Japanese for Calligraphy (Shodō): Tools, Strokes and What the Teacher Says

The tools on the desk

The classic set is called the bunbō shihō, the four treasures of the study: fude, the brush; sumi, the ink stick; suzuri, the inkstone; and kami, the paper, which in a class is hanshi, a standard half-size sheet. Around them sit the bunchin, a metal paperweight; the shitajiki, a felt mat under the paper; the fudeoki, a brush rest; and often a bottle of bokujū, ready-made liquid ink, which most classes use instead of grinding a stick.

The first card is the instruction you will hear most in your first month. The others are the three things you will touch every time you sit down.

Strokes: tome, hane and harai

Every character is built from strokes, kaku, and each stroke ends in one of three ways. Tome is a firm stop: the brush presses and lifts. Hane is a flick: the brush stops, then springs off in a new direction. Harai is a sweep: the brush lifts gradually so the line tapers. A horizontal stroke is ōkaku, a vertical one jūkaku, and a dot is ten. Stroke order, kakijun, matters more in shodō than in handwriting, because the brush shows where you hesitated.

Notice the verbs behind the nouns: tomeru, haneru, harau. Teachers switch between the noun, Hane ga yowai, your hook is weak, and the verb, Motto hanete, flick more. Learn both forms together.

The three scripts

Beginners start with kaisho, the square, print-like script where every stroke is separate. Gyōsho is semi-cursive: strokes connect and the brush rarely leaves the paper. Sōsho is fully cursive and often unreadable without training. Two older scripts, reisho and tensho, appear on seals and formal works. A teacher will say Mazu wa kaisho kara, kaisho first, and may keep you there for a year.

What the teacher says

Instructions come in the te form without kudasai, which is normal from a teacher to a student and is not rude. Posture comes first: Shisei o tadashite, straighten your posture; Sesuji o nobashite, stretch your spine. Then the brush: Fude o tatete, upright; Hitsuatsu ga tsuyosugimasu, too much pressure. Then ink: Sumi o tsukesugi desu, too much ink. Then speed: Ikki ni kaite, write it in one go, because a hesitant stroke shows. And always, at the end, Mō ichimai, one more sheet.

A correction at the desk

Corrections in a shodō class are visual: the teacher takes your sheet, writes over your weak stroke in red ink, shu, and says one or two sentences. Your job is to answer briefly, try again and ask when you do not understand. The dialogue below is the whole exchange. Say Hai while they talk, Kō desu ka while you try, and Arigatō gozaimashita when they hand the sheet back.

Kō desu ka, like this?, said while you make the movement, is the most useful question in any physical lesson. It gets you a yes or a corrected demonstration without a long sentence.

Class words: model, practice and fair copy

A class runs on a few nouns. The tehon, or otehon with the polite prefix, is the model you copy. Renshū is practice, and the sheets pile up. Seisho is the fair copy, the one sheet you write carefully at the end to submit or keep. A finished work is a sakuhin, and it may carry a rakkan, the signature and seal, and a gagō, an art name given by the teacher after some years. Many schools run a grading system of kyū and dan ranks, but the systems belong to individual associations and are not comparable between them.

Etiquette, praise and the mistakes to avoid

Praise in a shodō class is specific: Ii sen desu ne, that is a good line; Koko ga yoku narimashita, this part has improved. Answer with Arigatō gozaimasu and, if you like, Mada mada desu, there is still a long way to go. Thank the teacher at the end with Arigatō gozaimashita in the past tense, because the lesson is over.

• Blowing on the ink to dry it. Let it dry, or move the sheet carefully to the drying space; blowing spatters ink and looks careless.
• Leaving the brush standing in ink. Wash it, shape the tip and lay it on the fudeoki or hang it; a teacher will notice a brush that was left to dry hard.
• Calling the work an e, a picture. It is a sakuhin, a work, or simply ji, characters.
• Saying shūji for an adult art class. Shūji is school penmanship; adults say shodō, and a teacher is shodō no sensei.
• Asking what rank the teacher is. Grades belong to associations and differ widely; it is not a polite first question.
• Replying Hai, jōzu desu when praised. Praise goes one way; the reply is thanks and modesty, never agreement.

Rehearse the class before the class

Because a shodō lesson repeats the same instructions, you can learn them before your first class and spend the class on the brush instead of the vocabulary. Read the teacher lines aloud with the gesture; after a week they are reflexes.

Two tools help. Ask Mocchi, Unihongo's study assistant, for /kanji 永 and it explains the character whose eight strokes are traditionally taught as the basic brush movements, with stroke order and readings; then ask it to quiz you on the tool and stroke words with /quiz, and it remembers which ones you missed for next time. For the spoken side, choose Yamada-sensei in AI Sensei and ask Yamada-sensei to play a shodō teacher; have Yamada-sensei instruct you, correct a stroke and praise one, and reply the way this post shows. Ask him to speak slowly the first time and at class speed the second. The session report lists the instructions you did not catch. A free account at unihongo.com/login is enough to try this before your first lesson.

Your turn

Say these with a brush in your hand, or a pen if that is what you have.

• Name the four treasures on your desk, and the three things beside them.
• Say the three stroke endings as you write a character with all three.
• Give yourself three teacher instructions and obey them.
• Ask the teacher to look at your sheet and how to fix the weak stroke.
• Respond to praise, then thank the teacher for today's lesson.