Ari Tomita was raised in Japan, and moved to the US in 1981 and moved to Canada in 1994. Tomita was originally an impressionist oil painter who then studied the art of Chinese and Japanese brush writing. She synthesized three styles: classical Japanese style (kana), traditional Chinese style (kanji), and the free spirit of the Zen monks.

After many years of practice she deeply appreciated and became connected with the beauty and profundity of brush strokes, using the four treasures: a brush (fude), stone (suzuri), ink stick (sumi), and paper (gasenshi-Chinese style) and (ryoshi-Japanese style) with water.

She developed her art Bokusho and Boku Jazz, also teaching method based on her experience and understanding of the under laying structures of the art of brush writing, philosophical influence by Chinese cosmology, spontaneity of jazz, and Zen spirit.

Boku Jazz is an approach to traditional Oriental brush and ink painting by Ari Tomita Which represents a new, contemporary international language. This abstract brush painting . . . transcends the differences between cultures (and) the creative self in its moment of creating.

- Helen Westgeest, Professor, author of "Zen in the Fifties”