Shakyo (by calligraphy) gives us mindful time
Shakyo is a Japanese word that refers to the activity of copying Buddhist sutra texts by hand, using Japanese calligraphy. I believe that doing Shakyo is a unique experience and can be one of the mindful times. We can do Shakyo anywhere if we have some writing tools such as pen and paper. However, it is a refreshing time to work on writing sutra texts in a different place than usual. What is Shakyo (写経)? Today, I would like to share my
What we need for Shakyo (by calligraphy)
In the previous article, Shakyo experience, I explained what Shakyo is. I'm now going to introduce you to what we'll need to do prepare in order to do Shakyo. Brush Since Shakyo, copying sutra tesxts, is required to write a series of small letters, the brush needs to be thin. There are some brushes made specifically for Shakyo. Paper Shakyo paper has a certain format. As sultra texts are written vertically, the paper has lines ruled vertically and at regular intervals in advance so
Shakyo experience
Do you know what "Shakyo" is? Shakyo is a Japanese word that refers to the activity of copying Buddhist sutras by hand. Sha (写) means copying and Kyo (経) means sutras. The reason I mention Shakyo here is because it's the act of transcribing text with a brush, which is another form of Japanese calligraphy. I recently had an opportunity to attend a Shakyo session at a temple in Tokyo and had a very fulfilling time. I would like to introduce
“Stay home” work – Five styles of “home”
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, many of us have to stay home for a certain period of time. In my case, some art exhibitions in which I planned to participate have been cancelled or postponed just like other events across the world. I stopped all the creations for the next exhibition. The theme and size of the work that I want to work on have changed. Basic five styles of kanji in calligraphy In that situation, I tried to write various
Exploring the origin of kanji at Calligraphy Museum
Visited Calligraphy Museum located in Taito-ku, Tokyo. The museum held a special exhibition "History of kanji" displaying a lot of inscriptions on various materials such as animal bones, stones and bronze wares since The 13 century B.C. in China. The museum is small and doesn't look like visually gorgeous much. But it has historically valuable collections and elaborate permanent display. I believe that is informative for serious calligraphy learners. Calligraphy Museum, Tokyo http://www.taitocity.net/zaidan/english/shodou/index.html