Japanese Calligraphy, Shodo, its Chinese Roots and Zen Interconnection

Japanese calligraphy, known as shodo in Japanese language, is the calligraphy brushed in Japanese. As many other art expressions in Japan, Japanese calligraphy has its origins in Chinese calligraphy. For many centuries one of the most admired calligraphers in Japan was Chinese Wang Xizhi that lived in the 4th century.

Nevertheless, since the Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries were incorporated into the Japanese writing practice, Japanese calligraphers started to produce their own Japanese approaches of calligraphy.

Different Kinds of Japanese Calligraphy

The classic types are almost the same in Chinese calligraphy as in Japanese calligraphy. They are as follows:

1. Seal Script, tensho in Japanese language, an time-honored style of calligraphy

2. Regular Script, kaisho in Japanese language, at times named Standard Script in English

3. Clerical Script, reisho in Japanese

4. Semi-Cursive, gyosho  in Japanese

5. Cursive, sosho in Japanese, at times called Running Script in English

The Four Treasures

The 4 fundamental tools you use in traditional Japanese calligraphy are the 4 Treasures and they are: the brush, inkstick, rice paper - also called mulberry paper in the West- and  the ink stone to liquefy the new ink.

Chinese Calligraphy Roots and Outset in Japan

Chinese calligraphy goes back 3000 years, when pictorial representations or pictographs were carved on bones mostly with religious grounds. Eventually, during the Qin dynasty, the writing was homogenized as it had became a crucial instrument for governing the Chinese state.

The Chinese way of calligraphy was introduced to Japan around AD 600. Since that time, in Japan calligraphy has been practiced uninterruptedly. It has unfolded its own ways particularly in the Zen approach.

At Present in Japan pupils train in the art of Japanese calligraphy and it can be studied in high school or universities along with other art subjects such as painting or music.

Finally, the emergence of performance calligraphy has made it a fashionable pursuit practiced together in groups by the young. Performance calligraphy has also been introduced to the West and it seems to fascinate many people.

Japanese Calligraphy and Zen Buddhism

Zen Buddhism has had a remarkable impact in Japanese calligraphy. The most common symbol of the Zen school of Japanese calligraphy is the enso circle. The calligrapher depicts the enso circle of enlightenment in one single free-flowing stroke that is never modified or altered.

Japanese Zen calligraphy, the Way of the Brush, is a form of meditation in action.