Japan Trip, Matsushima Part 1

Thank you very much for your patience! This post shows landscapes in Matsushima. There are mountains, rice fields, a sea and islands, all together at once! In the trip, I was very keen to collect the images of countrysides and traditional houses, temples and shrines. In Matsushima, Basho and Sora produced haiku in beautiful landscapes and to the beautiful moon. They connected the local haiku poets and promoted the new literature, haiku in a Japanese northeast area. I admire Basho's enthusiasm and dedication for haiku. A following post will show famous temples. I wanted to feel the similarity and the differences between Japan and Australia, too. 

I tried to feel my being in Matsushima with all my senses like Basho. I projected myself onto the poet in Edo era. What did he feel in that taste, a breeze, an early summer etc, etc? The experienced feelings have become the catalyst to create drawings and paintings. 

Azaleas humbly, yet, beautifully bloomed out, being left over, at the side of a road between rice paddies. All quiet. No one. I walked around and along rice fields, forests, some hills and a sea. 

Walking in green is so lovely. Unlike Australia, trees have "rigid" shapes in Japan. Plants, too, are different. Wild flowers and trees interested me most. 

Matsushima means "pine tree islands" in Japanese. Indeed, so many pine trees are on little-dots-like islands in Matsushima Bay known for beauty. It was said that even a master of word, Basho had been at a loss for words when he first saw the hundreds of pine-clad islets scattered in Matsushima Bay during a 17th-century journey to the Tohoku region. Also, residents told me those tiny islands had protected them from the tsunami or shock waves from a big earthquake in 2011.

What do you feel about these landscapes? Some readers are in a southern hemisphere. Do you feel difference of nature in a northern hemisphere? 

The collected images have become the great references for illustration ongoing! I'm delightedly and confidently working on the storyboard, the illustration and becoming very busy with many projects and the documentation of the trip, too. I thank for your support and the Australia Council for the Arts.  

Friends, Happy Painting and Illustration!   

Japan Trip, Matsushima Part 1