To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the leading Mainichi Calligraphy Society from Japan, both Mainichi Calligraphy Society and Taiwan held “The Contemporary Japanese Calligraphy Exhibition” at National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall from September 28 to October 8. TKU President Flora Chia-I Chang gave a speech at the opening ceremony and presented a commemoration vase and the “e -Pen” to Japan’s Mainichi Calligraphy Society. Many Japanese calligraphers were surprised by the “e- Pen” created by TKU and praised Taiwan’s endeavor to develop calligraphy culture.

The Exhibition displayed about 300 calligraphy works and attracted about 800 Japanese calligraphers and 200 Taiwanese ones. Many calligraphers wielded their brush-pens and exchanged their impromptu calligraphy works. The beautiful view of Tamkang on the vase presented to Mainichi Calligraphy Society was painted by the Director of TKU Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center, Chi-mao Li while the lyrics of the School Song of TKU written on it was done by the Deputy Director of the Center, Ben-hang Chang. In return, Mainichi Calligraphy Society also presented 5 calligraphy works by famous Japanese calligraphers such as Dojyo Kohara and Yoko Shimotani. These works are now reserved by the Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center of TKU.

The planner of this exhibition, Prof. Ben-hang Chang was invited to give a speech completely in Japanese, and the Japanese calligraphers were deeply impressed by his speech “The Development of Taiwanese Calligraphy.” The response to another symposium on “The Current Changes of Japanese Calligraphy” was also very enthusiastic. Prof. Ben-hang Chang pointed out that through the Exhibition people in Taiwan could not only pay more attention to calligraphy but also appreciate the systematic development of Japanese calligraphy.

( ~ Dean X. Wang )