We are retracing our steps now, but first I want tomention two smaller exhibitions where Nobuko's workswere displayed that marked the final steps on hercalligraphic journey. Once she realised that hercancer was malignant and, at best, had to haveoperations at three-month intervals, Nobuko withdrewfrom the calligraphy that had for so long given herlife meaning, but at Sawasaka Satomi's urging shetook it up again, though this time separately fromthe two national organisations she had belonged to,the Mainichi Shodō Association and the YomiuriCalligraphy Society with their contrasting stylesand channelled her efforts into developing her ownpersonal style instead.

This determination was reflected in exhibits atSawasaka's Second Group Sakura Exhibition (see thetop of p.117) which were very favourably received.Group Wonder Exhibition 2014 was then held in thefollowing year, influenced by the good reception theprevious year's exhibition had received. This was ahome-grown exhibition held with two friendssuffering from the same illness, who had patchworkand the kai-awaseshell-matching painting as hobbies and in this wayNobuko succeeded in making her exhibits reflect herown personal touch. She was delighted that her wishto choose the venue and have a hand in all aspectsof the organisation had been met and over a shortperiod she produced a steady succession of works ofdifferent styles.

The exhibition site, the Miyakōmesse, was opposite theKyoto Hall which held many memories of her youngerdays. And it was also a site that brought backmemories of the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art whereshe had exhibited numerous works every year from1999 to 2010 in the Mainichi Shodō Exhibitions (seeMap 5 Kyoto on p.110). In its 2015 exhibition thatwas held 70 days after Nobuko's death there was ofcourse nothing new of hers but her desire to shareher feelings with friends who also had cancer justone more time was demonstrated by works that I chosefor display. Separately, her work shown at the ThirdSakura Exhibition 2015 130 days earlier (see p.115)was assessed as being better than the example shownat the top of p.117 in terms of its individualityand expressiveness of her personality.