To Take Somebody Captive

Japanese Calligraphy by Nao

To Take Somebody Captive

shū

Do you know the character in the rectangle?

by Nao

If you know it, it’s easy to remember what this character means. The character 囚 depicts a person inside an enclosure.

A prisoner called shūjin. This word should not be a useful word.


The Order of Writing Strokes

  1. Write the left side of the rectangle.
  2. Write the upper and right sides of the rectangle.
  3. Write the longer sweeping stroke.
  4. Write the shorter sweeping stroke.
  5. Write the lower side of the rectangle.

In Bloom

Japanese Calligraphy by Nao

In Bloom

sa-ku

Early spring flowers are blooming. The verb saku is to bloom. The character depicts a mouth and a smiling face. When a flower is in bloom, it’s smiling.


The Order of Writing Strokes

  1. Write the left side of the rectangle.
  2. Write the upper and right sides of the rectangle.
  3. Write the lower side of the rectangle.
  4. Write the dot on the top.
  5. Write the sweeping dot falling leftward.
  6. Write the upper horizontal stroke.
  7. Write the lower horizontal stroke.
  8. Write the sweeping stroke crossing the second horizontal stroke.
  9. Write the sweeping stroke from where the previous strokes intersect.

And (Sosho)

Japanese Calligraphy by Nao

And (Sosho)

ka-tsu

This character 且 is included in the list of common kanji but we don’t use it. I remember that it occasionally appeared in Japanese textbooks when we learned kam bun, that is, the Chinese classics. Japanese students learn how to read the Chinese classics at high school. You can make a Chinese passage sound like Japanese if you consider that it is written in the wrong order and all hiragana is omitted. Some kanji is read twice to make Japanese translations almost equivalent to the meaning of the character. For example, today’s character also means “be about to (do something).” In Japanese, you cannot put “be about to” in one place. If it’s translated into classical Japanese, you have to say, “masani (something you are about to do) ntosu.” In such a sentence, we feel we read this kanji twice because it implies both masani and ntosu and we must put a verb between these words.

Here is a kaisho style of this kanji.

“And” in kanji. Japanese calligraphy art by Nao.

And

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Inside (Sosho2) the Dictionary of Calligraphy Styles

Japanese Calligraphy by Nao

Inside (Sosho2)

naka, chū, jū

We have uploaded another sōsho version of this character.

“Inside (Sosho)” in kanji. Japanese calligraphy art by Nao.

Inside (Sosho)

Calligraphers’ useful dictionary is gotaijirui, which means the dictionary of five calligraphy styles. Five styles in calligraphy are kaisho, gyōsho, sōsho, tensho, and reisho. In each style, you can find many variations.

Here is a kaisho style of the character.

Inside (Kaisho) by Nao

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Main or Master (Sosho)

Japanese Calligraphy by Nao

Main or Master (Sosho)

nushi, aruji, omo, shu, su

Principles and ideologies are often called shugi. If shugi is a suffix, its equivalent in English is –ism. For example, “ ri shugi” means rationalism. “Hei wa shugi” is pacifism. “Rak kan shugi” and “hi kan shugi” are optimism and pessimism respectively.

Other information about this character is >>> here

Its kaisho style looks like this.

"Main or Master" in kanji. Japanese calligraphy art by Nao.

"Main or Master" by Nao

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Boisterous (Sosho)

Japanese Calligraphy by Nao

kure, go

Yesterday we posted this character written in kaisho. Today’s one is written in sōsho.

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Boisterous

Japanese Calligraphy by Nao

Boisterous

kure, go

Unless you live in a city called Kure 呉 in Hiroshima, this character is not so useful. If the character has any meaning, it means boisterous. But you don’t have to remember it at all.

If you are interested in Chinese history or anecdotes, it may be useful to know that Go is the name of a country which existed in ancient China. One of the famous anecdotes is called “goetsu shū.” Etsu is another country’s name. shū means the same ship. Go and Etsu were enemies to each other. People from both countries once sailed on the same boat by chance. They helped each other when a storm hit the boat and almost sank it. When enemies are in the same place, you can describe such a situation as “goetsu shū,” whether they help each other or not.


The Order of Writing Strokes

  1. Write the left side of the rectangle.
  2. Write the upper and right sides of the rectangle.
  3. Write the lower side of the rectangle.
  4. Write the crooked stroke consisting of two right-angled bends.
  5. Write the horizontal stroke.
  6. Write the sweeping stroke.
  7. Write the dot.

An Artisan (Sosho)

Japanese Calligraphy by Nao

An Artisan (Sosho)

takumi, shō

The day before yesterday, we showed you this character in a kaisho style. Today’s one is written in a sōsho style.

Some people call their teachers shishō, oshishō, or oshishōsan. We often hear pupils of traditional art say these words.

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Stylish but Coming After Something Else (Sosho)

Japanese Calligraphy by Nao

Stylish but Coming After Something Else (Sosho)

otsu

When something or somebody rivals another, you cannot tell which one is better. In such a case, you can use the expression “otsu tsukegatai,” which means that you cannot decide which one is the first and which one is the second. In this, means the first; otsu, the second.

Here is the character in a kaisho style. And its original page is >>> here.

“Stylish but Coming After Something Else” in kanji. Japanese calligraphy art by Nao.

Stylish but Coming After Something Else

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An Artisan

Japanese Calligraphy by Nao

An Artisan

takumi, shō

Originally this character means a carpenter because it depicts a square or an axe. Master carpenters, craftsmen, and artisans are called takumi. Today’s character’s special reading is also takumi 匠. Both takumi mean the same.

Dezain written in katakana is a loan word meaning design. Ishō also means design. The former is more common; the latter looks more sophisticated because of the characters.


The Order of Writing Strokes

  1. Write the horizontal stroke on the top.
  2. Write the shorter sweeping stroke.
  3. Write the longer sweeping stroke touching the previous stroke.
  4. Write the horizontal stroke touching the longer sweeping stroke.
  5. Write the vertical stroke.
  6. Write the L-shaped stroke.