By PAUL LASTER, December 2022
“As a samurai, I must strengthen my character; as a human being I must perfect my spirit.” ― Yamaoka Tesshu
A modern-day samurai wielding a brush rather than a sword, Toshiki Hayasaka strengthens his character through painting. The self-taught Japanese artist’s samurai spirit was forged a decade ago through his work as a volunteer firefighter performing search and rescue in the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Like Yamaoka Tesshu, a 19th-century samurai who founded a school of swordsmanship based on the unity of the soul and the blade, Hayasaka created his own way of painting, inspired by the words of an elderly woman who thanked him for rescuing people in Tōhoku and based on the unity of his heart and the materials employed for the creation of his art.
Recently in New York for the solo show “Sword Strokes,” curated by Kyoko Sato, Hayasaka presented his Kotodama and Bushido series of similarly sized circular canvases, along with a collaborative live-painting performance with the Austrian-American artist Rainer Ganahl, at Time Gallery from November 23rd though the 28th.
Related information：https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/day-samurai-battling-with-brush/5626?fbclid=IwAR0n1fBZhi5WP3zVnsOWBjHt6_GpTfehWecfHOM6OJwos1Dcor8Y8tKBqD8/
