We had a Japanese spiritual and cultural life theme for our November meeting of Kanji Club with 寺社 Jisha – Temples and Shrines – we wrote and pronounced these and a few other fascinating related kanji including 神 kami – gods/soul and 社 sha –… Read More »Discovering Temples and Shrines in Japanese
We brushed the two kanji characters in the inspiring zen phrase Dōtoku 道得 (lterally way/express ; grasp/pick up/able to) which can be translated as expressing the way, expressing truth, or picking up the way. Blair discussed their Zen meanings and connection to calligraphic expression in… Read More »Expressing the Way in Shodo Japanese Calligraphy
Everyone had great fun with a timely autumnal and colour theme for October with 紅葉 Kōyō – Autumn Colours. We wrote and pronounced these characters, and discovered their history, as well as more colours 🍂 investigating the meanings of the radical and kanji parts. The… Read More »Autumn Colours – discovering Japanese Kanji and Chinese
At our ghoulish late October De-stress drawing group on Zoom we had a deep autumn theme exploring this lively time of year including autumn leaves 🍂 and the festivals of Halloween and the Day of the Dead with themes of celebrating ancestors and seasonal change… Read More »Halloween and Day of the Dead creativity
At our De-stress drawing group we had an early autumn theme enjoying the wonder of tree fruits in this season of abundance – exploring their textures, shapes and colours – such as nuts, berries, seeds and pods 🫐🌰 Together we found autumnal inspiration… Read More »Drawing the autumn season – fruits and berries
We had a sensory theme in September, 感じる Kanjiru (to experience, to sense), and we wrote and pronounced the characters for each of the Five Senses, as well as certain katakana and hiragana 👁️👂👃👅✋ We looked at related kanji and commonly used vocabulary, there are… Read More »Learning Kanji Japanese and Chinese through the Senses
It has been a really busy creative summer for us here in Glasgow with our main project being recently completed, a colourful community mural transforming the wide outer wall of The Maryhill Hub community centre, please see the gallery of photos below. Huge thanks to… Read More »Maryhill Hub Mural Painting Project
At Zen Brush, our online Shodō calligraphy group (monthly on zoom) we brushed the four kanji characters in the heartful zen phrase Anjin-ryumyo 安心立命 (literally ease/peace ; heart-mind ; stand; fate). This can be translated in various ways such as peace and enlightenment, or letting… Read More »Midsummer Zen Shodo Calligraphy
At our colourful June De-stress drawing group we had a relaxing and summery theme of rockpools, their visual delights and endless pleasure, finding inspiration in shells and seaweed and creatures at the coast 🦀🌊 It was a friendly group with a chilled atmosphere before the… Read More »Relaxing mindfully drawing summer rockpools
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