Zuihitsu (随筆) is a genre of Japanese literature consisting of loosely connected personal essays and fragmented ideas that typically respond to the author's surroundings. It is roughly translated into "follow the brush". I think it is a very apt description of my practice of gathering "breadcrumbs" in the landscape; something I very often do wherever I find myself. In my case, zuihitsu is more like "follow the lens".
Now that I think about the analogy, this entire blog is an example of zuihitsu! My daily posts meander shamelessly from topic to topic and that is how I like it. It is really how my mind works in most things so, why not this blog!
I prefer to think of it as a kind of stream of consciousness thing. One idea leads to another and you end up finding yourself in the most interesting and unlikely places. Like the photographic breadcrumbs that lead me through a landscape.
This blog post was connected to a passage I read in a book, a breadcrumb I picked up at the pond, some signs I saw on Star Island, and a digital collage I made of them...talk about random! But, like this photograph of the branch, there is a connection.
All the topics I pursue are connected by the thread of my contemplative practice...my seeking metaphors in the landscape and the joy of finding commonplace enchantments wherever I am. So, I must ask you...
...for that is where you will find your inspiration, Here & There and everywhere! No need to travel to faraway places with strange sounding names, as the song goes. Your contemplative landscape is as near as your back door in fact, you don't have to leave your house at all!
Follow your internal GPS and make the ancient Japanese art of zuihitsu a part of your contemplative practice. Who knows where it will lead you?
Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said: ‘one can’t believe impossible things.’
‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
― Lewis Carroll
Now, how in the world did I get from zuihitsu to contemplative photography to Wonderland? Curiouser and Curiouser....
4 comments:
I like your Zuihitsus very much!
Thank you! I was so delighted to discover this term and found it so apt for my style of "gathering breadcrumbs."
A concept I've not heard of, and a wonderful one!
Thank you for sharing it here.
When I was studying Chinese brush painting years ago I remember my instructor talking about the idea of "following one's brush"...letting it guide you in your work. I don't remember what the Chinese term for it is but I was pleased to find the Japanese term, which, I think is essentially the same concept.
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