The star attraction in the calendar of the Taigen ShodōAssociation, to which Nobuko also belonged, was itsyearly exhibition. However, the Association alsopublished a monthly calligraphy magazine entitledTaigen whichincluded a photographic section in which the bestpictures were chosen from among the works (études)sent in by its members. Nobuko had a total offorty-six pieces selected for publication startingwith its January 1995 number, two years after shestarted learning the art, and running to the January2011 edition. Normally, an appearance in themagazine once or twice a year would be consideredgood but in Nobuko's case it was not just a questionof how often her work was shown, for there was evenone year, 1999, when ten of her contributions wereaccepted and this was quite exceptional.

Many calligraphers had learnt calligraphy sincechildhood and then taken it as a special subjectthrough their middle and high school years and oninto university; but, unusually, Nobuko only beganher study of it when she was forty-five. We shouldnot really be comparing an amateur to a professionalcalligrapher, of course, no matter how long theyhave been practising, but Nobuko's progress wasrapid and her works (études) covered all genres. Herwork was chosen three times for representation inthe Modern Poetry section, the most highly-regardedone, and five times in the Line Width section towhich only accomplished practitioners couldcontribute and this almost certainly reflected whatshe was asking of calligraphy as one of her mentalsupports. It all served to boost herself-confidence. She was delighted when in May 2001she qualified for the exam for Master status andachieved the rank of Mentor which enabled her tohave her own workshop. It was also at that time thatshe changed the artistic pseudonym Sai-un that she had usedsince achieving dan-ranking to her favoured Saika.

I have economised in terms of the number of herexhibits featured here as she progressed through thekyū - and dan - ranks, the higherMaster-ranked pieces that is, but the experts’comments that accompany her displayed work areinteresting.