The opening ceremony of Arabic Calligraphy Study-Group was held at the
Ambassador’s residence on the 25th February, 2017. The study-group which was
taught by Mr. Maghdy Hilal, was started in 2004 when Prof. Haruo Kobayashi was the
director. The exhibition of the study-group has been held from 2012 once a year when
Prof. So Hasegawa was the director, and the venue was the JSPS office in Zamalek.
When Ambassador Takehiro Kagawa attended the study-group from June 2016, the
opening ceremony of this year was held at his residence with his kind support.
At the opening ceremony, around 20 examples of calligraphy were displayed,
not only Arabic but also Japanese even Mongolian and Chinese calligraphy works,
were arranged in the Hall of the Ambassador’s residence. Then Mr. Maghdy Hilal, our
teacher introduced Arabic calligraphy, subsequently Mr. Hikaru Murai who is a teacher
at Japanese school in Cairo also a Japanese calligrapher practiced Japanese
calligraphy. A collaboration of the art of calligraphy between Egypt and Japan was
accomplished in the historic building that was built in the 1920’s in an art nouveau style
in Garden City. It was a fantastic moment when the encounter and coexisting cultures
were realized.
