Long Time Expat In Japan
Kanji is deep. Okay, all Shodo and Japanese language is deep. And it comes from Chinese, so Chinese is deep. All language is deep. What I'm trying to say is that this months kanji took me down a rabbit hole. The words are literally "one step thousand gold." There's got to be a good fortune … Continue reading Brushes
I haven't been away from the brushes, to be honest. I just haven't posted about it. I still go every Saturday (except Xmas and New Years was damned busy at work). All the kanji I write seems to contain a lot of wisdom, so I figured I'd share. Below is my kanji for December. It … Continue reading Back to the Brushes
When I reached 1st dan in calligraphy earlier this year, I needed to submit two works. One was freehand. The other was a copy. The following is what I needed to copy.And here is my copy. I should have let the ink dry up a bit more, but I think that the shape of the … Continue reading Two Waka
I started Shodo four years ago as a way to help my youngest on her kanji tests in school, never with the intention of pursuing it seriously. Something about how my Sensei teaches, and the regularity of studying together every week changed my attitude. Below is my official certificate that I reached shodan, first dan … Continue reading Shodan
The best part of the level up test is when you can write free hand. Normally, I have to copy as perfectly as possible. That can be fun but a little boring. Of course, Sensei always helps with composition, but I really do have a free hand. This time, the assignment was the following waka … Continue reading Kana Level-up Test
Sensei tells me that I'm finally getting my lines straight. I love how she says it. It's onomatopoeia, "Pshee!" Which means like wicked straight. I must admit, the following is probably the most "Pshee!" I have ever written my kanji. Kana is still my strong suit, but I had a hell of a time this … Continue reading June Shodo, aka “Pshee!”
Tobikyu \ˈtō ˈbē ˈkyü\ Verb (used without object) 1) To tobu a kyu 2) No really, you tobu completely over a kyu to the next kyu 3) so tobu means to jump or fly, and kyu is a level, so it means jumping up more than one level at a time. Kind of like skipping … Continue reading Shodo – Tobikyu
April I feel pretty good about kana. I used to worry about where to move my brush and when. Now, it seems to just happen. I also used to bend my brush at a little bit of an angle. Now, I'm pretty much straight up and down. I'ts been a long time since I wrote … Continue reading April Shodo
I did some new Japanese Calligraphy in March. The work we write in March gets submitted around week two of the following month. This is a little late to post about, but I like what I did so I'm sharing it now. Kana is my best area. It flows and connects from one word to … Continue reading March Shodo
Twice a year, we get to take a test to level up. Last year, I jumped two levels in kana, which kind of made me jump up and down for joy. It's pretty damned hard to get a level when you just submit every month. Which kind of makes me wonder why you can level … Continue reading Kana Test – Part 2 (pt. 1 coming later)
B.S. Donovan 