With Art by Yūko & Paul

Yūko

Yūko Ōkuma calligraphed a waka poem by Akiko Yosano and Hatsumi Sensei painted a nude beside it. This collaborative artwork, and an essay by Yūko, are in our book, Masaaki Hatsumi: Dojo Giga | Heaven. In her essay, Yūko writes about speaking with Sensei, and painting with him, and watching him teach at the dojo. Perhaps you’ve seen these things too but not through Yūko’s eyes. A martial artist who sees from just one angle is limited. We can learn about Hatsumi Sensei by seeing him from Yūko’s perspective.

Paul

Hatsumi Sensei taught calligraphy at the dojo in the '90s and Paul has been dedicated to his brushwork since then so we asked Paul and Yūko to paint on the inside cover of Heaven.

Their artworks are below (these are painted onto the shikishi on the inside cover of Heaven books). We can post books from Japan to most locations worldwide and your purchase includes a donation to the artists.

For more about 'Masaaki Hatsumi: Dojo Giga | Heaven' please visit this page: https://dojoartbooks.com/heaven/

Each Heaven book has a shikishi mounted inside the book's front cover. Our shikishi was recognized by UNESCO for the craftsman's traditional Japanese paper making methods — it's gorgeous paper which takes sumi ink nicely. Yuko and Paul painted original artworks on this shikishi (samples are below). 

By Paul

木鶏

See pg 209 of Heaven

8P1 SOLD (Jeff O)

竹性

See pg 203 of Heaven

8P2 SOLD (D. E. Oliver)

楽

Visit here for video discussion. Hatsumi Sensei's painting Meisō 瞑想 will appear in Earth.

8P3 SOLD (Betsy L)

Collaborative works — by Yūko & Paul

無事

8PY1 SOLD (William M)

根情

8PY2 SOLD (Kieran N)

神心神眼

8PY3 SOLD (Robert T)

By Yūko

歩心満保寿

See pg 186 of Heaven

8Y1 SOLD (Nishi K)

Fu 歩, shin 心, man 満, po 保, su 寿 is from a painting by Hatsumi Sensei which appears in ‘Heaven.’ On page 186 of ‘Heaven’ Sensei tells us it’s a shōgi analogy about endurance.

万変不驚

8Y14 SOLD (Torben H)

Banpen fugyō 万変不驚 meaning, “infinite change / no surprise” is a phrase familiar to students of the Bujinkan Dojo.

人生一睡

See pg 117 of Heaven

8Y15 SOLD (Kris M)

Jinsei issui 人生一睡 meaning, "life is a nap" is the last four characters from a work of calligraphy by Hatsumi Sensei which appears in Heaven. The full phrase (translated to English) is "Even Ieyasu captured everything under heaven by trickery and stealth. Life is a nap."

Worldwide Delivery from Japan

One Book
$145 +$50 postage + a donation to the artist = $245

Heaven is $145 and international postage is $50. For $245 total we will request Paul or Yuko to paint an original artwork into your Heaven book. We will give the artist a donation and then we will post the book to you. To get started, purchase Heaven signed by Paul or Yuko. We'll reply by email to confirm your delivery address (and to ask if you have a specific art request for Paul or Yuko).