Oh bother, our internets playing up and the photo's will only half load for me. I'll have to come back later, but I'm loving what I can see; especially the bone-script pieces and those white ink on black paper works; those are really unusual. And that rinsho piece; such personality! I saw fluid calligraphy like that for the first time in the Shanghai museum. Of course, I couldn't take any photos, but I clipped out some of the pictures from the pamphlet for my journal: http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs36/i/20...i_by_r05km.jpg (and doodled around them)

All Japan Calligraphy Art and Literature Org. is an old school. Copying Chinese manuscripts is base of our study. I begin every day with at least one hour of rinsho. I remember my teacher scolding me for writing sousaku (創作, own composition) too often and neglecting rinsho. It is the only way to understand how powerful writing can be.

That is the reason why calligraphy of some of the masters is so hypnotizing. No shortcuts, only hard core writing. I tell you, this rinsho of Huai Su was amazing. That thing was massive, whilst the original is small. Creating powerful rinsho of this scale, given that the original is one of the most respected works in cursive script ever written, is beyond amazing. The entire event was a feast for the soul.

This one on the pamphlet looks like Zhang Zhi's writing.

I was trying to see what RINSHO means.

dear Piotr thanks for all those photographs you sent with the calligraphic exhibition. They are mind boggling.

Thanks Babs!

Rinsho (臨書) means copying masterpieces. The whole idea is not to copy the text exactly as it is, but catch the spirit, rhythm, style and energy of given work. It is the oldest and most proper way of studying calligraphy.

I am currently building a portal with tons of information about calligraphy, I will post a link when it is ready. There will be entire history of both Chinese and Japanese calligraphy, detailed description of styles, information about four treasures of the study (brush, ink stone, ink and paper), possibly interesting stories from lives of famous calligraphers and their theories, pictures and preferably movies, too. Eventually, it will also be a portal via which works can be purchased. The plan is to bring together all forms of Far Eastern calligraphy together.

I will also prepare a dictionary of calligraphic terms that may be somewhat confusing. The idea was brought to life as I find it alarming that there is a lot of misleading and incorrect information on the internet about calligraphy. The reasons are very simple. One is the language barrier, and two; only those who actually study this art can precisely convey the knowledge, and such people are usually too concentrated on studies to be able to post information on the internet. Only recently I was discussing with my teacher translation of my book about calligraphy into Japanese, and he said that only a Japanese that actually studied calligraphy can understand meaning of many phrases and idioms as this knowledge comes through practice in a form of enlightenment. Most of the Japanese I talk to are absolutely clueless about calligraphy.

Anyways, this website you have linked more or less explains what essence of rinsho is. The rest of it is not very correct. For instance Chinese characters started to appear in Japan on imported goods from China around 1st century C.E. or earlier. Another error is hidden in this sentence:

"Each Kanji has a meaning in itself, and could have multiple ways to pronounce the letter. "

Kanji are not letters nor symbols, but a logographic script originally derived from pictographs, but not only (kanji is devided into 6 groups based on their etymology, such as pictographs, semasio-phonetic characters, etc).
Both kanas are syllabaries.

I am too scared to read the rest of it. :)

As you can see one needs to be careful when reading sites like this, where people have no idea what they are talking about.


edit: well I read a bit more and it was a terrifying experience.

"This was created in Japan around the 8th century after Kanji was adopted. The origin of Kana letters is cursive writing of Kanji, but you can hardly tell which Kanji letter was used for each Kana letter."

This whole paragraph is erroneous. Kana was not created but naturally evolved, although it is being accredited to Kukai (famous Buddist monk). Again kana are not letters, and it was not 8th century, rather 9th. Also, we can precisely tell which kana syllabary derives from which manyougana (cursive kanji used for phonetic postfixes and grammar, developed from 5th century C.E. )

Kana has not replaced manyougana at first as it was not commonly accepted (especially by men) and it is in use even today, although very rare. There were around 1000 characters used as manyougana in 12th century, hence the name : kana of ten thousand leaves (words).


"The main difference between Shodo(Japanese Calligraphy) and Chinese Calligraphy is that Japanese Calligraphy has multiple types of characters for writing compared to Chinese Calligraphy."

This is also incorrect. Not many people know about nushu. Nushu is a bit similar to kana, it is also a syllabary. In short it is a phonetic writing system, developed by women of one Chinese province around 2000 years ago, discovered by accident in mid 20th century. Not all of the characters are based on Chinese characters, therefore it is different than kana. Aslo, there are around 1700 of them.

example of nushu

Oh dear Piotyr, thats typical isn't it. anyway I shall look forward to your great LIFE WORKS.


I agree there must be so much misinformation on many websites.

I truly admire you for your dedication.


thanks again for all that you do.

Babs.

I will remove that website then.

Awesome
 

Awesome, simply awesome!
How many of your pieces of work were hanging on that wall?

ah, don't worry about it Babs, leave it as a warning for those who may follow. :D .
It pains me though when info like this is being published. It needlessly confuses people.

Once I am "content with the content" I will post a link to the site. There should be around 20.000 words+ of text once i am done, so a small novel.

Thanks MJC. I have displayed one work. I think only grand masters were allowed for more than one. It was a true privilege to have my work there as out of come 20.000 members of All Japan Calligraphy Art and Literature Assoc. only around 800 people had a chance to post their calligraphy. I think it took me 6 month to prepare, and out of 2000 works I chose 250, then my teacher chose 1. It was a long run, haha.

my humble calligraphic attempt is below:

嶺上雲 - mountain peak above the clouds

調　pitch, tone, mood






不撓　　unbending, tenacity



結　a bond

素　plain, unadorned






真心 sincerity

勇　courage




力　strength




宙　space,　midair




白石清松　beauty of nature (lit. white stones and bright pines)

匠　skill, atisan







無為　inactivity (Zen - action through inaction / every action starts and ends with inaction)




鮮　fresh, vivid

空心豊　　Truly rich heart is void








信　believe

心眼　 inner eye




空心豊　　truly rich heart is void







妖　attractive, bewitching

Happy New Year and all the best to everyone in 2011 - the Year of the Rabbit!

卯　(Chinese zodiac: the rabbit)

黄龍 Yellow Dragon (Chinese: Huang Long)

According to a legend Huang Long has emerged from the water before ruler Fu Xi (2900 B.C.) and revealed secrets of writing.


scale 2:1, gold ink on paper

艶　charming, sexy



風 wind




空 5th element: the void (also "sky")




残心　lit. "remaining heart", a state of total awareness (calm yet ready)

Gosh ryruui that "charming sexy" sign-- Is a complete picture. Erotic I would say.

I have a japanese book of japanese eroticism-- art-- very Explicit.

No shyness there At all. In fact I have several japanese art books--


One would have thought the erotic art would have been hidden-- but NO--


When I first looked at that sign you have done-- I thought "what is charming or sexy in that sign-- then I saw the top image-- and its all there--!!!.

glad you like it. true, here in a East approach to sexuality is completely different. it is not a taboo. thank Buddha for that. :D

yes I realise that. very sensible really. I managed to get some second hand books from our local market.


---

夢風　dreaming wind



空心 void heart

鸞　- legendary Chinese bird Luan related to phoenixes. It is said to be a mount of sorcerers, and appears only during peaceful times.




初一念　original intention

I know I really loved the 桜 you did before, but I think this one might just be my hands-down favourite of the lot. I adore the little flicks between the layers.

thanks Columbine :) . this is a beauty of cursive scripts, they give a feeling of continuity and harmony of energy flow in text. in Japanese it is referred to as renmentai (連綿体, "unbroken body"). It is regardless of whether the line is physically connected or not. Another word for is it 行気　（gyouki) - thus flow (movement) of energy. Renmentai usually relates to a text as a whole, but can be applied to one character, especially if that one character is the whole text itself.

Just got back from a small party organised as a "thank you" for the calligraphy I have written for a small baby girl, born to a mixed couple.She is half Japanese half British and her name is Elena.

I am actually more greatful than the parents as for the calligrapher it is a great privilege. I am happy as I think I managed to perfectly catch her character that seems to be mild and agreeable just like those calm soft lines of semi-cursive script.

The work has just got framed. I am also posting a pic. of 3 month young Elena.

恵怜奈　(Elena)

ah how gorgeous is Elena beautiful indeed. You must feel proud to have been honoured enough to be asked to do that special calligraphy.

congratulations-- also They Chose Well.

You are passionate about your work. You deserve to do well. Babs.

thanks Dogsbody, I appreciate it.

龍馬　splendid horse (lit. dragon horse)

創　　to create / originate / genesis

縁　fate, destiny

I recently got a Chinese painting manual that i've been after for quite some time. They talk about a similar concept (albeit using the chinese name, so I can't say if it's entirely the same thing) concerning composition of landscapes and plants. The best thing is that it shows examples of pieces with the flow and without, and you can really see a difference in the feel of the piece, yet the actual 'errors' are virtually just tiny changes in the technique and the lines.

I think what you are referring to is "moving spirit" also known as gyouki in Japanese or xing qi in Chinese - 行気. It is energy flow in the work. It can be referred to many things: hesitation of the calligrapher during writing, inconsistent ink color, broken connection between characters (be it explicit or implicit - mentioned above 連綿体), jagged edges of the line cause by incorrect brush handling or damaged hairs, and so on.

Gyouki is a definition of vigor. Simply, if it;s absent a work will be dull.

I have a passage (few actually) about this in my book, "Marvellous Ink", which should be published in a second half of this year:

(...)

Imagine, that during writing the only metaphysical connection between a calligraphers body, his mind and the paper is the tip of the brush. One could say that an ocean of emotions is being stirred by single floss. Picture the energy sparking during writing. Insane condensation of passion and feelings, pure heart’s images are being channelled by means of a few hairs　of the brush tuft. It is for a reason that they are referred to as "hairs of life" (命毛, inochige). They are the very soul of the brush, impossible to control with muscles in your arm, yet tamable with power of mind and years of practice.

Hesitation in sho makes the final work worthless, as it ruins the flow of 気 (ki, energy). Such sakuhin (作品, ready made work) can be only used for self correction and reflection on our weaknesses. Through diligent studies, meditation and perseverance we train our body to respond subconsciously, and our mind to enter state of nothingness (無心, mushin), or emptiness, by discarding any thoughts.

It is said that if one holds and operates the brush correctly, the mind recognises it and will be led by the spiritual presence of ancient masters. To become truly powerful, one needs to learn how to control himself first. The state of complete detachment is an incredible sensation, halting time and freezing world in place, allowing the artist to search into the depths of his soul, blinding him to all that is irrelevant. Subconsciously, controlling the brush, he discards the physical world allowing his mind to fully express itself. Such practice also assists him in searching for his own style. Sho written this way is a raw mirror reflection of the heart itself.


Taming our emotions we stabilise both our mind and body, while our subconciousness leads the brush through paper, undisturbed as if in a sleepless dream, allowing us full expressiveness. Esoteric studies of calligraphy techniques in connection with their philosophical origins are a foundation for creating personal style, slumbering patiently under the lining of reality, like an ancient dragon.


Copying works of great masters for studying purposes to widen our knowledge of various styles, and deliberately using them as ours, are two different things however. Learning from classics makes us understand and appreciate different approaches. It awakens respect to the art and innovatory tries of our ancestors. Engaging power of will and mind to continue on a journey of discovering limits of imagination should be the aim here. Copying only achievements of others will cause us to move backwards in our studies, and our sho to appear bleached of originality, thus powerless and lacking its natural brilliance. Further, through “assembling” “borrowed” stimulants it will lose its uniformity, and be felt as inconsistent, kitschy or even vulgar.

There is a great story illustrating the above. Over the gateway to the Chinese city of Ling’an there was a large sign that read “Conquest of the Southeast Country,” written by master calligrapher Tu Zhuo (屠倬1781-1828). Passing time has caused a part of the second out of four characters to fade and it needed a touch up. Since Tu Zhuo could not be located, his student undertook the task. Officials of the county were more than satisfied with the final result. Sometime later, Wang Wenzhi (王文治1730 - 1802), a senior court officer, was passing the gate and stopped to read the sign. His famous words go:

“Those four characters look like three live dragons and one dead snake.”
The dead snake was a reference to the corrected character.


(...)
Copyrights: 2010 Piotr Ponte-sypniewski

In short, the "dead snake" is sho with broken 行気.

吉 good fortune

憩　　rest, relax




光風 beauty of nature (lit. light and wind)

謙 humble oneself, be modest

薫　fragrance

壮　　vibrancy, strength, manliness

Calligraphy writ large takes in choreography, too | The Japan Times Online

item about giant calligraphy

I loved your peace/peaceful's calligraphy!
Which brush did you use?
Also, no music no dream.
(PM/E-mail me, cuz I do not visit so often)
Keep writing like that, so lovely!

@ Dogsbody

Well, I am not too keen on calligraphy where the brush is so huge that one can barely control it. It breaks the energy that is channeled from your heart during writing. It may have an artistic effect, however. Similarly to zenei-shodou (avant-garde calligraphy), where kanji are unreadable. Zenei-shodou can be absolutely fantastic, but again, one needs to be knowledgeable to perform it well, and i have not seen works larger than 2x3meters. That is easily done with a short axis but wide brush.

I love large scale calligraphy, but the brush is never dominating my mind or body. Then again, i am a big bastard ^_^.

Large brush calligraphy show is quite popular in Japan, but calligraphic classicists are not too crazy about it.

Zen shodou is different, see. Entire body takes part in writing, and even though most of the monks (especially nowadays) are not calligraphers, they can express themselves through state of detachment. Still, brush is never overcoming their abilities to control it.

If you look at this guy's picture, he can barely lift a dry brush. Brush of this size can soak 5-7 liters of ink, if not more.

@ Rakun. Appreciate it. I have sent you a PM. I have used soft and long sheep wool brush. (羊毛筆), similar to this:



They are quite difficult to control, but create very beautiful lines.

月 moon


道 a path (of life, etc)

悟　enlightenment, perceive