At our first classes after the new year we brushed the characters manpuku 萬福, meaning many blessings (or full fortune/happiness)✨ The characters used individually are common brushed in shodō schools.
As well as being celebratory, brushed together they also have relevance in Japanese Zen (and Chinese Chan). This is seen in the temple name Manpuku-ji of renowned Zen calligrapher Ingen (founded 1663). The temple is close to Kyoto in Uji and houses many of Ingen’s striking cursive works.
After looking at the ancient visuals related to the characters (such as the scorpion with pincers), we wrote both the kaisho standard script and sōsho cursive ‘grass’ styles, as well as looked at the gyōsho semi cursive style.
Blair also discussed other types of works to celebrate お正月 Oshōgatsu, such as brushing the zodiac characters, such as his small calligraphy of 馬 uma (horse) pictured below which he showed to the groups. For the new year of the horse he brushed thirty versions of the characters 馬 and 午 on these small shikishi boards.
We had lively classes at our Saturday morning and early afternoon groups, as well as at our online Monday group, and Blair gave demonstrations for all the styles. It was rewarding to see everyone enjoying the characters, although most participants found that brushing the right balance in 萬 man in kaisho was a challenge, and then was much more flowing and faster in the sōsho cursive style.
Thanks for joining and we look forward to brushing more characters with you next time. Otsukaresama deshita, well done!
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