Beyond Calligraphy

Discovering My Inner Japanese Artistic Soul

Isabelle Kawai Vincent — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 20:24:44 +0000

Born as the first second generation Japanese Australian in a small country town, I did not blend in very well with the residents. Apart from looking different, I became aware that I had different thought patterns and attitudes than the people around me. The only exception was my Japanese Mother. It wasn’t until I traveled […]

Source

Calligraphy Contest Movie During the Coronavirus Crisis 2020

Neigetsu — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 20:22:27 +0000

The Spring of 2020 was a historic period for everyone in the world. While the unknown new virus spread rapidly, the only thing we could do in many countries including Japan was to “stay home”. The shock was felt around the world. Perhaps we should have expected something like this as many people wondered whether […]

Source

Hyōjōshinkoredō (平常心是道) The mind is the way.

Niimi Chifumi — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 19:55:34 +0000

Self-Introduction Growing up with Shodō I was born and raised in Kyōto. My mother was an accomplished artist Japanese calligrapher (Shodō-ka). My upbringing was intimately connected with the Shodō world. Enfolded in the rich natural world of Kyōto’s four seasons, I grew up with the brush, suzuri, washi paper and the aroma of sumi ink. […]

Source

Abstract Art and Abstract Calligraphy

Mel Strawn — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 19:22:08 +0000

Broadly, today, ‘abstract’ identifies any visual art not concerned with representing known (or imaginary)_ objects, things of the world including optical views of that world–landscape. Simplified symbols, such as marks on cave walls we assume were “counters” –and very simplified (abstracted) representations of plants, animals and landscape features (tree, mountain, etc.) led to standardized letter […]

Source

Empowerment of Women in Medieval Times and Kana Shodo

Kaoru Akagawa — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 20:15:56 +0000

From BBC’s announcement to raise its female presenters’ salaries significantly to the ECB and European Commision’s nominations of Christine Lagarde and Ursula von der Leyen respectively for their first female presidents, second half of 2019 started with good news for women. However, in Japan, the empowerment of women is still facing barriers. Japan is far […]

Source

The Love for Shodo

Alona Debby-Furst — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 16:34:09 +0000

I am at work, its night shift, running from our operational tower the plane movements on the ground, airport marshals, and parking positions. Planes are taking off and landing and I am thinking about my visit to Japan. I have been asked by my Calligraphy master to write about our experience of writing the ‘100 […]

Source

Israel and Japan: An International Exchange of Japanese Calligraphy

Neigetsu — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 14:33:38 +0000

Neigetsu and Tirza collaborated on workshops in Israel and Japan and they, along with one of Tirza’s students, Alona, described their experiences. Why don’t you write “One Hundred Character Poem” ? Five years have passed since I completed “One hundred Character Poem” and three years since Rona Conti introduced it on Beyond Calligraphy when I […]

Source

Is language, and in our sphere of interest, written language not a ‘reaching out’ and a ‘taking in’, an active force?

Mel Strawn — Tue, 01 Jan 2019 11:07:51 +0000

Usually employed to communicate with others–present or potential, its overt or subjective value is most often utilitarian, a nearly invisible, efficient means to an end, the conveyance of information. Beyond the many such manifestations it partially shapes, informs (literally) and transmits experiential value(s). In practice, in East and West, the forms taken by written/calligraphic language […]

Source

Calligraphy and Photography

David Rubin — Fri, 30 Jun 2017 00:26:48 +0000

Calligraphy and photography share a common dilemma. Do they produce true art or merely crafts? That is, does their practice create real works of art, or are they simply well-crafted expressions with no deeper content than their surface beauty? Everyone writes, and thus everyone, intentionally or not, creates calligraphy. Today cameras are ubiquitous. Anyone and […]

Source

Shodo & An Empty Mind

H.E. Davey — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 05:20:14 +0000

In 1985 I met Kobara Ranseki Sensei, an extraordinary master of Japanese calligraphy, with skill in ink painting as well. He was the founder of the Ranseki Sho Juku system of traditional calligraphic art and the co-founder of the Kokusai Shodo Bunka Koryu Kyokai, an international shodo association headquartered in the Tokyo area. Kobara Sensei […]

Source