In March at our monthly shodō groups, at the spacious Woodside Library as well as at our friendly online class, we brushed the characters 楽道 rakudō which means easeful way, or joyful path. Individually the characters are commonly brushed in Japanese shodō calligraphy, and together are… Read More »Settling Down into the Joyful Path of Shodō Calligraphy
In March we led two workshops introducing and exploring the esteemed calligraphic style, brush techniques and history behind the flowing kana 仮名 scripts and deep poetic themes of waka 和歌 (meaning Japanese poems). These events were held in the Glasgow area of Scotland, and were… Read More »Japanese 和歌 Waka Events: Materiality and Movement in Heian Period Poetry
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… Read More »New Year Themed Shodō Calligraphy
Inspired by Blair’s first calligraphy teacher Wakabayashi Shujō, at our December classes at Woodside Library we worked with an 干支 eto (Japanese zodiac) shodō calligraphy theme brushing uma 午 horse, to prepare for celebrating the new year ✨Even into his late eighties Wakabayashi Shujō worked… Read More »Japanese Zodiac Calligraphy for the Year of the Horse
In November at our monthly shodō groups, at the delightful Woodside Library as well as at our online class, we brushed the Japanese characters 洗心 senshin, meaning purifying the heart or mind, (and the kanji also relating to Blair’s calligraphy training in Tokyo which he… Read More »Purifying the Heart and Mind in Brush Calligraphy
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
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