Japanese handwriting

Hi,

I was reading this page:
Japanese Writing Styles

I'm a bit curious about how these styles (square, semi-cursive, cursive, etc) are actually used in Japan... In particular I was wondering:

1. Do all native Japanese people know how to write in cursive style? (sousho)

2. How important is it to know cursive style? I know I have seen cursive kanji writing on some episodes of Naruto But not really anywhere else...

3. Is it considered weird to write Kanji in "square" style? All the Kanji I'm learning is from books (where the kanji is printed, not handwritten) so my writing style is pretty "blocky"

4. Do you guys know of any good books/sites which teach how to write kanji in semi-cursive and/or cursive style?

Thanks a lot!

Raj

My answers to your questions:

1. Not necessarily, BUT native Japanese learn to write in semi-cursive first and learn to read and write cursive to some extent. Japanese hiragana and kanji is based on the cursive style. It is only recently with the introduction of word processing and proliferation of printed Japanese, that people are slowly losing touch with cursive writing. However, all educated Japanese can at the least minimum read cursive writing, even if they usually write in semi-cursive.

2. Yes, if you plan to live in Japan and immerse in the culture as a lifelong commitment. Otherwise, you can manage with reading printed Japanese and writing in the "shinsho" style you find on the web page.

3. No, because you're gaijiin. (Of couse, there are foreigners who pursue calligraphy and develop handwriting style much better than me )

4. I think there are writing drills you can use in bookstores. I'm sorry I don't know any that I can recommend. The best are the drills that Japanese kids use at school.

Hmm.. I remember seeing a Chinese set of CDs (maybe DVDs?) on writing in the 'grass style'. I'll poke around & see if I can find it. It was all in Chinese tho.. but it would help with learning the writing style...

Some links
Chinese Calligraphy: A Self-Study Course in Grass Script (in English)

@ epigene:
Thanks so much for the explanation, it was exactly what I was wondering about. You are Japanese, right? Your English is really good!


@ dc_johnson45:
Sweet, thanks for the links man I appreciate it. Gah, that stuff's pretty hardcore lol...

Raj

i remember that stuff. i did sousho alot in shodou. i never used it in everyday life however it did come in handy sometimes when i couldnt read the ji on the blackboard. it seemed to me that they were writting in sousho as it looks kind of messy