Tokonoma, ins weite Blau 

 

A tokonoma is a small alcove of planks and mats (“tatami”) in a Japanese (tea) room, raised above the level of the floor. Originally used as a seat for guest of high rank it became a place to display calligraphy, drawings, plants, and flowers.

 

The first time I read the term tokonoma was in “the Book of Tea”. Originally written in English (!) by Okakura Kakuzō (1863-1913), published in 1906 . The book is disapproving of how the West often characterizes the East and is critical towards the cultural and political development of the Western world. The book is also a rapprochement to the West, however, building a bridge. This is done by the subject tea and Teaism more specifically. 

 

Teaism is a term coined by Okakura Kakuzō to describe the unique worldview associated with the Japanese way of tea. He writes that Teaism “is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life.” The writer learns us about the influence of tea, teaism, the tea-ceremony and of course the tea room in which this takes place.

 

“We have already said that it was the ritual instituted by the Zen Monks of successively drinking tea out of a bowl before the image Bodhi Dhama, which laid the foundations of the tea-ceremony. We might add here that the altar of the Zen chapel was the prototype of the Tokonoma, – the place of honour in a Japanese room where paintings and flowers are placed for the edification for guests.”

– The Book of Tea (1906)

 

The resemblance of an altar in something so refined, as a tea room and ceremony, triggered my fascination for the Infinite / Holy. This fascination is always present for me. It’s in my early white pieces, later the black or the clouds and in this case the ultramarine blue. Paint that I make myself, from pigments, so I can control the intensity and behaviour of the paint better.

 

In this case, the subject is a tokonoma but two poems are incorporated in the pieces as well. The poems accompany the magnitude and atmosphere that -in my world- surround the tokonoma. Grounded yet connected to a higher power.

 

The first poem is by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843). It describes a feeling of loneliness that is put into perspective by a feeling of connection with a higher power. This poem is the first layer that I put on once the panel is prepared.

Not much can be seen of this text because I painted over it in many layers. This -coincidentally- overlaps a description of Teaism from the book. “For Teaism is the art of concealing beauty that you may discover it, of suggesting what you dare not reveal.” I wrote the text using calligraphy, I feel this resonates with a classical tea-ceremony, albeit vastly different from Japanese calligraphy.

 

One of the last layers I put on is also a poem. It is by Kobori Enshū (1579 – 1647). It is about a “roji” (garden path), this path was intended to break connection with the outside world, before entering the tea room, the Abode of the Unsymmetrical. The tea room that contains the tokonoma, the tokonoma that contains the Holy, the Infinite, the vast blue : Tokonoma, ins weite Blau…