japanese calligraphy カリグラフィー (kamakura, japan)

Posted by timothy sullivan (Tokyo, Japan) on 15 January 2009 in Art & Design.

I'd taken this image with doing a goshuin series in mind; unfortunately, that idea went on the back burner when I later found out that it's actually pretty rude to take photos of the temple priests when they're actually writing in the temple book--this fellow had simply let me take a photo out of kindness, apparently! (A little kind Japanese goes a long way sometimes: "syashin o tote mo ii desu ka?" = "may I take your photo?")
I always love watching them sign my goshuin, though: I fully believe that many of the priests could reproduce these delicate, precise, fluid brushstrokes with their eyes closed; and I envy their ability to make the whole process look so completely easy, as though anyone could do it. (I tried. And failed. My first attempt basically ended up with a black, spidery blob; the second fared quite a bit better--but nothing at all close to the grace of what you see in the photo above.)

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