Shodo calligraphy

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

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

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