Calligraphy Lesson

 Today after my classes I had a calligraphy lesson from a student.  Here she is after the end of it all adding her name to an instruction sheet.

I asked her if I could keep that page because it describes and demonstrates how to remove the brush for the end of a stroke.

The first actual bit was a demonstration that I was to copy.  She asked me what two words I would like to write.  I asked her to write what two words she thought best described me.

The top is "laughing" and the bottom is "head."  She said it means "smile."  This is my copy of her paper.  While I was doing it she was telling me the angle to hold my arm, how to hold the brush, how to hold my wrist, how to sit, everything.  If I started drifting away, she corrected me.  It takes a lot of discipline to maintain the "proper" posture.

After this I did some practice with strokes, and she corrected me a bit.  Then she had me write my name in katakana.  Part of this was a discussion about "cursive" calligraphy compared to "printed" calligraphy.  I said we have two writing systems in English.  I first printed my name, and she read it without any problem.  Then I wrote my name (not my signature, but a decent cursive writing) and she said "I cannot read that at all!"  So, we did some cursive English writing.  When she saw how much faster you can write if you know cursive, she said it must be good for taking notes.

We also talked about signatures and compared them with hanko (name stamps).  My signature is not the same as my written name.  Many people are able to write my name, but very few can match my signature.  So it is used for important documents, just like the hanko is used in Japan.  The only thing is we don't have to carry a particular stamp with us when we need to agree to a contract.

When we returned to calligraphy she made me choose two kanji to write for me.

Above I'm copying one of them.  I'm not holding my hand correctly.  The wrist should be bent more so my palm faces almost straight out ahead of me.  Below are the two I chose.  She made me sign and stamp them as "mine."

The one on the left is "reading" and the right hand one is "thinking."  They are the foundation of learning abstract concepts.  These will go in my office at school as a reminder to all who enter, including and especially me.