by Nao

ōkami, rō

This week we are going to upload the character “wolf” in three styles: kaisho, gyōsho, and sōsho. Today’s entry is the basic one, kaisho.

A wolf and wolves are called “ōkami.” The reading of this character comes from “ō,” meaning big, and “kami,” meaning God. This suggests that ōkami used to be regarded as an animal with divine power. In some areas in Japan, ōkami was treated as a god. Perhaps, this is one of Japanese animistic traditions.

A lone wolf or a loner is described as “ippiki ōkami,” which means one wolf.

A silver wolf is “ginrō.” I don’t think this is a real one.

A grey wolf or a timber wolf is called “tairiku ōkami” or “shinrin ōkami” in Japanese. Tairiku means a continent and shinrin means a forest. These are not Japanese native words but zoological names as both are written in katakana.

1. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top.
2. Draw the curve with an upward turn.
3. Draw the sweeping stroke from the middle of the previous stroke.
4. Begin to draw the right-hand side of the character. Draw the dot on the top.
5. Draw the hook.
6. Draw the horizontal stroke inside the rectangle.
7. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.
8. Draw the vertical line with a sweeping stroke heading toward the next stroke.
9. Draw the dot sweeping toward the previous stroke.
10. Draw the sweeping stroke that goes between the last two strokes. Spread the brush gradually toward the end.