Brushing the Shapes of the Great Earth at Shodō Calligraphy

At our recent Shodō calligraphy classes at KSD Glasgow on Saturday, as well as our online Monday evening group, we found nature based inspiration, brushing 大地 daichi, meaning the great earth or vast land, a common word which also describes our relationship with the land and nature ✨

The two characters are very different from each other in the standard kaisho script, giving a feeling of the tectonic shapes and textures of the earth, but are much looser and open in the sōsho fully cursive ‘grass’ style. Blair gave demonstrations of the brush techniques for both styles, and briefly discussed the meanings and zen understandings of daichi.

We also found inspiration in the visual background of the two kanji, and in the longer online group brushed the gyōsho semi cursive style as well as explored the strokes and kanji structures in more detail.

Blair shared a short nature and ink themed poem by esteemed 11th Century Song dynasty poet Su Donpo, whose works are copied by contemporary Japanese calligraphers who brush from classics:

The black clouds are like ink but have not covered the mountains, 
while the white raindrops are like pearls and fall into the boat.

From ‘Five Poems Written While Drunkenly at Wanghu Tower No. 1’

Thanks to everyone for taking part in both classes and see you again next month!