Japanese Calligraphy

Japanese Calligraphy – 書道

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こんにちは〜 \(◕ω◕)/♥

Today we want to introduce 書道 (shodō) – Japanese Calligraphy! Japanese Calligraphy is the art of writing Japanese Characters.

書道 (shodō) literally means “the way of writing.” It refers to a form of calligraphy (‘beautiful writing’) that is used for writing Japanese characters with a brush and ink on rice paper.

書道 (shodō) originated in China. The first calligraphy in Japan was written only using 漢字 (kanji) – Chinese Characters.

However, after Hiragana and Katakana (Japanese Syllabaries) were invented in the 5th century, calligraphy, along with modern writing in Japan, changed to include all 3.

To write Japanese Calligraphy, you need a variety of tools:

1. An ink stick (墨 – “sumi”)

2. An ink stone (硯 – “suzuri”) to grind the ink stick against, mixed with water

3. A paper weight (文鎮 – “bunchin”) to hold the paper in place

4. A cloth (下敷き – “shitajiki”) to place under the paper (often newsprint is used as well) to prevent ink from bleeding through.

5. A brush (筆 – “fude”)

6. A seal. The art of engraving a seal is called “tenkoku” (篆刻). The student is encouraged to engrave his own seal. The position of the seal or the seals is based on aesthetic views.

7. 和紙 (washi) – a type of traditional Japanese paper that can be made out of rice, mulberry, bamboo, or hemp.

Do you want to try writing Japanese Calligraphy? Get this awesome Shodō Training Set! → http://j-fair.com/product.php?id=722

It’s perfect for beginners because you don’t need to use ink or paper! All you have to do is dip the brush in water and you can write on this special paper! The writing will disappear after a few minutes making it possible to use the same paper over and over again!