Bok-Koku

Bok-Koku (Japanese: 墨刻), founded by Master Kenryo Hara in Japan in 2015, is an art group which as its means of artistic expression uses ancient Chinese characters encompassing oracle bone script and bronzeware script from Shang and early Zhou dynasties. These two logographic styles of writing, predominantly composed of a mixture of abstracted shapes of objects depicting both the animate and the inanimate as well as thoughts and concepts, are the earliest known forms of Chinese writing, and are directly ancestral to modern Chinese script and subsequent Japanese kanji characters – one of the foundations of Japanese culture. Oracle bone inscriptions were engraved in animal bones or turtle plastrons and used in divination rituals and dialogs between deities and men, whereas bronze inscriptions were cast in bronze vessels and served more mundane purposes like family or ownership insignia, commemoration of important events or records of royal activity. Sense of respect for nature, gods and ancestors, pristine affection between humans, severity of the living environment and the state of society, as well as thoughts of ancient people confronted with all the above are just some of the many aspects of life conveyed by those abundant and carefree designed ancient symbols.

As far as the technique is concerned, analogous to East Asian calligraphy, Bok-Koku artist uses a brush (fude), ink (sumi) and paper (kami) during the creative process, nevertheless similarities end there as both the way of handling the brush and the subject of the artworks are quite different. The minimalistic yet powerful style of Bok-Koku is best described by the name itself, the compound of two kanji characters: 墨 – ink and 刻 – carving; I engrave ink into paper with a brush the same way ancient people inscribed symbols into oracle bones and cast in bronze vessels, therefore the lines are characterized by relentlessness and sharpness of strokes lacking unnecessary brush movement or pretentious styling. Rather than a piece of writing, I directly portray objects in their simplified forms that underlie given sinographs because those distilled shapes express the very essence of that object and reflect the transcribed concept to the fullest, thus allowing to apprehend the inner nature of things and gain a slight insight into the primal wisdom so eminent in ancestral way of life.

To use ancient characters as a motif of Bok-Koku works is to experience the essence of human nature, broaden one’s awareness about the surrounding world and establish a connection with the universe one is a part of. Furthermore, what Bok-Koku artist expresses using those symbols reflects the essence of himself and has the power to speak to viewers’ hearts and awaken their minds to better understand one’s own existence.