At Kanji Club class we explored a nature and art theme in June, with the phrase 花鳥風月 Kachōfūgetsu (literally flower-bird-wind-moon) about natural beauty and inspiring Japanese aesthetics 💮🐦🌬🌙 Together we looked at nature and arts related kanji and commonly used vocabulary and the fascinating kanji… Read More »Nature and arts in Chinese and Japanese writing
At our online Shodō calligraphy group (monthly on zoom) we brushed the elemental zen word Unsui 雲水, literally meaning clouds and water, and more specifically meaning novice zen monks and nuns (it is shortened from going clouds-flowing waters), coming from a Chinese poem ‘to drift… Read More »Swirling inky clouds and water in Shodō calligraphy
In May we had an inspiring theme of clouds and cloudscapes, embracing their ever changing sense of impermanence and the unknown, enjoying doodling their lively vitality, textures and colour 🌤 It was a friendly and cosy group on zoom, and after Blair did some relaxing… Read More »De-stress drawing spacious Cloudscapes
At our Kanji Club in May we were whisked away across Japan by super fast Shinkansen trains and up through the valleys in mountain traversing carriages. It is amazing what we could discover about Kanji and also Japanese culture from exploring characters and words related… Read More »Discovering Kanji by Train Travel!
At our zoom Shodō calligraphy in March, we brushed the beautiful zen phrase Ekō -henshō 回向返照, meaning ‘turning the light inward and illuminating the self’, or ‘turning facing, answering with light’. Blair talked about the meanings of the phrase and use in Master Dogen’s meditation… Read More »Brushing Zen Calligraphy: Turning the Light Inward
At our De-stress drawing group online on zoom, we had a fab theme of new beginnings, hopes and transitions. We peacefully doodled, and explored the change from winter to spring – enjoying drawing the light and shapes of the time of year as more colour… Read More »Relaxing drawing the bright start of Spring 🌱
At our March zoom language and cultural Kanji Club group we had a green theme of growth and world this month, with the expansive word sekai 世界 meaning world, society or generation 🌎 Blair guided participants on how to write the kanji characters with a… Read More »Exploring Sekai 世界 World!
This month we brushed the expressive Omoi Yokoshima Nashi 思無邪, a Confucian and zenny phrase Blair’s first Shodo teacher Master Waskabayashi worked on. He was a great Granpa to Blair and gifted him several materials, books and lots of Shodo inspiration about Zen, nature and… Read More »Brushing freedom at Zen Shodo Calligraphy
This month at our relaxing De-stress group we enjoyed a theme of looking from afar, at the landscape from above with an eagle’s eye. It was an easygoing and really supportive group, with everyone enjoying doodling fascinating textures, contours and patterns ⛰️🏜️ Some people just… Read More »Joyfully doodling spacious aerial landscapes
The theme for our February Kanji Club group on zoom was the more emotional and expressive kanji such as ai 愛 – affection – and kanashii 悲しい – sadness 🤗❤️ As well as learning to read and write some kanji and hiragana and katakana, we… Read More »Expression – learning Kanji from kawaii to kanashii