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calligraphy

ryuurui

品天龍涙
17 Jul 2010
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Hi all,

Since this is my first post, I'd like to say "hello" to you all.

It is striking that no forum related to Japan has information regarding calligraphy.
Then again, even the Japanese know nothing to little about it...
Would there be anyone interested in that subject?
 
so basically no one is interested in the subject or are you guys shy or something? :D
 
Whoops. Just realized I misread your post.

I'm somewhat interested, although I'm more interested in the characters themselves. It would be cool to be able to write them well, and artfully, but I don't think I'm ready to dive into that just yet.

By the way, I usually just hang out in the Japanese forums here, so I didn't see this thread until just now.
 
Hey Glenn,

Well...calligraphy has nothing to do with writing characters in a beautiful way. Perhaps you want to study 習字 (しゅうじ), also Chinese calligraphy could do, or rather the basics of studying 楷書 (かいしょ) which is also known as printed style (not to be mistaken with 活字). However, although kaisho gives the calligrapher the least freedom to improvise and use his imagination, it still is possible or even desirable to introduce one's own 書風 (handwriting)

書道 is a surreal art of line and space. There are rules of course, and they usually are abstract even for native kanji users, especially in cursive style, as an example I am pasting one of my works below in cursive style (草書). The matter of the fact is that the void and its arrangement or the way we define it with ink (white space of paper) is more important than the line itself.

explanatory notes to the picture:
無道人之短無説己之長
Which translates into: 人(ひと)の短所(たんしょ)を言(い)わないほうがいい、そして自分(じぶん)の長所(ちょうしょ)も言わないほうがいい。

Or: One should not speak of other person's demerits as well as of his own virtues.


You do not have enough posts yet to add URLs to third-party websites. what the pelican? 😊

Apparently, I cant post a link yet (£$^&$^£"£T££"!"£"!!!!) so i made a space bewteen http: and the rest of the link, if you guys want to see the pic you need to help yourself, I am afraid.

http: //img683.imageshack.us/img683/5193/45457317.jpg
 
Yeah, 草書 is impossible for me at this point. There was a thread that discussed it in the Japanese forum, I think called something like "differences between Chinese and Japanese kanji". I'm aware of 楷書, 行書, and 草書 generally, and I could probably pick them out (especially if they were side-by-side), but I've always shot for 楷書, because it's the most like 活字, and as I understand it the most basic (at least the most accessible, I'd say).

無道人之短無説己之長

Heh, misread 己 as 已. Makes more sense now. haha

I'm confused about what you said about calligraphy not having to do with writing characters in a beautiful way. I thought that was its essence.

Oh, I have a question. It seems that none of the prescribed standard stroke orders are completely right, with the Japanese having one thing wrong where Taiwan and China have it right, or the other way around. I was wondering if you've ever come across anything like that, or do you just follow the prescribed stroke orders of the 文部科学省?
 
It depends.

First, Chinese 楷書 and Japanese one may have different stoke order. There are many reasons for this. To put it simply, the transition period of intercepting the kanji by the Japanese was not unified and there were many misinterpretation, regarding meaning (which is also why, but not only, some Japanese kanji may mean different things).
Two, sousho and gyousho may have completely different stroke order than kaisho, or few different ones. Resiho and tensho is another issue. In short, there are rules but there are as many exceptions as rules. For one example see below 風. I wrote it following different stroke order. (on a side note, this non posting images rule is getting on my nerves. What's the initiation post number?)

http: //img231.imageshack.us/img231/3964/fuu2m.jpg

As it goes to the calligraphy and pretty writing. This is common misunderstanding. Even Japanese do not know it, naturally, mainly those who do not study calligraphy. Japanese calligraphy is very Zen driven. The whole 和様 style was developed by Buddhist monks. Their 書 was anything but pretty characters. If calligraphy was only about delivering perfectly shaped characters it would have no emotional values and would seem flat, and definitely Picasso would not be thrilled / influenced by it.

Training starts and continues with copying the masters, but the whole trick is to develop one's own style in time. Otherwise it's all copying and even though technically it is superb, it will never be powerful.

When the calligraphy master that teaches me sees a perfectly followed 臨書 (copy) without even a pinch of my own 書風 he says: これは真似ものなので、詰まらないでしょう。
True calligraphy is written with heart, and complex human emotions are never smooth and organised.

True mastery is to forget what you know, without letting your technique slip, and write with feelings not knowledge. Calligraphy written that way has no form or direction, does not suggest or imply, is simply a surreal experience wondering deepest corridors of viewer's mind.

It's rather difficult to explain if not experienced. Calligraphy is one of those things that are to be comprehended both technically and mentally via practice. I am not sure if you are getting a clearer picture. In other words, only pretty is dull, but it doesn't mean that subjectively "pretty" looking characters are not a masterpiece. If it catches the viewer by his soul, and he can't breathe, then it is good.

There is much more to calligraphy than painting, as it effects the observer not only with abstract images but also the meaning. It's a very deep impact and it can hold people literally mesmerised.
 
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