to write calligraphy for myself. It's an expression of myself, my values and my life. I want to pass these values to my children and to people in my community.