by Nao

ka-ku, sho

Sho or shodō is calligraphy. Sho also means calligraphy work. Shodō implies art and techniques. One of the tags we put in this blog is kaisho. The sho of kaisho is this character, meaning calligraphy. Kaisho is the square style of writing.

The simplest meaning of this character is to write. It’s a verb whose reading is ka-ku. Ku is written in hiragana, that is, okurigana. A document is bunsho. Bun means text. A book is tosho or shoseki. To means illustrations. Seki means something recorded. Toshokan is a library. Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan is National Diet Library. A bookstore is shoten. Ten means a store.

Some compounds using this character mean something written. A white paper is hakusho. Haku means white. A letter is Shokan. Kan means letters.

1. Draw the hook on the top from the upper left corner.
2. Draw the longest horizontal line crossing the vertical part of the first stroke.
3. Draw the horizontal stroke from the left. Its end touches the end the first stroke.
4. Draw the horizontal stroke below it.
5. Draw the horizontal stroke that is a little longer than the previous one.
6. Draw the vertical line from the top to the center of the previous stroke.
7. Begin to draw the lower part. Draw the vertical line on the left.
8. Draw the right-angled hook. Make a nice shoulder while changing the direction of the brush.
9. Draw the horizontal stroke inside.
10. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.