The Chinese arts I study—calligraphy, painting, and seal carving—are, when pursued together, what I think of as “integrated humanities”: a body of learning capable of resisting divide-and-conquer tactics. The argument runs along the lines of the Japanese proverb “when the wind blows, the bucket-makers prosper”—a chain of seemingly remote causes and effects—so the logic takes some unpacking, but if you stay with me to the end, I think the depth of Chinese art will come through. What follows is an introduction to what I am aiming to become: a jinshi shuhua artist, a Chinese artist who has mastered calligraphy, painting, and seal carving all at a high level. Because it runs long, I’ll break it into several installments.

実は僕が学んでいる書・画・篆刻といった中国芸術は、まとめて修めることで、僕の考えるところの「総合人文科学」、すなわち分断工作に対抗し得る学問の一つとなります。風が吹けば桶屋が儲かる式の論法を地で行く話なので、その難解な論理を順を追って説明する必要がありますが、最後まで読んでいただければ中国芸術の深淵さが伝わるはずです。そこで、これから僕が目指している「金石書画」――書・画・篆刻のすべてを高い水準で修めた中国芸術家のこと――について、長くなるので何回かに分けて書いていこうと思います。