Meh writing Japanese xD
Or I'm totally wrong?

well, i am not quite sure what you mean but writing kanji and writing calligraphy is comparable to a difference between riding a bike and steering a space craft. Only a very small percentage of Japanese is actually seriously studying calligraphy. Penshuuji and calligraphy are not the same thing also. So whatever kids are learning at school is not calligraphy either.

I hope it somewhat answers your question, but I am not 100% sure though.

concept of calligraphy is completely different from the western understanding of this art. In fact, in western countries it is more of a craft. In my opinion the translation of word shodou is erroneous and does not even come close to its real meaning. Calligraphy is often referred to as heart imagery or soul painting, and has nothing to do with pretty writing.

OK OK I understand ^^
Thanks to learned me something XD

not at all :)



無垢 purity (of mind)




愉 pleasure, rejoice




恭 respect




墨妙 marvellous ink

円相　　one stroke circle of one's nature / energy (Zen philosophy)
below: 無心 (free from obstructive thoughts)




無 absolute nothing




無我 selflessness, in Buddhist philosophy it means absence of self. One should not attach himself to things, and since the whole world is perceived by senses therefore they cannot be defined through "I" or "mine".

some fantastic images here Ryuurui


One could almost make up a story about them.

Glad you like them :)

Like them-- I adore them!!!

Then I guess it leaves me no alternative but to upload some more :D



雲従龍　clouds accompanying a dragon



愛 love





飛龍 dragon in flight

aaaaaaaaaaah thanks Ryruui


when I have time I will go through some of these and see what I can come up with

because there are so many fantastic shapes I feel I could manufacture a story-- not so muc from the REAL meaning of them-- but what they remind me of-- if thats okay with you.

I look forward to my japanese friend seeing them-- she is knee deep in exams then returning to Japan for a while-- but I'll tell you what she thinks.

Again thank you and a time will come when I will endeavour to copy one or two of them-- SOME HOPE!!!!!


wishing you all the best., Babs.

You have actually pointed out an interesting thing there. This is exactly what calligraphy is about and exactly what Westerners do not get. They seek the explicit meaning of kanji in the text when in fact it is not so. This is also why standard and semi cursive styles are the most popular, when here in Japan we consider them (usually) not that exciting.

For example calligraphy of 水 (water) should not look like water but resemble its flexibility, power, persistent nature, life giving, vigor, etc. This is why a lot of people do not understand abstractness of calligraphy. But you have got it perfectly!

Calligraphy is like poetry, personal and intimate, soothing or stimulating and very imaginative. What one does with it in his mind it is completely up to the viewer. So enjoy! :)

Oh really ryuurui-- I was worried that I was offensive and disrespectful.

Your last line puts me at ease and I definitely Will work on it when I have the proper amount of time.

YOu are a treasure. I admire you intensely--

Well, I just like to write :)

永生 immortality (style: oracle bone script)



秋　(style: cursive script)

works do not have seals, as I am having new carved.

幽　calm, deep, secluded

Expresses very well what love is.

Begins from a small, but strong mark that continuously grows, becoming something very visible, hard to avoid by looking another way. When reaching points of turnover, you wish at times to turn around, like wishing to try again, but you already reached faint lines where you feel like you almost loose it. Nevertheless you continue to believe in it and at last it ends exactly as it began, with a strong "footprint".

Nicely worded Protheus, I am really happy my humble works can be so stimulating. :) Thanks!


日新　every day brings something new



玄妙　mysterious

長楽　　great fun / joy







清風　breath of fresh air, clear breeze




真 truth (as I have said, temporarily my works bear no seals till I have new ones made)

心身一如　　body and mind as one



想像　imagination




養心　　nurturing pure feelings




意　 an idea, feelings, thoughts

I recently sent a couple of your examples to my friend-- she likes them very much although not always agreeing with your interpretation.

tomorrow-- weather permitting-- she is returning to JAPAN for a few weeks.

Mostly to care for her sick brother but I am praying she also has time to relax amongst her friends and family.

She needs a good rest really.

Calligraphy is an art. One person likes abstract painting and another likes heavy metal. I would not call it the latter an art, but then again some people call an avant-garde calligraphy an " ink stained paper".

The good thing is that sho has many styles, thus everyone can find something he or she likes. Even I do not like every single piece of calligraphy I see. My teacher has hanged recently a very intriguing piece of work in his studio. For me it is still artistically undecipherable. Simply, I am not yet "calligraphically" mature to appreciate it. He told me: "I will show it to you in 10 years times. You will be ready then."

Coming to Japan to rest is like going to Germany during 1940 to spread Jewish religion. It is not happening.

re the last sentence-- maybe that is why she prefers to study hard in UK.

she has family responsibilities but her real desire is permanent residency here in UK== its not going to happen though.

I am loving all your work and thank you for sharing it with us all Ryuurui.

YOu have a passion for your work-- thats wonderful.

What I like in UK is that people can take a joke about themselves and laugh about it. Rare treat. I have many British friends and i like the rawness and naturalness. Some may argue if there is not too much of it at times, haha, but I don't mind. Prefer that than plastic people.

Japan has its pros and cons. Tokyo is stressful while countryside is peaceful. Trick is to find the peace within ourselves, then it is nearly not important where we live. Hope she can find what she is looking for in UK.

Well, as I said before I write every day, and I am happy to share my works on the forum. If there is only one person that enjoys them , it is already worth it. :)

I am sure that many will appreciate your work Ryuurui

I hope so too.

As I mentioned above, works have no seals as I am carving a new set.

童心　child's mind







鳳　　Feng (male chinese firebird)




光風　　(lit. shining wind) beauty of nature

these different styles are fantastic.


It is clear how much you love writing these. also so much history.

Chinese or Japanese calligraphy is usually associated with standard or semi-cursive style, as they are the most "readable". The paradox is that the farther back in time we go the more mysterious calligraphy gets.

Seal scripts and oracle bone scripts are brilliant in its rawness and primordial beauty. In my opinion they stimulate the imagination of the viewer most effectively. 3000+ years ago, humans were much closer to the nature and drew heavily from its forces, be it art or every day life. This is why those styles are so mesmerizing.

Nonetheless, they are rarely being displayed, as it takes years of practice to be able to express essential to calligraphy vigor and energy flow, while preserving their original appearance. Sadly, today majority prefers easy and effort-less aesthetics, which ironically drags us farther from our true nature.

Glad you like them, Bsabs. :)

無心　free from obstructive thoughts




無為　inactivity (Zen - action through inaction)




徳　virtue

A bit belated, but I really like this one.

It reminds me of this time my friend and I were on the train in Kyoto (she was studying sumi-e too). Our teacher had told us about the one-stroke zen circle and we'd had a go at painting them, but that had been months before and we'd mostly forgotten about it. As we were sitting, a man got on the train wearing Kimono. It was morning, and we were used to seeing women in kimono on that line at weekends, and the occasional monk, but a man in kimono was a bit of a rarity, so naturally, we were curious. He was dressed head to toe in black and white. Discreetly trying to peek at his outfit, we discussed who he might be or where he might be going. We weren't alone in this, needless to say on a modern train, he stood out a little! Yet I'd like to stress that he didn't seem flashy or wearing it like a costume. To say this man was showing off would be like accusing a fish of being too good at swimming. Anyway, it was a little warm on the train, and in due course he got out a fan. It was a white folding fan (silk, we thought) with a little red one-stroke circle painted on it.
My friend described him as living calligraphy. It's still the first thing I think of when I see a painted circle.

Nice one, Columbine.

Black robes, sounds like a Zen Buddhism monk. People like this do happen but are rare. One of them is my teacher, who is such an amazing person. Extremely knowledgeable yet insanely humble and natural. He is like a walking human fossil to me. People studying calligraphy are completely different, as showing their true feelings is their art. After 60+ years of studying, as you friend brilliantly put, he has became a calligraphy itself.

I think that is what 無方 (muhou) stands for. It literally means "no shape" or "no direction", where unity of soul and knowledge is so advanced that the work seems to have "no form" or follows "no direction". It is the essence of form and aesthetics as well as it is a direction of its own by means of following or suggesting none. When you look at a calligraphy written by a person like that its like looking at a live organism that breathes, thinks and feels. It is because he has become one with what he or she creates. In terms of 21st century, it would be comparable to Neo becoming the Matrix itself.

I just came back from an 60th anniversary of All Japan Calligraphy Association, where many works of that scope were displayed. I will post some pictures in a while.

Going back to the enso circle or self, it is one of the most difficult strokes in calligraphy. The difficulty is not hidden in "drawing" a line that goes round the page, but writing one that depicts one's energy. Calligraphy matures with life experience therefore age, and technique is also important but in a way secondary. If one cannot write with his soul, but does it with the brush, it will never be calligraphy but merely shuuji, despite how much time he or she devotes to studying proper technique.

That would make sense. He got on at Shijo and got off at Tofukuji, so we assumed he had business at the temple there. I've met a few people like that so far in my life. They don't so much have charisma, as ~atmosphere~. I can't describe it, but it's like discovering a really huge ancient tree suddenly on your front lawn, which is awe-inspiring enough, but then it also talks. An air of gravitas, maybe, without being too solemn.

I like to think of it like when you start, you start out like the source of a little stream, and the more you flow along, the wider and deeper you get, until you finally emerge not ~into~ a sea, but AS one. And of course seas flow in all directions and yet none, and are not so much an end point, as a change in form; becoming rain and by becoming rain, becoming all other water too. So at the end of it all, you are no longer that river, but 'water' at it's simplest concept.

Sounds brilliant. Can't wait to see them!

It's very true. We had a book of examples done by masters to look at when we first tried it, and even though my friend got quite close to managing one that was ~technically~ correct, there was still a very tangible difference between our efforts and the ones in the book. I guess we didn't have enough soul!

I always found it fascinating how our class could study the same technique, paint the same copy of the same example picture and yet the pictures all turn out so vastly and completely different. Just those little differences in how you sit, apply ink to the brush, the size of your hand and your mood at the time you paint leaves it's mark on the artwork. It's quite revealing really.
"This one always tries to correct her mistakes, this one's very flexible, this one anxious or frustrated, this one care-free and fluid..."

This is totally brilliant. I am finishing writing my book about calligraphy, which is a mix of poetry, philosophical essay, history and autobiography, and I would love to use this comparison.

reading the sea metaphor i think you have enough of soul or perhaps more, the thing we both need is time to fill it all up with experience. You know, my teacher is 72, and once we set and talked about works of some older masters. He said "I am too young to write like that, but in 10 years I should be able to". First I thought that it was hilarious, as he is studying calligraphy for 60+ years. Then I realized that I cannot write the way I wrote last year as well as the way i will be writing next year. It makes calligraphy or sumi-e even more unique. Technique is something we gain with practice, and style fullness is something we are offered when we worthy. It grows together with purity of our soul which cannot be "trained".

By all means, go right ahead. *amused*



Ah, I never thought of that. They say that writing is a profession that never retires, it simply matures- I suppose that applies to all creative activities. A lot of people seem to think that nurturing your soul is some vague intangible endeavor, or something reeking of mysticism or religion. But really, isn't it just natural to want to improve yourself even a little. I enjoy seeing how my works change over time; it really highlights how my experiences in life have altered me.

oh thats great, i will quote you then. I really like that comparison, it's very "airy" and "spacey".

As promised I am posting few pictures from huge calligraphy exhibition in Tokyo Central Art Gallery of Fine Arts. To give you the idea of the scope of the event, in one of the halls there was a V. van Gogh exhibition held on the ground floor. It was a 60th anniversary of　All Japan Calligraphy Art and Literature Organization, to which I belong.

There were around 1000 works displayed, so it would be impossible to show them all here. I have chosen few that were standing out.

First pic. is a collection of calligraphy of grand masters that are no longer among us. My friend is gazing at a work of grand master Hidai Tenrai who was the initiator of avant-garde style in calligraphy, that later was appreciated in China and all over the world. He is n known today as father of modern calligraphy.

close up



some works were huge, here is one 6x10尺 (180x300cm). I am standing aside it so you can have a size reference.
魂　たましい dusza






here is one of the works that won a price, if you look close the blured characters stand out and the smaller ones are sort of hidden, which gives a 3D effect.

here is one of my favourite works, it is a copy (rinsho) of one of the works of grand master Huai Su who lived during Tang dynasty in China (8th century A.D.) Huai Su and Zhang Zhi were two geniuses of cursive script.


Here is the original. Rinsho is a bread and butter of every calligrapher, Learning by copying masterpieces is a proper way of studying calligraphy, which is cultivated for thousands of years.


another rinsho of one of the famous works of grand master Yan Zhenging, also Tang dynasty. It is a standard script style that requires special brush technique


if I am not mistaken it is a fragment of stelae Yan Qing Li


Wel perhaps one day i will be able to decipher entirte text haha, but i just wanted to show here how insane some cursive style can be.
i think left line from the top goes: 青雲梅雨 (about clouds and rainy season), and then I a not sure. Text starts with 寒 (cold), but the rest is difficult to comprehend. This work is interesting as the sig. is on the right side. I need to ask my teacher why is that so. It is very unusual as the text goes from right to left, therefore natual thing is to sign it at the left bottom of the work.


If I am not mistaken the text goes: 露気清、it is a abbreviation of 露下天高秋気清　czyli　露(つゆ)下り天高くして秋気(し� ��うき)清し. (露- dew, 気 - spirit, 清 pure)


closeup 気

飛龍 flying dragon


master Esshu (my teacher) explaining some works, but in a background you can see a insane kaisho (standard script) work. Thats a one taxing work there.


here is his work


and its details




one of the many corridors covered with works


wall on which my humble work was displayed

closeup 嶺上雲 - mountain peak above the clouds


one of instructors i know with her friend wearing kimono, admiring calligraphy. I thought it was a very interesting scene.


kids calligraphy contest


seal closeups




walls and walls of calligraphies

oracle bone script, 3500 years old








here are pics from an exhibition that was near ours, on the same floor

you guys have to scroll all the way up to see all pictures. I have posted nearly 40 of them. Enjoy!