Ichigo Ichie is an invitation to recognise the singularity of each encounter and each moment — to be present enough to notice what will never happen in exactly the same way again.
In December 2009, I travelled to the far south of Japan, to Kagoshima, a city facing the active Sakurajima volcano. The volcano is an immense demonstration of the force of nature, releasing ash two or three times a day through its eruptions. At first, the experience is both unsettling and fascinating, but over time one begins to live with this natural phenomenon and to understand its role in enriching the soil of the region.
The purpose of the journey was divided between photography and my work on a project related to the dissemination of the art of tasting, preparing and commercialising coffee at its fullest expression.
During the 32 days I spent in Japan, I had the privilege of taking part, as a special guest, in traditional tea ceremonies. It was in this context that I first encountered the expression Ichigo Ichie, through the symbol representing the number one, during the first tea ceremony of the Year of the Tiger, in 2010.
The symbolism immediately caught my attention, together with a degree of respect that I had never before witnessed with such intensity. I began to seek a deeper understanding of Ichigo Ichie and, from that moment onwards, I started incorporating the Ichi symbol into the signature of my Fine Art photographs.
Ichigo carries the meaning of the whole span of a person’s life, from birth to death. Ichie, literally associated with a “single encounter”, expresses the idea that encounters between people are unrepeatable. Even if the same people meet again, the place, the time and the people themselves will no longer be exactly as they were in that particular moment.
Ichi, in Japanese, represents the number one and also carries the powerful meaning of “one chance” — a unique opportunity.
It was the Ichi that gave rise to the visual identity of etrauer Creative Photo Studios and, over time, became a central element of my own visual identity, remaining today as one of the signatures of EdoMind.
The symbol refers to the unique instant in which an image is captured so that, at some future moment, it may bring back the memories of a special experience.
The expression Ichigo Ichie teaches that the people involved in each encounter should experience it fully, with respect, interest, emotion and wisdom.
When I began to recognise this idea in people’s expressions, gestures and actions, the connection with photography became immediate for me. Photography records a moment that will influence our memories in the future; through it, the experience of an encounter can be reawakened through emotion and memory.
Every photograph is also unique. Since then, the spirit of Ichigo Ichie has accompanied not only my photography, but also many different moments of my life.
“Ichigo means the term of life of a person, from birth to death, and Ichie, which literally means ‘one meeting’, implies that the meeting happens only once. In an old record called the Yamanoue Sôji ki [Record by Yamanque Sôji], the following words are found: “From the time one enters the “roji garden path until one leaves, one should duly respect the host as if in your lifetime the meeting shall be but once.” Also, Il Naosuke, a tea person in the late Edo period (1603–1867), says in his book entiled Chanoyu Ichie shû [Collection on the Onesess of Chanoyu], “To intermingle through chanoyu is called ichigo-ichie. No matter how many times the same host and the same guest may intermingle, today’s meeting can never be repeated and, therefore, it is the one and only meeting in your lifetime. The expression ichigo-ichie teaches that both the host and the guests should act keeping in mind that the tea gathering is a once-in-a-lifetime one”.
“Today’s meeting can never be repeated”
A Chanoyu Vocabulary: Practical Terms for the Way of Tea
ISBN: 978-4-473-03398-7
Japan, 2007.
