Hello.
I am Mimi Takamizawa, a painter.
I am truly delighted to be able to talk with you like this.
Right now, the protagonist of this text is you.
I am writing this for no one else but you.
Let us begin a story that will transform your everyday life anew.
“Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten.”
This is a universal truth shared by people who have pursued the absolute pinnacle of first-rate excellence.
What are the worries that you are harboring in your heart right now?
In the midst of your busy daily life, do you not occasionally feel a sudden sense of loneliness?
In fact, by learning about Watanabe Kazan—a magnificent artist from the Edo period—the scenery before your eyes will completely change.
Why? Because hidden within his way of life is a special hint that will powerfully enrich your existence.
Come, take an astonishing journey of the heart with me.
Do You Know Within Yourself That You Live Your Life Carrying a Slight Loneliness?
In your daily life, are there not moments when you feel a loneliness that you cannot confess to anyone?
There must be nights when your heart aches with the friction of human relationships or urgent anxieties about the future.
It was precisely to comfort your heart that Mimi Takamizawa’s works were created.
This is art meant to heal your heart.
I wish to stand close by your daily life.
- The First Benefit: By touching art, your loneliness turns into a warm sense of security.
- The Second Benefit: By learning about Watanabe Kazan’s sheer tenacity, an unyielding courage will dwell in your heart.
- The Third Benefit: By understanding the truth of the “gaze,” your human relationships will begin to go incredibly well.
Here, allow me to share a special biblical quote that is deeply relevant to you.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (New Testament, Matthew 11:28)
These eye-opening, gentle words will surely reach your tired heart directly.
And receiving these words, the author Osamu Dazai spoke to us as follows:
“Love is words. You must not spare your words.” (Words of Osamu Dazai)
I will not spare my words for you.
I want to embrace your loneliness exactly as it is.
Why Is the Tragically Beautiful Life of Watanabe Kazan Able to Rescue You from Loneliness?
You might have heard the name Watanabe Kazan in a history class at school.
He was a samurai of the Edo period, and a genius painter.
However, his life was filled with unbelievable hardships.
Why is a person from such a long time ago relevant to you today?
It is because, just like you, he fought against profound loneliness.
“There is no life within life; true life is found within death.”
This is a profound word of Eastern wisdom, showing how one can find the true brilliance of life even when on the brink of despair.
Kazan kept painting desperately from morning until night in order to save his impoverished domain.
The portraits he drew incorporated astonishing Western shading techniques that had never existed in Japan before.
Why do you think he drew such realistic pictures?
It was because he wanted to gaze at the ultimate truth of human nature through the “eyes” of the people in his paintings.
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” (Thomas Edison)
Just as Edison says, Kazan also redrew his pictures over and over again.
His improved techniques astounded the people of his time.
If you are feeling stuck in something right now, please remember Kazan’s eye-opening tenacity.
Your efforts will never be in vain.
What Kind of Powerful Benefits Will the Hobby of Collecting Art Bring to Your Life?
Do you view hanging paintings or familiarizing yourself with art as something distant, unrelated to your own world?
Allow me to ask you a rhetorical question: is it not far too wasteful to live your life without ever knowing the joy of being surrounded by beautiful things?
Bringing art into your life is the ultimate self-investment.
Why? Because first-rate art instantly changes the atmosphere of your room and washes away your daily stress.
“Most people think of success as a getting, but in the real sense it is a giving.” (Henry Ford)
Acquiring art means receiving the “love” that an artist has created by pouring out their very life.
Watanabe Kazan also tried to give viewers the courage to live through his paintings.
Even when faced with a major crisis through oppression by the authorities, he never gave up painting.
“An opportunity always presents itself at first as a crisis, or as a burden.” (Aizo Soma)
The hardships and burdens you face right now are, in truth, guaranteed opportunities for you to be reborn into a new self.
Art gives you the powerful energy needed to seize those opportunities.
Can the Anxieties of Your Daily Life Truly Be Solved by Art Alone?
Here, let us think together about three specific anxieties in your life.
All of these can be beautifully resolved through the mysterious power that art possesses.
Please, relax and listen closely.
Anxiety No. 1: Friction in relationships and worrying about the gaze of others
Do you ever find yourself feeling anxious at work or at home, wondering, “Am I truly understood by anyone?”
Is your heart ever wounded by the cold stares of others?
The theme of my creation is “Your Eyes, My Eyes.”
Watanabe Kazan also obsessively drew the “eyes” of his subjects, seeking to converse with the soul that lay deep within.
When you look steadily into the “eyes” within a work of art, you can feel a certain bond, realizing, “I am not alone. Someone is looking straight at me.”
Through this, the fear of relationships in the real world gently melts away.
“Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know.” (Laozi)
A dialogue of gazes that transcends words is what heals your wounded heart most deeply.
Anxiety No. 2: Feeling the limits of your own talent and being unable to see the future
Do you ever feel a sense of impatience, thinking, “I have no talent, is it okay for me to stay like this?”
Do you ever find yourself spinning your wheels, seeking a quick success as soon as possible?
Here, I offer you those famous words by the master of haiku, Matsuo Basho:
“Having ultimately neither talent nor art, I simply cling to this single path.”
Even a genius of Basho’s caliber referred to himself as having “neither talent nor art,” stating that he had simply stayed connected to the single path of haikai.
Watanabe Kazan also walked his artistic path single-mindedly, even if he was treated as an eccentric by those around him.
By familiarizing yourself with art, you can gain the ultimate peace of mind that says, “It is okay to be clumsy; I just need to move forward single-mindedly on the path I believe in.” This is the only correct answer for your life to go well from now on.
“God helps those who help themselves.” (Jean Calvin)
When you walk your life staking your very existence on it, an invisible, great power will surely support you.
Anxiety No. 3: Being unable to find meaning in living and feeling an emptiness
Do you ever experience a fear of being buried in the waves of history, as if every day is merely a repetition of the same thing?
Do you ever grow disgusted with the perceived insignificance of your own existence?
Art takes you out into the world of “eternity.”
The paintings that Watanabe Kazan drew still violently shake our hearts today, nearly 200 years later.
When you appreciate a wonderful work of art and shed tears at its beauty, your soul transcends the framework of time and connects with eternity.
The emptiness will vanish, and you will be able to realize the preciousness of your own existence.
“My success is due to my continuing when others have given up.” (Thomas Edison)
Art is a special prescription that reminds you of the “courage to keep living.”
Why Will the Theme of the “Gaze” in Watanabe Kazan and Mimi Takamizawa Rescue You?
Many “eyes” appear in the pictures I draw.
Why? Because eyes do more than speak as eloquently as the mouth; they tell the whole story of human psychology, truth, loneliness, resurrection, and liberation.
Think of the portraits drawn by Watanabe Kazan, such as the Portrait of Takami Senseki.
The sharpness of that gaze, looking quietly back at you, contains a message more powerful than any words.
Kazan is speaking to the future you through the eyes in his painting.
He is saying, “Even in the midst of hardship, never lose sight of yourself.”
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” (Thomas Edison)
Where are your eyes looking right now?
Are you looking only at smartphone screens and missing the voice of your own precious heart?
My theme, “Your Eyes, My Eyes,” is precisely a conversation between your soul and mine.
When you look at my work, you are also being looked back at by the work.
In that exact moment, your loneliness is completely liberated.
How Can an Overwhelming Tenacity Like That of Sakichi Toyoda Help Your Daily Life?
Here, let us take an unexpected turn in our conversation.
We shall pivot from the topic of art to the stories of the great men who laid the foundations of Japanese industry.
You know Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of the Toyota Group.
He was a true eccentric, treated as a strange man, so much so that he was called “invention-mad.”
From morning until night, day after day, he would make something only to break it, build it, and then rebuild it again.
Those around him treated him as a “madman” and whispered behind his back.
Why was he able to go that far?
It was because he possessed a pure passion, desiring nothing more than to “make everyone’s life easier through invention.”
“We do it because it is difficult. I will do it because no one else is doing it, and no one else can do it. I might be a fool for being that way, but without such fools, nothing new would be born into the world.” (Words of Kiichiro Toyoda)
Sakichi’s son, Kiichiro, also inherited that fierce DNA.
In an era when everyone laughed and said, “There is no way Japanese people can build domestic automobiles,” he became a fool and kept taking on the challenge.
This tenacity and patience moved the world.
Watanabe Kazan was the same.
To rebuild his domain’s finances and to perfect his art, he kept moving his brush like a man possessed.
Their way of life teaches you: “No matter what people around you say, you just have to be the one who works the longest and the hardest.”
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.” (Abraham Lincoln)
Try incorporating this “passion to the point of becoming a fool” into your current work and life.
An unbelievably wonderful result surely awaits you.
What Truths of Work Can You Learn from Choya Umeshu and the Words of Akio Morita?
Let me share another eye-opening example from the business world.
Are you familiar with the history of Choya Umeshu?
With a tragic determination that said, “If we do not succeed with umeshu (plum liqueur), give up on life,” they staked their lives single-mindedly on plum liqueur.
Precisely because they did not look away and kept improving a single product, it has become a brand loved all over the world today.
However, no matter how good something is, if you do not make the effort to communicate it, it is the same as if it does not exist in this world.
“Even if an excellent product is created secretly in a corner after immense hardships, when no such thing has ever been produced before and no one has ever seen it, you cannot turn that ‘product’ into a ‘merchandise’ unless you arouse a desire among people to possess it.” (Words of Akio Morita)
These profound words by Akio Morita, the founder of Sony, apply perfectly and directly to art as well as to your business.
Watanabe Kazan also desperately tried to communicate the value of his paintings to the world.
Delivering good things to you, who need them—that is precisely my mission as well.
“Pursuing quality is the greatest sincerity toward our customers.” (Soichiro Honda)
Soichiro Honda of Honda Motor Co., and Takeo Fujisawa, who supported him.
Shotaro Kamiya, who was called the god of sales at Toyota, and Taizo Ishida, who defended the company with stubborn consistency.
These first-rate men all spared no sleep and paid out of their own pockets to serve the customers right in front of them.
No matter what kind of marketing you use, you cannot make a bad piece of work a hit.
That is exactly why I stake my life on quality.
Why Will the Quotes of Steve Jobs Endorse Your Future Decisions?
I have chosen the words of the modern charisma, Steve Jobs, especially for you.
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” (Steve Jobs)
How do these words resonate in your heart?
While fulfilling his duties as a samurai, Watanabe Kazan never betrayed the soul of his art.
He dedicated all of his time to his paintings and to the people he loved.
Are you also compromising your own life because you are worrying about someone else’s gaze?
In your hobbies, your work, and your way of living, you should focus as soon as possible on what you truly feel you “like.”
“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” (Steve Jobs)
Touching art is a special time for you to reclaim your “true self.”
My works, and the soul left behind by Watanabe Kazan, will become powerful allies for you to live authentically as yourself.
Please, walk your path with peace of mind.
For we are always right there by your side.
P.S. A Desperate Love Letter to You from the Painter, Mimi Takamizawa
Thank you so very much for reading until the end.
Here, let me talk just a little bit about myself, a painter named Mimi Takamizawa.
This is a close, somewhat joyful story.
I am a little different from ordinary painters.
I do not use canvases or brushes.
I create everything digitally.
Then, using a cutting-edge technique called giclée printing, I print it onto the highest-grade printmaking paper.
Why digital, you ask?
Because I want to deliver the most vivid, most beautiful colors to you, who live in the modern era, with eternal quality.
The themes of my work are wide-ranging.
Your eyes, my eyes, Christianity, eternity, psychology, truth, the gaze, history, loneliness, isolation, hardship, resurrection, and liberation.
All of these are stories that exist as a direct extension of your daily life.
I believe that a painter should be a “doctor who saves the soul.”
The work of an artist is an utmost service paid out of their own pocket; it is a devotion to you.
I dedicate all of myself to you, who are right in front of me.
Please, do not abandon me in my future challenges, clumsy as I may be.
Please laugh at me, saying, “Digital isn’t art.”
I am a man who grows stronger by being laughed at.
This is a desperate service meant to bring you joy.
In a way, the work of an artist might be that of an utmost clown.
Even so, I am a man of patience. I am an unyielding man. I will absolutely never give up.
It was learning about the poignant story of Vincent van Gogh that made me decide to become a painter.
The “Mimi” (which means “ear” in Japanese) in my name, Mimi Takamizawa, is taken in honor of that famous ear-slitting incident of Van Gogh’s.
Van Gogh left behind this wonderful quote:
“I want to express something comforting in pictures, like music.”
I believe that is absolutely true.
Even if you are expressing something fervently, if it cannot move anyone’s heart, if it cannot comfort you, then that work or creation has no value.
I know that all the historical masterpieces of the past were not painted solely with innate talent, but were brought forth by decades of blood-soaked trial and error.
That is exactly why I keep drawing “eyes” in my works.
By doing so, I want to keep feeling you on the other side of the screen.
I want to know you, who are right in front of me.
I respect Tokuji Munetsugu, the founder of Curry House CoCo Ichibanya, from the bottom of my heart.
He was the ultimate single-minded man who exerted all his effort into his work without ever looking away.
Mr. Munetsugu says:
“During my active years, I had no hobbies and made no friends. I never once went to a drinking establishment. I did absolutely nothing that would get in the way of my work. There were years when I worked 5,640 hours. I felt that if I did not lead by example, my subordinates would not work for me.”
He dedicated his life to his work, believing that it was no time to be indulging in hobbies.
In fact, what saved Mr. Munetsugu during his unfortunate boyhood was classical music.
Despite loving classical music that much, he apparently did not listen to it at all during the era when he was the active manager of CoCo Ichibanya.
He thought, “It is no time to be listening to music. It is no time to be indulging in hobbies. I will dedicate all of my time to the customers.”
What do you think of such a thorough attitude?
In the early days of running the small coffee shop that was the predecessor to CoCo Ichibanya, customers did not come at all at first.
Because of this, for lunch, Mr. and Mrs. Munetsugu survived their hunger by eating the “crusts of white bread” that were left over from making sandwiches.
Since they started from zero, such hardships were only natural. Because they started from nothing, he looks back and smiles, saying it is rather a good memory now.
Believing that “customers are not coming much right now, but if we stick to a customer-first policy, things will surely get better,” he kept working day after day, laying bricks one by one.
Immediate decision, immediate conclusion, immediate execution.
If you try doing anything, results will follow. First is to just do it. Instead, you work with a life-or-death effort.
Mr. Munetsugu dedicated his entire life to his customers.
I, too, want to dedicate my entire life to you, who are right in front of me.
Mr. Munetsugu’s words contain something that violently shakes my soul:
“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 in me. That became my starting point. Therefore, when I started the business, rather than making money, I wanted to make people happy. I wanted people to say that they were glad I existed, even just a little.”
Life is not determined by how or where you were born and raised.
Mr. Munetsugu does not know the faces of his real parents.
He was placed in an orphanage immediately after birth, and even after being taken in by foster parents, he spent an impoverished boyhood due to his foster father’s gambling addiction.
In his youth, because there was nothing to eat, he survived his hunger by eating the weeds growing around him in the summer.
He carved out such a turbulent life, which he calls haphazard, by dedicating his very self to management.
A thorough adherence to the frontlines. Working more than 12 hours a day was the minimum condition for him.
He did not want to rest, he did not want to play; he turned work into his hobby and stuck to a “you-first” policy.
Whenever customers were right in front of him, he would always welcome them with a standing ovation in his heart.
Things of value are often things that do not have immediate efficacy.
Things do not go well right from the beginning.
Rather than thinking, try doing it first.
Therefore, please do not easily give up on your own life either.
What kind of wonderful life it will become is entirely decided by a person’s diligence, patience, and power of continuity.
After Van Gogh passed away, it was Jo, the wife of his brother Theo, who spread his works to the world.
Theo passed away shortly after Van Gogh, and Jo, becoming a young widow, stood up amidst despair.
She said:
“Besides the child, Theo has left me another duty—Vincent’s work, to show it and get it appreciated as much as possible.”
It was precisely because of her tenacity that Van Gogh’s paintings are now comforting your heart and mine like this.
Herein lies the importance of communicating good things.
Do you know within yourself that you live your life carrying a slight loneliness?
It was precisely to comfort your heart that Mimi Takamizawa’s works were created.
This is art meant to heal your heart.
Lastly, I present to you those powerful words by Henry Ford, whom I respect the most.
“My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” (Henry Ford)
I wish to be a friend who brings out the finest brilliance from within your life.
I am always watching over you.
Thank you so very much.
