Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition (MMWC) hosted its October 31 Networking Brunch with a special guest, Sae Iino, the Japan Outreach Initiative coordinator at the International Institute of Wisconsin (IIW).
The event centered on sumi-e, the traditional Japanese practice of black-ink painting, and introduced participants to the broader philosophy of ikigai, a concept that describes purpose and meaning found in daily life.
The art session portion of the program opened with a history of how sumi-e developed in Japan, and what it meant to Japanese culture over the centuries. Using brushes, water, and black ink, participants practiced forming simple lines and shapes, before making more complex paintings.
Iino explained that the art emphasizes calm attention and intention rather than perfection. The activity, she said, mirrored a broader Japanese appreciation for mindfulness and change. That theme connected naturally to ikigai, the main subject of Iino’s presentation.
The word ikigai is often translated as “reason for being,” yet it expresses more than personal ambition. It centers on four intertwined ideas — gratitude, connection, courage, and beauty in change — that together form a balanced approach to living.
Gratitude, Iino noted, begins with noticing small moments and gestures that sustain daily life. Connection links that awareness to others through acts of kindness and shared experience. Courage gives the strength to continue through uncertainty, and beauty in change teaches acceptance of impermanence.
The presentation showed how those ideas can appear in ordinary activity. For example, preparing the sumi-e ink required patience. Sharing materials created a sense of community. Accepting the unpredictable flow of the brush reflected the need to adapt to shifting circumstances. Each element turned a simple art exercise into a lesson about attention and empathy.
In a previous interview with Milwaukee Independent, Iino said her outreach work aimed to build understanding through cultural experience. The Japan Outreach Initiative, sponsored by the Japan Foundation and the Laurasian Institution, gave Iino the opportunity to organize demonstrations, lectures, and public programs that highlight Japanese customs in Wisconsin.
> READ: Sae Iino: How a cultural ambassador hopes to build bridges between the people of Milwaukee and Japan
At IIW, her projects range from calligraphy and food culture to seasonal traditions. She said that by engaging people directly, such activities help reveal the shared values of respect and hospitality that connect different cultures.
During the MMWC workshop, participants practiced grinding ink and guiding their brushes across the paper, focusing on how small changes in pressure affected the application of pigment. Iino explained that sumi-e relied on simplicity — one color, one medium — to express a full range of feeling.
The discipline of repetition, she said, encouraged calm and focus. Within that quiet attention, she linked the art form to ikigai’s broader message: meaning is created through steady awareness, not through the pursuit of a single goal.
The event also reflected the purpose of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition to hold regular networking gatherings, which are designed to connect communities through education and dialogue. Coalition organizers said that featuring Iino’s program offered another way to explore cultural connections.
Iino’s session provided a chance for participants from different backgrounds to learn together while experiencing an aspect of Japanese heritage that values respect and reflection.
She also emphasized that sumi-e often uses seasonal subjects such as cherry blossoms, the moon, autumn flowers, or winter snow scenes — images that represent life’s cycles and impermanence. That awareness of constant change, she said, is central to Japanese aesthetics and closely related to ikigai’s acceptance of transformation.
When the brush moves, the line can never be repeated in the same way. Rather than seeing that as a flaw, Japanese art treats it as a reminder that every moment is temporary and therefore meaningful.
The October 31 brunch illustrated how that mission can reach beyond academic settings. By combining art, conversation, and cultural reflection, Iino and the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition demonstrated that common values such as gratitude, connection, and respect could emerge naturally through shared activity.
It also demonstrated how simple acts could become an expression of mindfulness that crossed cultural lines. For Iino, it was another example of ikigai in practice – meaning discovered in ordinary effort and in the relationships built through it.
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Lee Matz
