I will now look chronologically at the works thatNobuko exhibited at exhibitions put on by twocalligraphy societies she belonged to. They numbertwenty-nine and run from 2000 to 2010. Her worksfirst appeared via the medium of exhibitions sixyears after she took up calligraphy (the whereaboutsof the ones she produced in 1999 is not known). Ofthose two societies, the Taigen Shodō Associationshe joined in 1993 is one among a number ofinfluential members of Japan's largest calligraphyorganisation, the Mainichi Shodō Association, andholds the Taigen Exhibition and also the TaigenSelective Exhibition at which calligraphers abovethe rank of Mentor display their works. Nobukoexhibited at the former starting in 2001 and fouryears later in 2005 at the latter when she too hadachieved the rank of Mentor; this continued until2010 just before she left these societies. Nobukoalso took part in exhibitions arranged by one of theleaders of the Taigen Shodō Association, MukaiSansei, under whom she had studied.

Worthy of special note is the fact that she exhibitedtwice at the Mizuho Society's exhibitions. By this Imean that this was one of the leading groupsassociated with the Yomiuri Calligraphy Society, thesecond-largest organisation after the Mainichi ShodōAssociation, both of which differed in their stylesand approach to calligraphy; the point being that itwas rather unusual for someone to belong to both.Nevertheless, taking advantage of our move to Kyoto,Nobuko also joined that society because she wantedto learn kanacalligraphy in depth under the guidance of UsukiYoshiko and Kimura Michiko, but at the same time heraim was to probe the essence of her own personalityby using what she had learnt at those two societiesas a contrast medium.

But what Nobuko really had at the back of her mind wasthe Mainichi Shodō Exhibition, known as the Festivalof the Calligraphic Arts.