The video 日本習字漢字部令和6年8月号行書課題「山遥かに不断の雲」, offered an interesting glimpse into the traditional Japanese art of calligraphy or shodou (書道). In the video, an artist briefly explained the techniques for creating different strokes in shodou before demonstrating how to write the Kanji dan (断)、fu (不)、kumo (雲)、haruka (遥)、and yama (山).

While observing the artist, it was interesting to see the subtle differences between shodou and standard techniques for writing Kanji. Although he consistently followed standard stroke order conventions, the artist frequently wrote two ordinarily separate strokes in a continuous movement of the brush. In fact, even when the artist lifted the brush from the paper entirely, he seemed to gradually move the brush along a continuous path without ever pausing abruptly. While I have typically admired the content of writing, it was striking to see how shodou makes an art of Japanese orthography itself. The painstaking attentiveness that shodou practitioners summon to write beautiful Kanji reminded me of the capacity for elegance in even the most simple tasks.

リンク:

“日本習字漢字部令和6年8月号行書課題「山遥かに不断の雲」” YouTube, uploaded by 日本習字玉川習字教室玉川裕郷, 22 July 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7rHV5MMhWQ.