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Shodo

By Mari Yasuda

Shodo is Japanese art: writing kanji and kana letters with India ink and a calligraphy brush. Shodo can be seen at museums, art galleries and at shodo exhibitions.

Japanese students practice shodo in elementary school and junior high school. At first, practicing calligraphy is very difficult. But we start to enjoy it after half a year or so. We gain experience each year as our ability goes up. Soon, we want to write on bigger paper. A big work like this is called "jyofuku." "Jyo" means slender and "fuku" means something hanging, such as a scroll. So jyofuku is calligraphy written on a hanging scroll.

The tools of shodo are:

Calligraphy brush

There are many kinds of brushes, but the brush is selected according to the style of handwriting and the size of the letters.

Sumi Ink

The ink is black and called "bokuju" in Japanese.

Ink Stone

This is called "Suzuri" and is used to hold the ink.

Hanshi

The special white paper used to write calligraphy on.

Bunchin

A weight made from iron to hold the paper down.

Shodo has two steps. First, prepare the shitajiki and put the hanshi on the paper and fix it with the bunchin to keep it in place. Next, pour sumi ink onto the ink stone, and dip the calligraphy brush into it. Write letters on the hanshi. This is shodo!

Recently, there are fewer opportunities to see traditional Japanese style rooms, but in the old days, a good hanging scroll was always attached to the tokonoma, a special area in the house to display Japanese arts.