Sora Shodo

A live performance artist who harnesses the techniques of calligraphy, currently active in Portland, Oregon, USA.

Born in Usuki City, Oita Prefecture, Japan.

During childhood, grew up observing her father grinding Sumi ink with ink stone and writing characters for local people from the bottom of his heart.

In 1999, fulfilled a dream of becoming an ANA international flight attendant and traveling the world. In her twenties, married internationally and moved to the United States. Experienced raising three children.

In her thirties, at the behest of his space-loving husband, experienced self-sustainable living by restoring an old-fashioned farmhouse in Usuki City, Oita Prefecture.

Thanks to these experiences, she was deeply impressed by the depth of Japanese architecture and culture. During her second visit to the United States in 2014, she met her mentor, Daigo Sekkou Sensei, and in 2017, she embarked on the path of the artist name - SORA which in Japanese means Sky and Universe.

Currently, while deeply fascinated by the traditional art of "sumi ink," she believes that sumi ink can cleanse people's evil and that the sounds of Japanese characters (Kotodama) has the power to attract goodness. 

She creates individual calligraphy inspired by characters that bubble up from the universe, collaborates with various artists, and people whom she met and continues her live performance art.

She excels at capturing the artistic moment by intuition and transforming people's life stories into "the voice of their souls" through "original Japanese characters.

She performs at that moment with audiences and praying for the peace and calmness in this universe - oneness.