Works of “tactile calligraphy carving”—three-dimensional characters written on polystyrene foam with a brush dipped in a special solution—are on display in the Mainichi Shodokai (Mainichi Calligraphy Association) show window on the first floor of the Palaceside Building. The exhibition is scheduled to run through the 20th of this month.
Tactile calligraphy carving, which can be appreciated by touch, was born of the wish to let visually impaired people enjoy calligraphy as well. The Tactile Calligraphy Carving Association, founded in September 2021, has been holding courses in the art, and its students have created a body of works. A selection of pieces from “Calligraphic Sculpture to Enjoy with Eyes and Fingers,” the association's fifth exhibition, held in Komae, Tokyo, in July this year, now fills the show window.
On display are a work by the association's head, Koshu Ikeyama, carving the phrase shitsumei tokuan—“losing sight, gaining darkness”—coined by Kojiro Hirose, a professor at the National Museum of Ethnology, along with pieces by course participants, including Rie Hoshika's “Think of Others, Find Happiness.”