Fuad Kouichi Honda

Fuad Kouichi Honda (b. 1946) is Japan’s leading master calligrapher of Arabic. After graduating from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in 1969, Honda was hired by a cartographic company and would spend the next three years in the Middle East almost entirely in the desert, where his companions were largely Bedouins. This was the experience that changed his life. Describing his love for Arabic letters he says:

'To me, there are various levels of beauty in the letters. One Arabic letter of the alphabet is beautiful by itself, but when it becomes part of a sentence, there is another level of beauty. And then the letters start to move as if they were living creatures. To me, it is almost like music with no sound.'

After returning to Japan, Honda embraced Islam and took the Muslim name Fuad (Heart).

The rhythm and balance of the Arabic letters that had so inspired Honda is brilliantly articulated in his works, which display a remarkable combination of deep concentration and stillness of mind with fluidity of execution. The Japanese aesthetic of empty space combined with strictly traditional letter forms is a hallmark of his style. The recurring motif of the circle in his works betrays a profound preoccupation with the ensō, or the Japanese circle of Enlightenment, and the Islamic symbol of perfection.

His mastery earned him the recognition of the Turkish calligraphy master Hasan Çelebi, from whom he later received an ijaza (diploma/license) in Arabic calligraphy. Dedicated to his craft, he set up the Japan Arab Calligraphy Association where he now teaches Arabic calligraphy not only to Japanese people but also to Arabs working in Japan. Some of his calligraphic masterpieces, e.g. “The Face of God” (a series of Koranic quotes on blue, red and yellow backgrounds), can be found in the British Museum in London along with works sold at Christie's auction house.