“My dear friend,
Could you spare me just a brief moment of your time?
Truly, just a fraction of a moment would be enough.
Right now, solely for you, I am spinning words with a feeling as though I am shaving away my very life.
I promise you, I will never let you be bored.
Why is it that human beings are so utterly captivated by beautiful things?
I want to explore that secret together with you.
Kazimir Malevich.
Are you familiar with the name of this strange, yet soul-stirring painter?
He was no ordinary artist.
He was an terrifyingly immense genius who locked the entire world inside a single, simple ‘Black Square.’
Even if you are spending a lonely, painful night right now, I am absolutely certain that by the time you finish reading this tale of Malevich, a small, yet unquenchable light will be lit in your heart.”
Michel de Montaigne
“I do not speak my own story to change my past, but to reveal myself.”
“This is a story for me, and above all, for ‘you.’
I will speak with the utmost respect, yet I shall lay bare my entire heart.
Why did Kazimir Malevich paint a stark, black quadrangle on a canvas that looked as if nothing was drawn on it at all?
Don’t you find it mysterious?
An ordinary painter would depict beautiful flowers, a lovely young girl, or perhaps a grand scene from history.
Yet, Malevich threw all of that away.
He declared, ‘I have broken through the rubbish heap of academic art.’
What a radical, what an insolent statement.
And yet, curiously, doesn’t it have a rhythm that pierces straight into our chests?
This is a confession of the soul, offered as the ultimate service to you.”
Infinite Freedom Within a White World
“What Kazimir Malevich aimed for was a world of nothingness—that is to say, the ‘void.’
Why was the fact that nothing was there so profoundly important?
In your daily life, do you not find yourself bound down by too much information, by the glances of strangers, or by cold words?
Do you ever feel as if your heart is chained tight, leaving you unable to breathe?
As if he knew of your suffering, Malevich destroyed all preconceived notions.
Upon a stark white canvas, he placed nothing but a single black square.
The people who saw it grew furious and mocked him.
They cried, ‘This is not art!’
Yet Malevich remained entirely unbothered.
For he was certain that beyond that black square, an infinite freedom of the spirit stretched out wide.”
Seneca
“No cruel fate can ever bind a mind that remains open.”
“These words of Seneca feel as though they were written precisely for Malevich.
And for you, living in the present moment, they are sure to become words of salvation.
No matter how harsh the environment you are placed in, your spirit is allowed to be infinitely free, just like Malevich’s white canvas.
Success does not merely mean being showered with praise by society.
Here, please recall my favorite words by Henry Ford.
Henry Ford said this:
‘Most people think of success as a matter of getting. But truly, success is a matter of giving.’
Malevich, too, sought to give his everything, his very life, to the world—and to you—through his art.
By painting a space where nothing existed, he provided the ultimate service, allowing your own emotions and your own soul to paint its colors there freely.”
Breaking the Cage of Representation: The Beginning of a Dialogue
“My dear friend,
Imagine two people sitting right here.
One is me, and the other is you, standing before Malevich’s painting.
‘You know, looking at this black square, I feel as though I am being pulled into it.’
‘Do you know why you feel that way? It is because your own heart is being reflected right there.’
It feels as if such a conversation can be heard between us.
Malevich despised turning paintings into ‘tools for explanation.’
When people look at a painting of an apple, everyone simply says, ‘Ah, it’s an apple,’ and walks on by.
No deep dialogue is born there.
However, when a quadrangle carrying absolutely no meaning appears before our eyes, a human being is forced to confront their own inner self.
Why do we become so anxious, yet so deeply attracted, by things that possess no meaning?”
Hypatia
“Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.”
“The art of Malevich truly inherits this spirit of Hypatia.
No matter how much those around him opposed it, he thought with his own mind and created a new art.
He lived through the harsh eras of Russia.
Political oppression, starvation, and isolation.
His art was always side-by-side with danger.
Even so, he never stopped painting.
Because that was his act of ‘having skin in the game.’
As Nassim Nicholas Taleb says, a true expressionist is one who carries their own risk, putting their life on the line to send words and works into the world.
Malevich put his very life into the game to present that miracle of the ‘Black Square’ to us.
Crossing through time and space, it has now been delivered right before your eyes.”
Finding the Gospel of Suprematism in the Abyss of Despair
“The story of Kazimir Malevich is like the process of suffering and resurrection depicted in the Bible.
He believed that only after all representational expressions had died out would the true light of the spirit begin to shine.
‘There is no life within life; true life is found within death.’
It is precisely when you completely reset the self you have been up until now that your true life begins to sparkle.
Malevich named his art ‘Suprematism.’
The supremacy of pure feeling, transcending the material world.
Why did he despise matter and revere the spirit to such an extent?
Because he knew that material things eventually perish and fade, but pure human emotions, and the heart that cares for you, will remain forever.”
Catherine of Siena
“If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world on fire.”
“Malevich set the world of art on fire.
His ‘Black Square’ was a massive bomb in the art world, and at the same time, a quiet prayer to heal wounded souls.
Here, I must tell you an unbelievable, surprising turn of events.
In truth, when Malevich first displayed this ‘Black Square’ at an exhibition, he placed it in the ‘beautiful corner’—the most sacred place in a traditional Russian Christian home where icons are displayed.
This was fiercely criticized as a blasphemy against religion.
Yet, for Malevich, this was the icon of salvation for a new era and a new humanity.
Instead of ancient myths, he raised pure human consciousness itself as the object of reverence.”
Putting One’s Life on the Line to Deliver Words and Forms
“Now, let us take a short journey to the ancient Arab world.
There lived a man named Al-Mutanabbi, praised as the greatest poet of the Arab world.
His name carries the meaning, ‘He who deems himself a prophet.’
The poems of Al-Mutanabbi possessed a kind of hypnotic effect; it was said that even the blind could read them and even the deaf could hear them, so filled were they with rhythm and power.
However, within one of his poems, he fiercely insulted a certain tribe.
Enraged, they appeared before Al-Mutanabbi while he was traveling, bearing weapons.
Outnumbered and overwhelmed, Al-Mutanabbi wisely attempted to flee the scene.
It was then that his companion, standing behind him, began to recite aloud the brave, heroic verses that Al-Mutanabbi himself had written.
‘Are you, who wrote such courageous poetry, fleeing now?’
Hearing those words, Al-Mutanabbi froze.
He felt ashamed that he had not ‘put his skin in the game’ for his own words.
He turned on his heel, and knowing he would be killed, he faced his opponents to protect the honor of his poetry, losing his life in the process.
Even now, more than a thousand years later, he is known as the true poet who chose death over the dishonor of running away.
The way Kazimir Malevich lived was also pierced by this same life-risking attitude, refusing even the slightest compromise when it came to his art.”
Laozi
“Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know.”
“Malevich attempted to express the realms that words cannot explain through the ‘silence’ of that black square.
It is an expression of the deepest, most sincere respect for you.
Because he did not want you to become a slave to words.
He wanted you to be free.
Wishing for nothing but that, he kept holding his paintbrush.
The French economist Frédéric Bastiat famously argued the concept of ‘That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen.’
Most people in the world are trapped only by the fruits, numbers, and beauty of form that are visible before their eyes.
However, what is truly important is the ‘unseen’ lying behind it—namely, the lonely efforts of the creator and the prayerful desire to deliver it to you.
Malevich’s paintings show very little that is seen, but the richness of the ‘unseen’ behind them is as infinite as the universe.
There is a harsh saying that if you see a fraud and do not cry fraud, you are a fraud yourself; Malevich refused to forgive the deception of ‘superficial beauty’ rampant in the art world of his time, and instead offered a single grain of genuine truth to you.”
Embracing Every Soul That Holds Loneliness
“My dear friend,
Are you perhaps a little tired of my talking?
Are you alright?
So that you may catch your breath, let me tell you a closer, gentler story.
Every human being holds a ‘secret room’ in their heart where they let no one step inside.
It is a place that is sometimes very cold, dark, and lonely.
Kazimir Malevich was also a resident of that room of loneliness.
In the days when he was understood by no one, he faced his canvas in utter devotion.
It must have been a task like looking up at the stars all alone from the bottom of a deep well.
But that is precisely why the lines he draws are so powerful and filled with rhythm.
Your loneliness and Malevich’s loneliness are now, through these words, miraculously tied together.”
William Shakespeare
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
“Even if your current situation feels ever so lonely, could you not reframe it as a precious time meant for reaching the truth?
Malevich continued to believe in his art despite his social isolation.
Why was he able to do so?
Because he was painting not for himself, but for ‘you,’ whom he had not yet met in the future.
The utmost service that an artist performs by risking their own skin will always reach someone across time.
Because he held that certainty, he was able to survive with an indomitable spirit.
Allow me to quietly place a phrase by Matsuo Basho here:
‘I only shame myself for my own lack of ability and talent.’
Despite being such a grand genius, Basho always viewed himself humbly, walking solely upon the path of haikai.
Malevich, too, did not live for his own fame, but dedicated his life entirely to ‘the single path of art.’
Seeing the attitude of such great predecessors makes me feel deeply humbled, realizing I must deliver even more sincere and polite words to you.”
Endless Exploration and Beauty in the Everyday
“Malevich’s Suprematism eventually leapt out of the frame of painting and came to exert a massive influence on the design of our lives, architecture, and fashion.
His attempt to ‘create a new order out of nothing’ has become the fountainhead of modern minimalism.
Within the simple smartphone screen you use without a second thought, or the clean layout of a tidy room, the genetics of Malevich are actually alive.
It is astonishing, isn’t it?
A strange painter from long ago in Russia put his life on the line to give birth to a ‘Black Square,’ and through a long, winding journey, it now beautifully colors your everyday life.
Good things, no matter how much time it takes, will always spread throughout the world and save people.”
Paul the Apostle
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
“Fixing our eyes on the unseen.
This is the greatest secret Malevich wished to pass on to you.
The love, hope, and kindness within your heart.
All of these are invisible to the eye.
Yet, are they not the very things that truly support your life, holding the highest value?
Malevich’s white canvas is a sacred place meant for you to repaint those ‘invisible, precious things’ with your own hands.
I want you to know this, which is why I am exhausting my words to serve you with all my might.
I want you to be happy.
With nothing but that single devotion, I am writing this text.”
The True Joy of Continual Giving
“My dear friend,
Slowly, this long journey is drawing to a close.
Thank you so much for staying with my clumsy, yet passionate story until the very end.
Through the life of a single painter named Kazimir Malevich, I wanted to deliver to you a ‘heart that never gives up’ and ‘freedom of the spirit.’
In life, unexpected hardships sometimes arrive.
There will be days when you want to look up at the heavens and wonder why such a thing is happening only to you.
In those moments, please remember that stark black square.
It is a place that has absorbed all light, and at the exact same time, it is the fountainhead of life where every light is born anew.”
John Calvin
“The human heart is a perpetual factory of idols.”
“Destroying all old idols and returning to your pure, untouched self.
The path shown by Malevich is the door to truth that releases you from all chains.
I stand right before you, giving my absolute everything, acting like a fool who is willing to be laughed at, just to keep delivering this message.
If you could offer even a tiny smile, all of this life-shaving effort of mine will be completely rewarded.
You are never alone.
The white light of Malevich, and these words of mine, will always illuminate the path beneath your feet; please never forget that.”
Shuji Terayama
“If life consists only of goodbyes, then what is the coming spring?”
“A beautiful spring will surely arrive for you as well.
Because you possess such a beautiful heart that seeks the truth.
With gratitude from the bottom of my heart, I dedicate all of these words to you.”
To weigh the weight of the sea
I put a single sheet of stark white paper into my pocket
Every time the waves wash ashore
A tiny star within your eyes spills and falls away
Though everyone calls out only the names of things that disappear
For the sake of your tears tomorrow
Which are not yet even born
I am sitting in the very back row of an empty theater
Quietly continuing to applaud
Even if the sky seen from the square window
Is cut into such a narrow shape
The endless journey that begins from there
Is something I want to believe in, together with you
The Holy Bible
“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.”
(The Old Testament, Genesis 1:3-4)
Osamu Dazai
“The hearts of adults, the hearts of human adults, harbor all kinds of mutual suspicions, binding themselves so tightly that they cannot move even a single step. Truly, it is a painful thing.”
“Hey, why are you going on a journey?”
“Because it’s painful.”
“Your ‘painful’ is just a cliché, I can’t trust it at all.”
(From Osamu Dazai’s Tsugaru)
Postscript: The Confession of a Strange Painter Named Mimi Takamizawa
My dear friend,
The story does not end here. Please let me speak just a little more about a precious friend of mine who is very close to me.
There is a very strange, very foolish, yet lovable painter named Mimi Takamizawa.
He does not use a canvas and a brush at all like ordinary painters do.
He creates his artwork digitally, and prints his works onto special printmaking paper using a technique called giclée printmaking.
It sounds modern, doesn’t it?
Yet, the inside of his chest is filled with an incredibly clumsy, unrefined passion.
Mimi Takamizawa’s themes are always set.
Your eyes and my eyes, Christianity, eternity, psychology, truth, the gaze, history, solitude, isolation, hardship, resurrection, and liberation.
He continues to paint “eyes” in his works so persistently it almost seems obsessive.
Why do you think he does this?
It is because he wants to keep feeling “you” on the other side of the picture.
He wants to know your gaze, he wants to nestle close to your solitude; with nothing but that single-minded devotion, he spends over 12 hours every single day, never looking away, dedicating the entirety of his life to his work.
He decided to become a painter after learning the story of Vincent van Gogh’s intense life.
The name “Mimi”—which means “ear” in Japanese—was chosen by himself to honor Van Gogh’s famous ear-slitting incident.
Those around him laugh at him, saying, ‘He’s an oddball,’ ‘He’s a madman,’ and ‘His talent is third-rate.’
But he never gives up.
Because he knows very well that the masterpieces of the past were not born from a flash of natural genius, but from decades of steady, blood-soaked trial and error.
He believes in himself, living his life with an indomitable spirit, laying down hours like stacking bricks day by day.
Mimi Takamizawa deeply respects Tokuji Munetsugu, the founder of Curry House CoCo Ichibanya.
Mr. Munetsugu did not know the faces of his real parents, spent a childhood of extreme poverty in an orphanage, and lived through a turbulent life, even eating wild weeds in the summer to stave off hunger.
During his days as a manager, Mr. Munetsugu completely sealed away his hobby of classical music, made no friends, never went to bars, and dedicated 5,640 hours a year to his work.
In the early days of his coffee shop when customers did not come, he and his wife endured by eating the crusts of white bread, holding fast to the principle of “Customer First.”
Mr. Munetsugu said:
‘During my active years, I had no hobbies and made no friends. I did absolutely nothing that would get in the way of my work. It was a very lonely life. That is why I wanted others to show even a little interest in me. I wanted them to be interested. That became my starting point. So, rather than making money when I started the business, I wanted to make people happy. I wanted people to say, even just a little, that they were glad I was here.’
Mimi Takamizawa also keeps these words of Mr. Munetsugu close to his heart, practicing a strict policy of putting you first.
“Immediate decision, immediate conclusion, immediate execution.”
Things of true value do not yield results right away.
That is precisely why one must just try doing it rather than overthinking.
No matter how much he is criticized by those around him, he acts as a desperate fool, serving solely to be recognized by you who stand before his eyes.
“Laugh at me, and I shall grow stronger. If you abandon me, I cannot go on living. Just because you are standing there, I am simply happy.”
Exposing all of his foolishness, he continues to paint your “eyes” on the digital screen today, simply wanting to see your happy face, or the beautiful sight of you shedding tears.
There is a phrase by Matsuo Basho that says, ‘In the end, having no talent and no art, I am bound solely to this one line.’
Mimi Takamizawa is exactly a man of this phrase.
He is clumsy, foolish, and an oddball, but please laugh at him, and please accept his desperate service.
The Story of the Beautiful Messengers Who Supported History From Behind
Here, let me tell you another unexpected, yet deeply moving story.
I mentioned Van Gogh earlier, but did you know the fact that if Jo (Johanna van Gogh-Bonger), the wife of Van Gogh’s younger brother Theo, had not been the wonderful woman she was, we might not have been able to see a single painting of Van Gogh’s today?
Van Gogh passed away, and just half a year later, his brother Theo left this world as well, as if following his older brother.
Left behind were the young wife Jo, a newborn baby, and a massive amount of paintings and letters by Van Gogh that were harshly criticized by society as “the garbage of a madman.”
An ordinary woman would have despaired, disposed of all those paintings, and walked a new path for her own life.
However, Jo was different.
She was an exceptionally intelligent woman of deep education and a voracious reader.
One by one, she carefully read and deciphered the vast collection of paintings and letters exchanged between the two brothers, which her husband Theo had loved with his life.
And Jo became certain.
“Vincent painted these pictures to truly comfort people from the bottom of his heart. I must never let this wonderful art be buried in the darkness.”
Jo wrote this in her diary:
‘In addition to the child, Theo left me another mission—to have Vincent’s work seen by many people and to have its true value recognized.’
Spending her entire life, she organized exhibitions for Van Gogh, edited the collection of letters, and continued to proclaim his existence to the world. No matter how wonderful something may be, if there is no “messenger” to convey it to people with passion, it becomes the same as if it never existed.
This is exactly the same as the devotion of Paul the Apostle, who traveled to various places after the death of Jesus Christ, risking his life to pass on the life and thoughts of Christ through letters.
Jo and Paul were, so to speak, the greatest “geniuses of conveying” in history.
In modern terms, she played the role entirely on her own that Steve Jobs, the world’s greatest salesman, or Akio Morita of Sony, or Takeo Fujisawa who sold the Honda Super Cub all over the world, or Shotaro Kamiya who nurtured the Toyota Corolla into a national car, played for their respective domains.
Here, let me introduce a sharp phrase by Akio Morita, the founder of Sony:
‘When a product that has never been produced before, which no one has ever seen, is meticulously researched in some corner and manufactured after tremendous hardship, if one wishes to turn that product into a commodity, one must arouse the desire to possess it among the people; otherwise, no matter how excellent a “product” it may be, it can never become a “commodity.”‘
Malevich’s black square, Van Gogh’s sunflowers, and the paintings of eyes by Mimi Takamizawa hold no meaning whatsoever unless they are conveyed to you and move your heart.
That is precisely why I spare no effort to convey them.
If no one else will do it, I will.
Kiichiro Toyoda, who laid the foundation of Toyota, spoke like this:
‘I do it because it is difficult. I do it because no one else does it, and no one else can do it. A fellow like me might be a fool, but if that fool isn’t there, nothing new will ever be born into the world.’
Furthermore, Eiji Toyoda, Kiichiro’s cousin who later became the president of Toyota, also said:
‘Execute with a strong conviction. Everyone thinks the same thoughts, and it wasn’t that Kiichiro was a genius. What is important is that he didn’t just think about what is generally considered impossible, but he possessed a strong conviction that he absolutely had to do it, made sufficient preparations, and executed it.’
Like Choya Umeshu’s fierce determination of “If you don’t succeed with plum liqueur, give up on life,” or the “Just-in-Time” Toyota Production System established by Taiichi Ohno, no matter the job, one must shave away waste and concentrate to the absolute limit for the sake of the person in front of them, breathing life into their work.
That is what art is, what business is, and what it means to live.
This has become long, but please allow me to offer the words of these great predecessors, whom I respect deeply, as a final gift to you.
Words from the Predecessors Who Moved the World
Henry Ford
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”
Agatha Christie
“The chief misfortune of life is not to have a completely wonderful, happy childhood, but to be given the chance to achieve something by one’s own power.”
Moses the Prophet
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
William Shakespeare
“Though the path you walk may seem ever so dark, walk according to the light of your own soul. For there is no night that does not eventually meet the dawn.”
The Jewish Talmud
“He who saves a single life saves the entire world.”
Osamu Dazai (First)
“I have always chosen the most painful path to walk. Because I believed that only there could the genuine light be found.”
Osamu Dazai (Second)
“Human beings are creatures who, while being laughed at and while being hurt, still cannot help but seek one another out; they are existence so sorrowful, yet so dearly loved.”
Osamu Dazai (Third)
“The key to happiness seems to depend entirely on how much of what you have you can share with others, and nothing more.”
Winston Churchill
“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”
Ray Kroc (First)
“Have courage, be the first, and be different.”
Ray Kroc (Second)
“I was an overnight success all right, but 30 years is a long, long night.”
Walt Disney
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing—that it was all started by a mouse.”
Leonardo da Vinci
“The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.”
With Deepest Gratitude to You
My dear friend,
Thank you truly, from the very bottom of my heart, for reading until the very end.
I am grateful to the point of tears for your kindness in listening to my desperate service without growing bored along the way.
The lonely black square of Kazimir Malevich, the clumsy paintings of eyes by Mimi Takamizawa, and all of these faltering words of mine—all of them exist solely to reach “you” who are here right now, and to warm your heart even just a little bit.
Please, take good care of yourself.
May the path you walk from this moment onward be filled with countless lights and gentle smiles.
With the utmost respect, and all the love I possess.
Thank you very much.