I’m not usually one to crow. I learned humility well and early, often with good reason. Tooting your own horn is unseemly. I am from a different age, I suppose. But I am disproportionately proud of this one bit of calligraphy that I did for a level up test recently. So enamored of it, in … More Proud – and a Little Ashamed of Being So
Ancient Chinese wisdom shows up in my calligraphy all the time. That’s kind of the idea. This week’s pulled on my heart strings a s being particularly true. 翰逸神飛 When the pen flows, the spirit flies.
My kana practice from last month is another waka poem. The rough translation is below. The fragrance of plumsAmong the sounds around youThe familiar chirp of the bush warblerMountain village in Spring 梅が香に、類へて聞けば、うぐひすの、声なつかしき、春の山里 As a side note, the bush warbler doesn’t really have the poetic punch that another bird might have, say the nightingale or … More Shodo – Mountain Village in Spring
Sometimes, more often than I’m willing to admit, I don’t really know what I’m writing when I practice Shodo. For me it’s art. Art for the sake of art. I fell in love with it so long ago I don’t know exactly when. Words are art in a way that seems different from western calligraphy. … More Shodo – Polaris Aligned
Working on another waka for kana practice. It goes kumo nakute, oboronari tomo, miurukana, kasumi kakareru, haruno yonotsuki 雲なくておぼろなりとも見ゆるかな霞かかれる春の夜の月 Which I think means Tonight the clouds are gone, haze covers the moon on this spring evening
A short poem by Mantaro Kubota, who I’d never heard of till I tried to write his poem in my Shodo class. Pretty cool though. It reads: shiragikuno yuukage fukumi someshi kana しらぎくの夕影ふくみそめしかな -久保田万太郎の句 Do the white chrysanthemums, in the evening shadow, seem tinged red
Happy Year of the Mouse! Apparently in China, they call it the year of the rat, but I’m in Japan… and I like mouse better. Every year, I do a Hatsumode (pronounced hah-tsu moe-day ) , a little pilgrimage to the local shrine. Literally, pilgrimage is what the “mode” part of Hatsumode means. I think … More Japan is Awesome – Hatsumode
My kanji for the month is part of an 8 kanji phrase, like many are. See below for the whole thing. I wrote the last four. 天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒 But I’ll start with the first two. Tenchi means sky and ground, or for the poets out there, heaven and earth. It basically means everything and everywhere. Then … More Shodo – Universal truth (not a fortune cookie)
My Shodo Sensei is too cool. She’s a master of the craft, of course. Her specialty is modern style. You have a lot more freedom, and has a lot more “meri-hari” which means curves and bumps, sort of. She’s creating a piece for a museum exhibition, and rather than just go for the traditional stuff, … More Ride the Wind of Flowers
Been in Japan long enough to be able to read quite a bit now. But English still has a more direct line into my brain. I see the meaning without having to process the words. With Japanese, I have to concentrate, go from top level words to lower level meaning. So if I see a … More Japan is Awesome – Translations
