For the Bedford Gallery’s exhibition of shikishi, the gallery is looking for artists who will make paintings, collages, drawings—who will, in fact, use any visual medium alone or in combination that can be accommodated on a shikishi board. Shikishi are traditionally created as gifts to mark special occasions. We are asking artists to submit art that marks the ending of the extraordinary year in which the United States endured the tragedy of September 11—and the beginning of the new year, 2003.

We thought, however that artists might be interested in knowing something more about shikishi traditions. Creating shikishi for special occasions is a Japanese custom that dates back to the late Heian (794–1185) and Kamakura (1185–1333) periods. Shikishi art was primarily poetry in the early times, and only later included visual art. From the beginning the art was concerned with the "logic of the heart," as opposed to the "logic of the mind." Japanese court nobles in the early periods amused themselves by composing short lyric poems (waka) on high-quality papers, subsequently affixing them to decorative screens and sliding doors. ( The Tale of Genji, the famous Japanese novel by the baroness Murasaki Shikibu, 978?–1031?, includes references to shikishi.)

The subjects of shikishi were (and are) human affairs: celebration, separation, grief, and love. Nature, often referred to in early shikishi, was valued especially as a source for symbolic images. By the 12th century, shikishi were preoccupied with beauty, sadness, and the effects of time. Under the influence of Buddhism with its emphasis on the ephemeral nature of life and on human attachment as an impediment to enlightenment, shikishi expressed melancholy and the impermanence of personal ties.

By the 13th and 14th centuries, shikishi had become a popular tradition, and they remain so today. Shikishi, now paintings and drawings as well as words, are created as gifts, always on shikishi boards in a traditional format (10.8" x 9.5"). To receive the gift of a shikishi is regarded as an honor.

Note: Bedford Gallery is grateful to Hirokazu Kosaka, Curator of the Japanese American Cultural Center in Los Angeles, for sharing with us the idea of contemporary interpretations of the shikishi tradition.