Voice of the earth




Leaf harmonium


As I enter a new country, I am always surprised by the fauna and flora. There is the luxurious Thai vegetation that floods any cracks of Bangkok’s walls, a sombre and wet green comfortably sleeping in its unshakable power. And then there is the Scottish green, fractured like a thunder,  with dark woods and tortuous leaves gleaming like a gray rock.

I knew of the central part of Japan and its soft mountains, shaped like a silk robe and dressed in velvety foliages. Coming to Korea, the color variations became immediately chaotic. Not anymore could I see the delicate landscapes, gently painted in a typhoon diluted ink, but I was facing and immense fresco of pastels drawn with a dry and swift brush. Two close countries had such difference in their beauty.
With these few remarks in mind, I could also notice that the construction woods of Korea were much clearer than the Japanese ones but far less perfumed. How can I believe, then, that two poets can write the same thing in different countries ?

Clay of our land

And then, there is the earth that we dig, the ceramic one. And what can we say of that clay ? So many things that speak for the arts and customs of its people. In China, porcelain has the same refinement and complexity as the wood laces of Chinese palaces with the nobless of marble. In Korea, porcelain has this milky texture that is reminding of the skin tone of Seoul’s women — do they know where their inspiration come from ? In Japan, it has the sharpness and delicacy of a sword master’s blade. Out of this white world, there is still the muddy softness of Yixing teapots to compare with the velvety darkness of some Korean jars and the rough grain of Bizen or Shigaraki vases.



Last but not least, I remember this vase I brought back from Japan and that could not stand the Parisian light. The earth has a voice. Its a language that can say a lot about the people that made it and live from its fruits. To change continent is to change our way to serve tea. The earth is the substance of the arts, the customs and the bodies that make the beauty of a nation. To ignore these details is to stray away from the present.
The earth has a voice, it requires a different movement, a specific care, a singular mindset. There are as many ways to live, langages and different emotions that their are earths. And as I feel, swishing in this world the varieties of shapes of man, my desire to travel grows.


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