Kōji Kakinuma (柿沼康二 ''Kakinuma Kōji'', born July 16, 1970) is a Japanese

calligrapher Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an exp ...

. Kakinuma was born in

Yaita 270px, Mount Takahara is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 31,859 in 13,173 households, and a population density of 67 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Yaita is loc ...

Tochigi Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,897,649 (1 June 2023) and has a geographic area of 6,408 Square kilometre, km2 (2,474 Square mile, sq mi ...

. He began his calligraphy training at the age of five first under his father, Suiryū Kakinuma, and then under Yūkei Teshima, who is considered one of the

Sanpitsu {{no footnotes, date=October 2019 The term ''Sanpitsu'' (三筆) or "three brushes" is used in Japanese to refer to a group of three famous Heian period calligraphers: *Emperor Saga 嵯峨天皇, 786–842. *Kūkai 空海, 774–835. *Tachibana no ...

(“Three Brushes”) of the Shōwa Era, and Ichijō Uematsu. In 1993, Kakinuma graduated from the Department of Visual and Performing Arts,

Tokyo Gakugei University Tokyo Gakugei University (東京学芸大学, ''Tōkyō gakugei daigaku'') is a Japanese national university, national university in Koganei, Tokyo. Founded in 1873, it was chartered as a university in 1949. It is also known as ''Gakudai'' (学� ...

, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Before becoming a full-time fine artist, he worked as a high-school teacher. From 2006 to 2007 he held a visiting fellowship at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. Two trademarks of his calligraphy work are oversized formats of up to 750 × 1100 cm painted with giant brushes, and the frequent repetition of the same character or phrase, which he calls "trance work". Kakinuma considers himself not only a calligrapher but also "a contemporary artist, using tools other than my brush or expressing something other than writing, happily working in genres outside calligraphy, such as performing art, installation, etc." For instance, he has used masking tape in the creation of some of his works. Kakinuma has held solo exhibitions at, among other places, the Tarō Okamoto Memorial Museum (in both 2010 and 2021/2022) and the

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa The is a museum of contemporary art located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan. The museum was designed by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the architectural office SANAA in 2004. In October 2005, one year after its openin ...

(2013) where he was the first living calligrapher to do so. He has performed his calligraphy to live audiences around the world, at venues such as the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

in New York, the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

in Washington, D.C., and the 2005 Earth Celebration festival at

Sado island is an island located in the eastern part of the Sea of Japan, under the jurisdiction of Sado City, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, with a coastline of . In October 2017, Sado Island had a population of 55,212 people. Sado Island covers an area of ...

. He has won numerous awards including two Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition awards in 1996 and 1999, the Dokuritsu Shojin-dan award in the "huge work" category in 2002, and the 4th Teshima Yukei Award in 2009. Kakinuma is one of twelve artists who are the subject of the 2018 documentary film '' Traces of the Soul'' about contemporary calligraphy worldwide. He also appears in the 2022 documentary The Colour of Ink, creating work using handmade ink from inkmaker Jason Logan. He was the only calligrapher besides

Shōko Kanazawa Shōko Kanazawa (金澤翔子 ''Kanazawa Shōko'', born 1985) is a Japanese calligraphy, Japanese calligrapher. Early life and career Kanazawa was born in Tokyo in 1985 and diagnosed with Down syndrome. Her mother, Yasuko Kanazawa, had studied ca ...

to contribute to the

Tokyo 2020 The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Official Art Posters Collection.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kakinuma, Koji 1970 births Living people Japanese calligraphers Japanese contemporary artists