Listening to the coolness: A stroke of waterfall and summer waka poetry

It's midsummer, and the chirps of cicadas fill the air. Outside, the sun reflects off the dazzling asphalt, and cold drinks are a necessity. At such times, the quiet coolness brought by a hanging scroll soothes the soul.

The waterfall is drawn with a single line of ink. The brush strokes are truly one-stroke. The powerful, faint line that flows from top to bottom creates an air of almost audible sound of water.

By deliberately leaving the painting unfinished and making use of the white space, the sound of falling water, the trees rustling in the wind, and even the wet rock surface are left to the viewer's imagination. The beauty of the shades of ink and the rubbing conveys the coolness that exists in the stillness.

This hanging scroll was created by Masaomi Saka, who is an accomplished painter of both calligraphy and painting. It depicts a waterfall in a single stroke, with a waka poem he composed himself next to it.

Okuyama Waterfall

I wonder if I think of it as a

Summer in the Capital

How hot is it?

The poem expresses the feelings of someone standing at the foot of the waterfall, feeling the coolness, and imagining how hot it must be for people far away in the capital.

The beauty of this poem lies not only in the coolness of the immediate surroundings, but also in the thought of people living in faraway places. To use a modern analogy, it is like a gaze from the cool mountains thinking of people enduring the heat of the city. There is a sense of quiet empathy and kindness there.

The hanging scroll depicting the waterfall and this poem is a fitting addition to a tea room, perfect for a midsummer tea break.

I was reminded that the wisdom of the tea ceremony lies not in air conditioning or ice, but in the sensitivity to create a coolness that reaches the eyes, ears, and heart.

The sound of the brush like the quiet sound of water falling. The breath of the ink soaking into the washi paper. And the lingering echoes of the words that accompany it.

This summer, we have had the opportunity to once again think about what it means to be cool.