カテゴリー: Interview

Toshiki Hayasaka, Bushido No.1, 2022. Courtesy the artist

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/

By Jake Price, December 5, 2023

Born in 1990 in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Toshiki Hayasaka is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist based in Tokyo. Through his art and way of life, Hayasaka is dedicated to living life in the present. These moments of living in the present ultimately weave together to form the fabric of a lifetime. Appreciating the richness of life by fully engaging with every seemingly fleeting moment, Hayasaka recently exhibited his “Ephemeral Samurai” at New York’s Tenri Cultural Institute, curated by Japan Contemporaries Editor in Chief, Kyoko Sato. The opening performance was accompanied by the violinist Tom Chiu who hauntingly accompanied Hayasaka as he created a scroll of his Ensō (円 相) poetry at the exhibit. (Please see glossary at the end this article for terms used.) Chiu’s accompaniment was noted not only for his masterful playing but also his use of silence.

Yohei Fujimura for Japan Contemporaries

Related information：https://japancontemporaries.com/jc-presents/toshiki-hayasaka/