Calligraphy

Calligraphers work in five main styles of Chinese characters, which differ in how far the strokes are abbreviated and linked, as well as in the Japanese kana. Beginners learn the regular script first and move towards the cursive forms.

In the early Heian period three calligraphers in the Chinese manner were celebrated as the Sanpitsu, the 'three brushes': the monk Kūkai, Emperor Saga and Tachibana no Hayanari. In the tenth and early eleventh centuries the Sanseki, the 'three traces', established the Japanese style: Ono no Michikaze, Fujiwara no Sukemasa and Fujiwara no Yukinari, whose Sesonji school remained influential for centuries.

The court was also the setting for kana calligraphy on decorated papers, used for poems in anthologies such as the Kokinshū. In the Kamakura and Muromachi periods Zen monks brought the bold, direct calligraphy (bokuseki) of Chinese Chan masters, and in the Edo period Hon'ami Kōetsu and the Zen monk Hakuin created some of the most distinctive works of Japanese art.

Traditional calligraphy uses four tools, called the 'four treasures of the study' (bunbō shihō). Ink is made fresh by grinding an ink stick with water on an inkstone, a quiet preparation that is part of the practice. Each tool has its famous production centres in Japan.

Japanese children learn brush writing (shūji or shosha) as part of the school curriculum. On 2 January, or in the first days of the year, many people write kakizome, the first calligraphy of the year, often an auspicious phrase, and schools and newspapers hold competitions. Large exhibitions of calligraphy clubs are held regularly, and performance calligraphy with huge brushes, set to music, has become popular among high-school clubs.

Calligraphy is displayed as hanging scrolls in the alcove of traditional rooms and tea rooms, on shop signs and temple gates, and in the vermilion-ink temple seals (goshuin) that visitors collect.