Rihaku is a contemporary calligraphy artist who serves as a professor with the Japan Educational Calligraphy Federation and as a consultant to the Japan Calligraphy Museum. Her journey with calligraphy began at the age of four, captivated by the orderly beauty of printed Japanese characters in a newspaper—a fascination that has continued for more than 50 years. For more than 25 years, she has dedicated herself to nurturing the next generation of calligraphers, having taught more than 2,000 students.
Blending traditional sumi-ink brushwork with acrylic paint, projection mapping, and virtual reality (VR), Rihaku has developed her own signature style, Immersive 3D Calligraphy, which releases calligraphy from the flat page into spatial, sensory experiences—reaching audiences even without knowledge of Japanese.
Since her first solo exhibition in New York in 2014, she has presented more than 95 solo exhibitions, group shows, and performances, including a dedicatory calligraphy performance at Tōdai-ji Temple, the renowned Buddhist temple in Nara, and workshops sponsored by J.P. Morgan and Reitler.
Her recent projects include One Bryant Park, a new Japanese fine-dining destination in Midtown Manhattan, where she designed the calligraphic logo and brand identity for Kumiko Room, an omakase sushi restaurant. Her logo and brand design work extends to restaurants and companies in New York, Princeton, and Tokyo, and since 2011, she has collaborated with Hakushika, a sake brewery with more than 360 years of history, on its label design.
Rihaku believes that calligraphy has the power to transcend words—to move the heart and transform space—and continues to explore new frontiers where centuries-old tradition meets contemporary expression.