This year we enjoyed a long afternoon at the bright and leafy Woodlands Meeting Room, brushing copies of the work of shodō masters, stretching over 1200 years of inspiring examples. At this annual masterclass we worked on six characters of the Senjimon 千字文 Thousand Character… Read More »Shodō Masterclass Exploring the 千字文 Thousand Character Classic
We moved to our fabulous new space for our monthly Saturday shodо̄ calligraphy group, a large and bright room at Woodside Library, on a very wild and windy autumnal day, which was fitting given that one of kanji characters was 風 kaze wind itself. We… Read More »The Wind of Calligraphy Blows Between Us
As the weather became more autumnal and windy, we brushed the first two characters of Senri Dōfū 千里同風 , which says – Thousands of miles, yet the same wind blows ✨ This is a Zen phrase with meanings including to do with people feeling connected… Read More »Connecting People Through Shodō Calligraphy
For our last Japanese Shodō calligraphy classes before summer, both in person and online, we brushed the characters kiryoku 氣力, meaning – vitality or energy, or willpower ✨. Ki 氣 is the same character as qi in Chinese such as in Qigong 氣功and is a… Read More »Ki 氣 Energy and Flow at Shodō calligraphy
This year we had a focussed group of participants putting all their energy into seal engraving at our afternoon Japanese Tenkoku stamp making workshop. Employing traditional materials and techniques that Blair learned over the years from senseis in Japan, the group was able to get… Read More »An Afternoon Finding Inspiration in Seal Engraving
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… Read More »Brushing the Shapes of the Great Earth at Shodō Calligraphy
As we moved into Spring at our monthly shodō groups, we worked on a classic character and practiced its strokes and styles. We brushed 永 ei, meaning eternal, which has been written for centuries for its balance of eight strokes central to learning calligraphy, known… Read More »Brushing 永字八法 The Eight Principles of Eternal
In February we led two workshops introducing and exploring Haiga 俳画 a harmony of Japanese painting, and haiku poetry brushed in calligraphy. These events were held in the Glasgow area of Scotland, and were kindly sponsored by The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, allowing participants to… Read More »Haiga Events: a Harmony of Japanese Painting and Haiku Poetry
Inspired by Edo period Zen monk Hakuin Zenji’s writing and natural imagery, at our monthly shodō calligraphy online group and relaxed in person meeting at KSD Glasgow we wrote 風清 kaze kiyoshi, pure wind, following the words 月白, (bright) white moon. It was a nice… Read More »Brushing Hakuin’s vision in shodō calligraphy
At our recent shodō groups in person and online we brushed the striking kanji characters Tsuki shiro 月白 (つきしろ)?, meaning bright white moon, from a commentary by Zen master Hakuin Zenji written in 1749. This is part of a longer phrase ‘white moon pure wind’… Read More »The white moon of Hakuin in varied shodō styles
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