“Most secluded, was Yamato, encompassed behind the folds of Mount Awogaki– most beautiful, was Yamato.”

This verse from the Kojiki expresses the beauty of Nara. The mountains surrounding the old capital are neither tall nor rugged but instead, they form a rather gentle range. The artist talked about how they wish to keep a heart as gentle as those peaks, and about how they still remember being moved by a magnificently rendered calligraphy of this same verse by another artist when they were young. Someone else may perhaps be struck by this rendition, and thus receive the baton of calligraphy and go on to create their version.