Do you still remember where you came from?
The place you were born, the morning you first cried, the warmth of someone holding you close.
Before long, people forget these things and keep walking forward, one step at a time.
There is nothing wrong with that.
Yet sometimes, when you pause for a moment, you feel as though there is nothing beneath your feet.
In those moments, people remember a word: starting point.
＼ 岩﨑翔凛のSTORESはこちら！ ／
What Is a “Starting Point”?
Starting point — the place where something begins, where it originates.
In mathematics, it refers to the origin of a coordinate system, the fixed point from which all values are measured.
In life, it means the place we return to — the roots of our values and our deepest aspirations.
Expressions built around this idea run deep in the Japanese language.
“初心忘るべからず：Never forget your beginner’s mind” — these words, passed down from the great Noh master Zeami, are themselves a call back to the starting point.
Even on the grandest stage, even after reaching the heights of one’s art, one must never lose the awe and pure passion felt at the very beginning.
The four-character expression 原点回帰 (genten kaiki) — “returning to the starting point” — also carries great weight.
In an era of relentless change, these words pierce the heart.
After chasing trend after trend, there comes a moment when you suddenly ask: What did I truly want to do in the first place?
That moment of questioning is the doorway back to the starting point.
This idea also echoes through Chinese classical thought, resonating with Laozi’s words: “In pursuit of learning, every day something is added. In pursuit of the Tao, every day something is dropped.”
To strip away the unnecessary and return to the essence — that is the path, and it is also the journey back to the starting point.
Ink That Speaks to the Roots of Words
When I first laid eyes on the work Starting Point by calligrapher Shourin Iwasaki, something stirred deep in my chest.
Lines of strength and grace.
A momentum that carries within it a quiet stillness.
The black ink spreading across the paper is not merely a “character” — it is the breath of the man who wrote it.
Whether his hand hesitated or moved with absolute conviction — the depth of the ink, the tremor of each stroke, speaks volumes without a single word.
The greatest appeal of Shourin’s work lies in the fact that it is not calligraphy you read, but calligraphy you feel.
Before the mind has time to process the meaning of the words, the eyes and the senses are already moved.
This piece, Starting Point, is no exception.
The character gen (原), placed boldly in the upper portion of the work, carries the force of something descending from the sky.
Below it, ten (点) lands heavily, quietly, like roots pressing down into the earth.
Two characters — and yet within them lives the passage of time.
There is a beginning, an accumulation, and finally, this very moment.
Calligraphy is an art that makes time visible.
From the instant the brush touches the paper to the moment it lifts away, not a fraction of a second can be wasted.
There is no eraser.
There is no starting over.
And that is precisely why every completed work holds everything the calligrapher is — his resolve, his focus, his soul.
In Returning to the Starting Point, We Find Our Strength
At a crossroads in life.
On the verge of giving something up.
Or when a great decision must be made.
In moments like these, catching sight of these two characters — starting point — has a strange way of straightening your spine.
Why is that?
It is not simply the power of the words themselves.
Perhaps it is because something like a silent prayer, woven into every single stroke by the calligrapher’s hand, reaches the unconscious mind of the viewer.
Shourin Iwasaki’s work holds that kind of invisible conversation.
In the time you spend facing one of his pieces, your own starting point rises quietly to the surface.
That, I believe, is the essential power of calligraphy as an art form.
＼ 岩﨑翔凛のSTORESはこちら！ ／
Step Closer Into the World of Shourin Iwasaki
Shourin creates new works every single day.
A single character, two characters, a line from a poem.
The feeling of a given day, the quality of the season’s air, a word he happened to encounter — all of it crystallizes on paper through his brush.
The record of that creative journey is shared with care on his Instagram.
Not only finished works, but the process of creation, his thoughts on language, the everyday life of a man who lives alongside calligraphy — all of it lives on Shourin’s Instagram.
Simply by following him, a small pocket of stillness and beauty finds its way into your busy day.
Please, take a look for yourself.
I am certain you will find a piece there that calls your own starting point back to mind.
＼ 岩﨑翔凛のInstagramはこちら！ ／
Bring Authentic Calligraphy Into Your Space
And there is one more piece of wonderful news to share.
A place has been born where you can welcome a work by Shourin Iwasaki into your own hands.
His online shop — Shourin · Calligraphy Works — is now open on STORES.
Whether for your living room, your workspace, or as a gift for someone dear to you, Shourin’s work is ready to become a part of your everyday life.
In an age overflowing with the digital, a single sheet of calligraphy that carries the scent of ink holds a presence unlike anything else.
Simply by hanging it on a wall, the atmosphere of the entire room shifts.
Every morning you see it, it quietly asks you: What is your starting point?
That kind of work is waiting for you here.
May the single character born from the tip of a brush resonate quietly with the words that live deepest in your heart.
＼ 岩﨑翔凛のSTORESはこちら！ ／
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