Japan in Haworth and Bradford

A whole bunch of Japan-related activities in Haworth and Bradford:

The Brontës in Bradford: Manga and Wuthering Heights Workshop
11:00 AM
Room C8, Richmond Building, University of Bradford, BD7 1DP

We’re delighted to be working with Bradford Literature Festival to deliver this Brontë-inspired Manga print workshop in the year of Emily Brontë’s bicentenary. Using the landscape of the moors, the passion, and the brutality of Wuthering Heights for inspiration, create a Manga-themed bag to take home, with artist Tasneem Kausar.

Following the Brush: Japanese Calligraphy with Misuzu Kosaka
Building 'Stormy House'
11:00 AM
Brontë Parsonage Museum
Stormy House is an exciting project led by Whitestone Arts, bringing together Japanese artists with young people from across West Yorkshire, to explore the ghostly elements of Wuthering Heights in relation to the kaidan (Japanese ghost tales) collected and translated by Greco-Irish writer and traveller, Patrick Lafcadio Hearn. In this special development day curated by Whitestone Arts, we offer a window into the creation of this innovative project.
Japanese calligrapher Misuzu Kosaka is visiting Yorkshire to contribute to the Stormy House project. In this workshop Misuzu will guide participants through the process of transforming fragments of text from Wuthering Heights into creative calligraphy. In the Japanese style of ‘following the brush’ she will use kanji (Japanese characters) as a fluid bridge between words and images: both significant building blocks in the narrative worlds of the Brontës.
Misuzu Kosaka studied under calligraphy masters Saisui Ishibashi and Yuri Sato. Her artistic activity includes solo exhibitions, book illustration, public demonstrations and workshops. She is a director and instructor at the Japan Calligraphy Education Society.

Wuthering Heights in Japan with Damian Flanagan
02:15PM
Brontë Parsonage Museum

Why does Wuthering Heights have such particular resonance for Japanese readers? In this engaging and informative talk, Damian Flanagan will explore possible literary and landscape connections between Emily Brontë’s work and the islands of the North Pacific where she set her Gondal fantasies. He will also discuss his own creative collaborations with calligrapher Misuzu Kosaka. Damian Flanagan is a writer and literary critic specialising in Japanese culture. He read English at the University of Cambridge and completed his MA and PhD in Japanese Literature at Kobe University. He has published several books on Japanese literature and writes for magazines and newspapers internationally.

Japanese Tea Ceremony with Akaya Morimoto
03:00 PM
Brontë Parsonage Museum

The tea ceremony is perhaps the most elegant of Japanese traditions, combining refined etiquette, religious symbolism and healing power. Ayaka Morimoto trained in the culture of old Japan from the age of six, and performs at the Camellia Tea Ceremony in Kyoto, where Whitestone Arts met her in 2017. Whitestone Arts invite audiences to watch a Japanese tea ceremony performed by Ayaka Morimoto and we hope to facilitate some members of the audience taking a turn.