Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

flight upwards, the character is miraculously transformed into something with its own meaning and beauty. It is not surprising that the influence of calligraphy permeates all aspects of Japanese art. Much is written these days on the Japanese achievement, and many and various are the reasons for Japanese success. Surprisingly, the method of writing seldom rates a mention. Just consider this: • An Australian is considered literate once he has mastered the twenty-six letters of the alphabet and has a vocabulary of some 600 words; • A Japanese, on the other hand, must master two phonetic syllabaries, each containing fifty-one signs, and the I 850 characters described as 'basic', and that does not mean I 850 words, but only the building blocks for making words. The comparison is a salutary one for us. Training in this kind of writing and means of expression not only disciplines the mind, but also the hand and the eye as well. It may not be too fanciful to suggest that eyes that can comprehend, at a glance, a text written in this way can pass with elegant ease through the labyrinth of an integrated circuit. As Mr Ishihara has said, calligraphy does something more, it lays bare the personality of the calligrapher. This aspect so concerned an early Japanese Dowager Empress-Shoken----that she wrote a short poem about it. It is somehow the sort of charming little poem that we expect from a Dowager Empress: Toru fude no ato hazukashi to omou ka no kokoro no utsuru mono to kikitewa (I am bashful after taking up my writing brush, now that I have heard that it can reveal the secrets of my heart.) The calligraphers in this exhibition are not bashful. Their works are full of energy and strength and confidence and in the immediacy of their impact reflect the gendai yamato damashi--the very spirit of Japan today. Whether they reveal the innermost secrets of their hearts is for you to decide. Go and see for yourselves. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to declare this exhibition officially open. 6 Speech at a luncheon hosted by the Queensland Art Gallery in honour of the Chairman of Meiji Seimei, Mr Tsuchida, and Mrs Tsuchida, 17 August 1990 I am delighted to have the opportunity of welcoming our distinguished guests today to this lunch in honour of Meiji Seimei. It is a great pleasure to have the Chairman of Meiji 26