bLOGOS/HA HA: Monument to the End of the Brush (continued)

David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.

02 November 2016

Monument to the End of the Brush (continued)

In 1832, at the age of eighty-two, Sengai erected a stone monument adjacent to his retirement residence at Shōkokuji, declaring his “farewell to brushes” (zeppitsu).

As always, a waka verse harbors various layers of meaning, but at the most literal level, Sengai declares that he has thrown his brushes (or his one symbolic brush) into Hakata Bay.

But Sengai’s declaration proved short-lived; he produced many more paintings in his remaining five years.

I am also informed by Nakayama Kiichirō that in advance of the actual stone monument declaring his zeppitsu, Sengai had produced paintings of the proposed monument itself.

- extracts from The Stuff of Dreams by Henry D Smith II

Into the Harbour of Sleeves
  Wet with waves as the ink-dyed sleeves
  Of a monk, I will cast away
  These brushes, the shame of my works
  Exposed in the wind and waves.

    Early Autumn of the year of the Dragon
    The End of the Brush
  Gai

Monument to the End of the Brush (continued)
TAR Observation Point :
Looking Towards Mount Brushmore