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After World War II, Japanese calligraphers, influenced by Western aesthetic thought, developed a form known as few-character calligraphy, in which a work contains only a small number of characters. This approach emphasizes visual impact and the spontaneous expression of emotion during the act of writing. The piece before you, featuring only the character 「在」 (to be or to exist), is a prime example of this style.
The strokes of the character tremble and leap with dynamic energy, displaying rich variation in thickness. Combined with feibai or white streaks techniques and splattered ink, the composition is both stable and charged with tension. For Ro Boku, what matters is not technical precision or the structural integrity of the character, but rather the traces left by the brush across the paper—marks that communicate his ideas and inner convictions.
To interpret this work, one might begin with German philosopher Martin Heidegger’s concept of Dasein—a being that is aware of its own existence. Through this lens, you are invited to reflect on the relationship between being and time, using the single character as a portal into deeper philosophical contemplation.