Life is a series of encounters (with people)

Life is a series of encounters (with people) [人生は出会いだ] 
Calligraphy by [the old man] Imaoka Shin’ichirō [今岡信一良] (1881-1988) 

I was recently watching some footage of Imaoka-sensei being interviewed in his home in Tokyo sometime in the 1980s. The footage includes some shots of various pictures on his wall, including this piece of calligraphy by Imaoka-sensei himself, which, as you can see from above, reads “Life is a series of encounters (with people)”. Now there happens to be a short essay from 1968 by Imaoka-sensei with this same title, and you can read that HERE; it may be the case that this calligraphy dates from the same time. But who knows? Anyway, although it’s a somewhat slight piece in comparison with his other essays, nevertheless, he’s making an important point that I have also heard expressed as: the most radical thing you can do is introduce one person to another because that’s when the magic happens. Indeed, in the essay he recalls some words he heard spoken by Nitobe Inazō-sensei [新渡戶稻造先生] who was best known for his book Bushido: The Soul of Japan [武士道]: “True eloquence resides neither in indignant oratory nor in flowery rhetoric, but rather in the art of conversation and dialogue” [「雄辯は悲憤慷慨でもなく、美辭麗句でもなく、寧ろ會話であり對談である」]. 

The thing is that one doesn’t, cannot, truly grow and mature without leading a life in which we are constantly encountering other people. And, if nothing else, I hope Imaoka-sensei’s calligraphy and this short post will simply serve to remind people of the need to get out into the world to meet others.