For years, Noriko Maeda’s exhibitions and classes have introduced people to the heartbeat of calligraphy. Her speeches and works have nurtured a vocabulary for expounding the essence of her art. Noriko Maeda: Foundations is the culmination of a three-year project to capture the mature form of this vocabulary in the pages of a single book.

In this artistic statement, Noriko’s work and philosophy is explored in a unique pairing of separate but parallel narratives that unfold simultaneously in English and Japanese. The original works prepared for this publication explore the broad spectrum of expressive powers harnessed by the calligrapher. In a profoundly personal odyssey through sight, language, and time, this book reveals the inner workings of Noriko’s art, and frames a contemporary calligrapher’s view on the foundations of Japanese calligraphy.