Nathalie Ishizuka’s philosophy of art can be found in the Letter to Japanese Friends, co-written with the philosopher Dr. Paul Briot after March 11, 2011. Nathalie spent four years in Japan working with artists after the earthquake, tsunami, nuclear event and continues to work with Artists who elevate in their respective fields of creation.

Her meditation with Japanese masters and belief that Art will elevate us in the crisis to come led Nathalie to become herself an Artist. She focuses on creating art that reflects the inner universe. Her originality, openess and great creativity has allowed her to work across diciplines with many individuals.

EMERGING ABOVE NATURAL AND MAN-MADE CRISIS

A Letter to Japanese Friends

Leiko Ishizuka, MBA, MALD, Keio University exchange, a Franco-Japanese from New York Paul Briot, Ph.D. in Philosophy, Professor at the Antwerp Faculty of Comparative Religion

This,

understanding, heart of sun,

when?

Nations, just like individuals, often ask crucial questions in times of crisis.  It is only when things become really difficult that we have the courage to consider transformational change.  After the 2011 tragedy, Japan set about recovering with a dignity and courage that moved the world.  Just as in 1945, the Japanese will recover and rebuild.  The question is: can a new Japan emerge?

Some Japanese realize that in the face of increasing natural and man-made disasters, the country has to equip itself with a new moral drive that enlightens and inspires.  To rebuild an old Japan in the current international context is not enough.  To write a glorious page of its history, Japan will need to emerge from this crisis far beyond its previous best. 

Let us imagine how Japan can conceive and bring about a sublime nobility, a beauty capable of projecting its inhabitants beyond what they ever were, even at the height of their culture and past.

Japan needs This, a moral drive rich in comprehension and compassion.  The country requires an enlightened spirit of fraternity, open to all those in the world who in this period of adversity have shown their sympathy and respect for Japan’s courage, dignity and solidarity. 

In order to mold a new heart for themselves, a heart of sun, one that ignites the sparks that live within them, the Japanese launch into the sky the arrows of their imagination.  In a country that experiences a tremendous range of human emotions and feelings, poets suggest a Japanese This, an element of value and meaning that resides in the very spirit of the Japanese people.

Painters, sculptors, architects and all artists envision faces that gradually rise towards This, a moral sun that is stronger and undoubtedly nobler than unbridled nature.

Intellectuals, historians, writers, journalists, major broadcasters evoke the past.  Throughout its history Japan has been influenced at times by China at times by the West.  But today those lands are also in search of meaning, of their own existential journey.  Fortunately, Japan itself can devise its own audacious future.

The spiritual, the wise and those who meditate propose their experience.  This will signify according to each individual: spiritual faith, moral force or beauty.  These three aspects are indeed compatible.  Imagining meanings, choosing one’s own specificity, committing oneself to the essential Adventure.

Individual citizens ask important questions of themselves and of their country.  They move, they engage, they act to rebuild Japan from within.  

Finally an appeal is launched, a solemn appeal to those in charge, including leaders and decision-makers, to contribute to a new Japan.

The Japanese envisage the sun in full freedom, as their inspiration dictates.  They question it in all possible ways.  They imagine poetically its responses, its enigmas, its allusions.  Meaning starts to live, it deepens, it spreads freely.  Value blossoms, sparkles, becomes light, a measureless light that sublimates all things.

The Japanese are capable of This and the world context requires nothing less:  comprehension, compassion, liberation, realization.

This, understanding,

heart of sun,

now.

Paul Briot, Ph.D. in Philosophy, Professor at the Faculty of Comparative Religion, Antwerp (F.V.G.), Belgium.  Author of poetic essays, articles and books on the subject of the utilization of crisis, sincerity, artistic creation and the clarity of objectives.  His musical book (Le rayonnant…un art vers l’Infini…?  2017, Editions Caractères, Collections : Cahiers & Cahiers) speaks of inner art that transcends and elevates.  Paul left us on May 4, 2021 at age 98.  He was writing a new book on the meaning of Europe.  His ideas continue to inspire and elevate.

Full Background Description of Authors:

Nathalie L. Ishizuka, Artist, studied Japanese at Keio University, M.A.L.D. Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy (administered in cooperation with Harvard), M.B.A. from HEC, Paris.  Her thesis on Article 9 of the 1946 Japanese Constitution & UN peace keeping received written praise from one of the Constitution’s founding fathers.  Ishizuka works on using crisis as an opportunity to build individual & national change.  She wrote and illustrated Kizuna, a fable interpreting this Letter to Japanese Friends and explores through art the inner universe.  Her paintings and originality working with masters of several disciplines creates a fresh new perspective and an unforgettable experience.

New interests include musical and sensory interpretations of the four elements, textiles or clothes that expand our experience of the four elements (her Japanese grandfather painted on designs on the sails of ships and on kimonos) and culinary or sensory experiences that communicate the energy in food and in nature (her french grandfather was a formidable inventive french chef). Earth, water, air and fire and our relationship to these four elements through paintings, nature and through life allows her to explore innovatively. www.NathalieIshizuka.ART

Work Resulted in New Musical and Illustrated Edition of Dr. Paul Briot’s book, Le Rayonnant: Un Art Vers L’Infini published by the French Editor Caracteres

Joint Work with the Following Artists and Editor Caracteres France:

Illustrations, Saiso Shimada, Shodo Artist, http://www.shimadasaiso.com

Music, Masaki Nakamura, Shaku-hatchi Artist, http://www.masaki-nakamura.com/

Meditation with Artists, Nathalie Ishizuka http://www.NathalieIshizuka.art

Dr. Paul Briot (Philosopher), Le Rayonnant: Un Art Vers l’Infini with Music and Paintings

French and Japanese translations of the Letter to Japanese friends are available upon request.