William Reed & Hugh Purser have joined together to raise funds in support of the relief effort in Japan by writing a little book of poetry and calligraphy. This combination has a long history, but here is a short version:
William Reed was interested in Japanese culture from an early age, and came to Tokyo from the United States in 1972 at the age of 20 to embark on a lifetime study of the martial art of Aikido, Japanese language and culture. He currently holds the rank of 7th-dan in Aikido, as well as professional teacher certification (Shihan) in brush calligraphy, Shodo. He has written several books on Aikido and Japanese culture, and continues this via blogs and two online columns.
Hugh Purser was also fascinated by Asia from an early age, having a (Danish) mother born in China 90 years ago. This ultimately led to a career working in many countries in Asia, living for a combined 17 years in Singapore, India and Japan. In Japan he met William Reed and quickly became his student both in Aikido and Shodo – and a lifelong friend.
