Japanese calligraphy


Japanese calligraphy, also called, is a form of calligraphy, or artistic writing, of the Japanese language. Written Japanese was originally based on Chinese characters only, but the advent of the hiragana and katakana Japanese syllabaries resulted in intrinsically Japanese calligraphy styles.

Styles

The term Shodō is of Chinese origin and is widely used to describe the art of Chinese calligraphy during the medieval Tang dynasty. Early Japanese calligraphy originated from Chinese calligraphy. Many of its principles and techniques are very similar, and it recognizes the same basic writing styles:
  • seal script . The seal script was commonly used throughout the Zhou dynasty and the following Qin dynasty of China. After this time period, tensho style fell out of popularity in favor of reisho. However, tensho was still used for titles of published works or inscriptions. The clear and bold style of tensho made it work well for titles and this tradition of using tensho only for titles is still around today. By the time Chinese characters and calligraphy migrated over to Japan, tensho was already only used for titles and as a result, was never commonly used in Japan. In 57 AD, the Chinese emperor Guangwu of Han presented a golden seal to a king of a small region near what is now known as Fukuoka Prefecture. While this seal was not made in Japan, it is believed to be the first instance of tensho in Japan. The first work in Japan that actually utilized tensho was during the Nara period was a six-paneled screen called the Torige Tensho Byobu. Each panel is divided into two columns and each column has eight characters. The screen speaks to a ruler and recommends that he use the counsel of wise ministers in order to rule justly.
  • clerical script The clerical script or scribe's script is a very bold and commanding style of Chinese calligraphy; each of the strokes are greatly exaggerated at the beginning and end. It was most commonly used during the Han dynasty and the term reisho had many significant meanings but is now only known as one of the five styles of Chinese and Japanese calligraphy. Because of its bold style, the reisho technique is now reserved for large text applications such as plaques, signboards, titles of works, etc. This was its main purpose in Japan as well until the Edo period when it was regarded as a calligraphic art form.
  • regular script The regular script or block script is fairly similar in function to that of Roman block capitals. While Japanese kaisho varies slightly from Chinese kaisho, it is primarily based on Chinese kaisho script in both form and function. The Japanese kaisho style was heavily influenced by the Sui dynasty and the following Tang dynasty. Early examples of this style in Japan are mostly various statue and temple inscriptions. This was during the early Heian period and as time progressed there was a movement in Japan to become more culturally independent and a version of kaisho developed that became uniquely Japanese and included a little bit of the gyosho style. As its influence spread, the primary use of the kaisho technique was to copy the Lotus Sutra. There was a second wave of influence during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, but this was mostly by Zen monks who used a technique based on Zen insight and is different from the classic kaisho technique.
  • semi-cursive The semi-cursive script means exactly what it says; this script style is a slightly more cursive version of kaisho script. This script was practiced at the same time as the reisho script. There are three different levels of "cursiveness" called seigyo, gyo, and gyoso. The style of gyosho utilizes a softer and more rounded technique, staying away from sharp corners and angles. In Japan many works were made using the gyosho technique during the early Heian period. Later in the Heian period, once Japan began to separate itself from China a Japanese version called wayo began to emerge. The Japanese version of gyosho became widely popular and became the basis of many schools of calligraphy. This was a result of gyosho meshing very well with both kanji and hiragana and writing with this technique was both natural and fluid.
  • cursive . The cursive script has its origins in the Han dynasty. It was used by scribes as a cursive version of reisho for taking notes. Early examples of sosho include inscriptions on bamboo and other wooden strips. This technique can be easily recognized by many strokes ending with a sweep to the upper right in a breaking-wave type form. As the Han dynasty came to an end, another version of sosho was developed, but this version was written slowly as opposed to the faster sosho that was popular until then. The exact date when sosho was introduced is unclear. Several texts from Japan shared many sosho-like techniques with Chinese texts during this time but it was not until Kukai, a famous Japanese Buddhist monk and scholar traveled to China during the early Heian period and brought back copies of texts that he made written in the sosho style.

    Tools

A number of tools are used to create a work of modern calligraphy.
  • The four most basic tools were collectively called the Four Treasures of the Study.
  • * A Ink brush
  • * An inkstick.The hardened mixture of vegetable or pine soot and glue in the shape of a stick. The best inksticks are between 50 and 100 years old.
  • * Washi
  • * An inkstone to grind the inkstick against, mixed with water.
  • Other tools include:
  • * A paper weight to hold the paper in place
  • * A cloth to place under the paper to prevent ink from bleeding through.
  • * A seal. The art of engraving a seal is called "tenkoku" 篆刻. The student is encouraged to engrave his own seal. The position of the seal or seals is based on aesthetic preferences. One is not allowed to put a seal on calligraphy of a sutra.
During preparation, water is poured into the inkstone and the inkstick is ground against it, mixing the water with the dried ink to liquefy it. As this is a time-consuming process, modern-day beginners frequently use bottled liquid ink called Bokuju. More advanced students are encouraged to grind their own ink. Paper is usually placed on a desk, while a large piece of paper may be placed on the floor or even on the ground.
The brushes come in various shapes and sizes, and are usually made using animal hair bristles. Typical animal hair may come from goats, sheep, or horses. The handle may be made from wood, bamboo, plastic or other materials.

History

Chinese roots

The Chinese roots of Japanese calligraphy go back to the 13th century BC, to the late Shang dynasty, a time when pictographs were inscribed on bone for religious purposes. When this writing developed into an instrument of administration for the state, the need for a uniform script was felt and Li Si, prime minister in the Chinese dynasty of Qin, standardized a script and its way of being written. He sanctioned a form of script based on squares of uniform size into which all characters could be written from eight strokes. He also devised rules of composition where horizontal strokes are written first and characters are composed starting from top to bottom, left to right. Because the symbols were inscribed with sharp instruments, the lines were originally angular; and in many ways, Li Si's achievements were made obsolete by the appearance of brush and ink. The ink-wet brush creates a line quite different from a sharp stylus. It affords variation in thickness and curve of line. Calligraphy retained the block form of Li Si and his eight strokes, but the writer was free to create characters that emphasized aesthetically pleasing balance and form. The way a character was written gave a message of style.
Calligraphy in the Chinese tradition was thus introduced to Japan about AD 600 Known as the karayō tradition, it has been practiced up to today, rejuvenated continuously through contact with Chinese culture.
The oldest existing calligraphic text in Japan is the inscription on the halo of the Medicine Buddha statue in the Hōryū-ji Temple. This Chinese text was written in Shakyōtai style, prominent in the Chinese Six Dynasties period.

Before the Nara period

The Hōryū-ji Temple also holds bibliographic notes on the Lotus Sutra: the Sangyō Gisho#Hokke Gisho was written early in the 7th century and is considered the oldest Japanese text. It is written in Cursive script and illustrates that calligraphy in the Asuka period was already refined to a high degree.
The oldest hand-copied sutra in Japan is the Kongō Jōdaranikyō. Copied by the priest Hōrin in AD 686, the calligraphy style shows influences from the work of Ouyang Xun.
"Broken Stone in Uji Bridge" and Stone in Nasu County "Stone in Nasu County" are also typical examples from this time. Both inscriptions were influenced by the Northern Wei robust style.
In the 7th century, the Tang dynasty established hegemony in China. Their second Emperor Taizong esteemed Wang Xizhi's calligraphic texts and this popularity influenced Japanese calligraphers. All of the original texts written by Wang Xizhi have been lost, and copies such as Gakki-ron written by the Empress Kōmyō are highly regarded as important sources for Wang Xizhi's style. However Wang's influence can barely be overstated, in particular for the wayō'' style unique to Japan: "Even today, there is something about Japanese calligraphy that retains the unchanged flavour of Wang Xizhi's style".

Heian period

moved the capital from Heijō-kyō in Nara, first to Nagaoka-kyō in 784, and then to Heian-kyō, Kyoto in 794. This marks the beginning of the Heian era, Japan's "golden age". Chinese influences in calligraphy were not changed in the early period. For example, under the Emperor Saga's reign, royalty, the aristocracy and even court ladies studied calligraphy by copying Chinese poetry texts in artistic style.
Wang Xizhi's influences remained dominant, which are shown in calligraphies written by Kūkai or Saichō. Some other Chinese calligraphers, such as Ouyang Xun and Yan Zhenqing were also highly valued. Their most notable admirers were Emperor Saga and Tachibana no Hayanari respectively.
At the same time, a style of calligraphy unique to Japan emerged. Writing had been popularized, and the kana syllabary was devised to deal with elements of pronunciation that could not be written with the borrowed Chinese characters. Japanese calligraphers still fitted the basic characters, called kanji, into the squares laid out centuries before. A fragment, Kara-ai no hana no utagire is considered the first text to show a style unique to Japanese calligraphy; it shows a Tanka poem using Man'yōgana, thus deviated from contemporary Chinese calligraphy. Ono no Michikaze, one of the so-called sanseki, along with Fujiwara no Sukemasa and Fujiwara no Yukinari, is considered the founder of the authentically Japanese wayō style, or wayō-shodō. This development resonated with the court: Kūkai said to Emperor Saga, "China is a large country and Japan is relatively small, so I suggest writing in a different way." The "Cry for noble Saichō", a poem written by Emperor Saga on the occasion of Saichō's death, was one of the examples of such a transformation. Ono no Michikaze served as an archetype for the Shōren-in school, which later became the Oie style of calligraphy. The Oie style was later used for official documents in the Edo period and was the prevailing style taught in the terakoya schools of that time.