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    Shodō

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    balleater69
    Japanese calligraphy, known as shodō, dates back to the 6th century when Chinese characters and style were introduced. Over time, a uniquely Japanese style developed using kanji characters along with hiragana and katakana. Shodō is closely linked to Zen Buddhism and its core ideals of expressing one's emotions, personality, and passion through the art form with a clear and effortless mind.

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    Shodō

    Uploaded by

    balleater69
    32 views2 pages
    Japanese calligraphy, known as shodō, dates back to the 6th century when Chinese characters and style were introduced. Over time, a uniquely Japanese style developed using kanji characters along with hiragana and katakana. Shodō is closely linked to Zen Buddhism and its core ideals of expressing one's emotions, personality, and passion through the art form with a clear and effortless mind.

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    Japanese calligraphy, known as shodō, dates back to the 6th century when Chinese characters and style were introduced. Over time, a uniquely Japanese style developed using kanji characters along with hiragana and katakana. Shodō is closely linked to Zen Buddhism and its core ideals of expressing one's emotions, personality, and passion through the art form with a clear and effortless mind.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    32 views2 pages

    Shodō

    Uploaded by

    balleater69
    Japanese calligraphy, known as shodō, dates back to the 6th century when Chinese characters and style were introduced. Over time, a uniquely Japanese style developed using kanji characters along with hiragana and katakana. Shodō is closely linked to Zen Buddhism and its core ideals of expressing one's emotions, personality, and passion through the art form with a clear and effortless mind.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    Shodō – The Art of Japanese Calligraphy

    Japanese calligraphy is one of the most well-known and popular of the traditional


    arts of Japan. It’s called shodō (書道) in Japanese, which means way of writing.

    History and tradition


    The main focus of Japanese calligraphy is simplicity, beauty and a connection between
    mind and body. The art of Japanese calligraphy dates back to around the 6th century,
    when it was introduced from China. In the beginning the style of calligraphy in Japan was
    highly influenced by the Chinese form. Calligraphers copied Chinese poetry and texts, in
    order to learn the art.

    During the Heian period (794-1185) the Japanese writing system evolved. The borrowed
    Chinese characters (漢字, kanji) were still used, but a new type of characters: kana
    (hiragana  ひらがな, and later katakana  カタカナ), were created. With these additional
    characters the calligraphy transformed into a style unique for Japan.

    Shodō is closely linked to Zen Buddhism and is influenced by its ideas and values.
    Japanese calligraphy
    goes far beyond simply
    writing characters or
    words. The key to true
    calligraphy is to bring
    the mind and soul into
    the work and to write
    with your heart,
    otherwise it’s
    meaningless. The
    calligrapher only has
    one chance, since the
    brush strokes can’t be
    corrected. To express a deep meaning, the work must show the emotions, personality and
    passion of the artist. It is also said that the way of writing is the path to enlightenment.

    Calligraphy is commonly practiced by Zen buddhist monks. The Japanese philosopher


    Nishida Kitaro pointed out that the Zen calligraphy is not mastered by constant practice.
    To write Zen calligraphy the mind must be clear, and the characters flow out effortlessly.
    This state of mind is called mushin (無心), and means “consciousness without
    consciousness”. When practicing Japanese calligraphy, you should clear your mind and
    focus only on the meaning of the words you write.

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