Hekiun Oda

Hekiun Oda, Chicago’s premier Shodo practitioner, was born in 1963 and grew up in Kobe City, Japan, a city known for its large concentration of Shodo (Japanese traditional calligraphy) grandmasters. He began his training under the renowned Grandmaster, Goun Katsura from the age of five. In 1990, he moved to Chicago and started to present his work at exhibitions and cultural demonstrations, while continuing to train with his teacher. In 2011, he obtained the highest rank of “Shihan” or grandmaster from the Genshinkai calligraphers association in Japan. Currently, he is based in Chicago, and continues to teach and present his work, as well as perform with choreographer, Yoshinojo Fujima (“Lines of Tradition”, 2018, at High Concept Labs; “Summer Thoughts”, 2019, at Hairpin Arts Center) .