Japanese Calligraphy, Shodo, its Chinese Origins and Zen Bond
Japanese calligraphy, known as shodo in Japanese language, is the calligraphy brushed in Japanese. As it happens with many different artistic manifestations in Japan, Japanese calligraphy has its beginnings in Chinese calligraphy. For many centuries one of the most admired calligraphers in Japan was Chinese born Wang Xizhi that lived in the 4th century.
However, since the Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries were added to the Japanese writing system, Japanese calligraphers started to produce their own Japanese ways of calligraphy.
Styles of Japanese Calligraphy
The classic styles are approximately the same in Chinese calligraphy as in Japanese calligraphy. They are the following:
1. Seal Script, tensho in Japanese, an time-honored style of calligraphy
2. Regular Script, kaisho in Japanese language, sometimes named Standard Script in English
3. Clerical Script, reisho in Japanese
4. Semi-Cursive, gyosho in Japanese
5. Cursive, sosho in Japanese, sometimes called Running Script in English
The Four Treasures of Eastern Calligraphy
The four fundamental utensils you need for traditional Japanese calligraphy are the 4 Treasures and they are: brush, the ink stick, rice paper - also called mulberry paper in the West- and the inkstone to ground the fresh ink.
Chinese Calligraphy Beginnings and Introduction to Japan
Chinese calligraphy goes back 3000 years, when pictorial representations or pictographs were carved on bones usually with religious grounds. Later on, in the Qin dynasty, the writing was standardized as it had became a crucial tool for the administration of the Chinese state.
The Chinese way of calligraphy was brought to Japan around AD 600. Since that time, in Japan calligraphy has been practiced continuously. It has developed its own style especially in the Zen approach.
Nowadays in Japan pupils learn the art of Japanese calligraphy and it can be studied in high school or universities along with other art disciplines such as painting or music.
Finally, the emergence of performance calligraphy has made it a fashionable interest practiced together in clubs by the younger generation. Performance calligraphy has also been presented to the Western countries and it seems to fascinate many people.
Japanese Calligraphy and Zen
Zen has had a significant effect in Japanese calligraphy. The most widespread representation of the Zen school of Japanese calligraphy is the enso circle. The calligrapher brushes the enso circle of enlightenment in one free-flowing stroke that can’t be modified or altered.
Japanese Zen calligraphy, the Way of the Brush, is a form of meditation in action.