MEDITERRANEAN CONFERENCE CENTER
July 3–5, 2026 

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Keisui Morikawa

森川畦水

Keisui Morikawa is a Japanese calligrapher and a member of the Japan-Europe Palace Art Association.
Her works have been exhibited not only throughout Japan but also in countries around the world.

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 “pet chickens, hearing my footsteps they cluck at me on a summer eve” (line of Japanese waka verse by Morikawa Moritoshi) 

 E森川司俊詠 和歌一首　“飼ひ鶏は 我が靴音を聞きわけて くくつと鳴けり 夏の夕暮れ” 

Artist’s Statement

Until three years ago, I kept chickens at my home.

It all began after I was injured in a traffic accident. Seeing how painfully I was walking, a concerned friend carefully brought me three Silkie eggs wrapped in paper.
Another friend later gave me bantams, and after incubating the eggs, two hens and one rooster were born. They grew healthy and lively, and I cared for them for more than ten years.

One summer evening, after returning home tired from the day, one of my chickens recognized the sound of my footsteps and gave a soft “kukku” call. It was a small yet heartwarming moment at dusk.

The summer evening in this poem recalls, in contrast, the famous autumn evening poem by the monk Jakuren.
Today, neither my husband nor the chickens are with me anymore.

My sense of loneliness does not approach the depth expressed in Jakuren’s poem:

“Sadness does not lie in color alone—
an autumn evening
on a mountain of Japanese yew trees.”

Yet even now, more than a thousand years later, those words continue to move my heart deeply.

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About the Waka Poet

Moritoshi Morikawa
(December 2, 1933 – June 23, 2022)

Moritoshi Morikawa graduated from the Department of Japanese Literature at Waseda University and studied under the tanka poet Juzo Kagoshima.

He worked as a Japanese language teacher at public high schools in Saitama Prefecture.
While teaching at Konosu High School, he served as the homeroom teacher of Keisui Morikawa and guided her tanka compositions through careful instruction and critique.

Writing under the pen name Shizuo Mori, he authored the novel Onnagata Densetsu(The Legend of the Onnagata),
which received the Runner-up Prize of the Saitama Literary Award and was later serialized in the Saitama Shimbun newspaper.

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Japan-Europe Palace Art Association Commentary

A subtle current flows through the calligraphy of Keisui Morikawa—a delicate resonance in which words and brushwork seem to breathe together.
This quality is especially evident in works based on the waka poetry of her late husband, Moritoshi Morikawa.
Rather than imposing her own intentions upon the text, she aligns her brush with the natural rhythm and breath of the words themselves.
Within her refined and supple brushwork resides a quiet yet unwavering strength.

Her compositions, rooted in the traditional aesthetics of Japanese calligraphy, achieve a remarkable harmony between flowing lines and carefully considered spaces.
The result possesses a softness that seems to appeal not only to the eye but almost to the sense of touch.
The subtle fluctuations of line and the lingering resonance of the composition do more than guide the viewer’s gaze—they convey the warmth of language within silence itself.

Beyond the beauty of the characters, Morikawa’s work demonstrates how the act of calligraphy can transcend words and touch the deepest layers of human emotion.
Each brushstroke stands as a quiet testament to that enduring power.