Experience Shodo

Shodo (書道), the Japanese calligraphy means the way of writing and is the art of beautiful script. Its origin comes from China, and it was first introduced to Japan in the early 5th century.

At that time, shodo was a very important part of Buddhism introduced to Japan, also from China and began to grow in popularity. During this period in Japan, Chinese characters were used to copy Buddhist sutras.

Then, the kana, a more cursive and rounded style of calligraphy, unique to Japan originated, which eventually became the hiragana used today.

There are three basic techniques in writing styles, the kaisho or “square style”, the closest to the original Chinese characters, the gyosho or “semicursive”, with strokes that flow together for a more artistic appearance and the sosho or “cursive” with quick and graceful stroke and is also the most abstract and hardest to read.

Join our workshop and you will learn the basic of calligraphy, practice the Kanji you’d like to write and experience the creation of art using calligraphy.

You can combine with additional experience, Tesuki Washi (making Japanese paper) for an additional cost.

Experience available in Tokyo, Kyoto and Kanazawa.