Japanese Calligraphy, Shodo, its Chinese Origins and Zen Bond

Japanese calligraphy, shodo in Japanese, is the calligraphy brushed in Japanese. As it happens with many other artistic manifestations in Japan, Japanese calligraphy has its origins in Chinese calligraphy. For many centuries one of the most praised calligraphers in Japan was Chinese Wang Xizhi that lived in the 4th century.

Still, since the Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries were attached to the Japanese writing system, Japanese calligraphers started to create native Japanese approaches of calligraphy.

Types of Japanese Calligraphy

The traditional types are roughly the same in Chinese calligraphy as in Japanese calligraphy. They are as follows:

1. Seal Script, tensho in Japanese, an ancient 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 language

5. Cursive, sosho in Japanese language, also named Running Script in English

The Four Treasures of Asian Calligraphy

The 4 essential utensils you use in traditional Japanese calligraphy are called the 4 Treasures and they are: the brush, the ink stick, rice paper - also called mulberry paper in the West- and  the ink stone to ground the ink.

Chinese Calligraphy Beginnings and Outset in Japan

Chinese calligraphy goes back three thousand years, when pictorial figures or pictographs were engraved on bones mostly with religious purposed. Later on, in the Qin reign, the script was systematized as it had became a decisive tool for governing 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 formed its own style particularly in the Zen school.

Nowadays in Japan students train in 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 well-liked interest practiced together in clubs by the younger generation. Performance calligraphy has also been presented to the Western world and it seems to captivate many people.

Japanese Calligraphy and Zen

Zen has had a significant influence in Japanese calligraphy. The most common symbol of the Zen style of Japanese calligraphy is the enso circle. The calligrapher draws the enso circle of enlightenment in one fluent stroke that can’t be modified or altered.

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