12 Centuries of Japanese Calligraphy: from the 8th to the 21st Century
The Day of Japanese Writing under the title: “12 Centuries of Japanese Calligraphy: from the 8th to the 21st Century” was held at the Contemporary Museum of Calligraphy. Hirose Shoko and Sashida Takefusa, the well-known calligraphers belonging to the Shodo school impressed the audience of over 60 fans of this ancient art with their craft, considered to be the most refined and popular one in the Land of the Rising Sun.
For over 12 hundred years, the world has marvelled at calligraphic masterpieces of Japanese sensei that have been impregnating symbols with philosophical message, let alone exquisite artistic value. Every line represents a concept; every stroke of the brush begets beauty. Hirose Shoko and Sashida Takefusa pulverized the audience with their energy, applying all their skill and passion, following the National School of Calligraphy’s traditional approach. It stands to reason that calligraphy master’s movements are compared to dancing.
This formula was also substantiated by Mr. Chen Wen-Fu, an ancient Chinese calligraphy masters’ dynasty descendant, member of the Chinese scientific association of paired signs. He visited his colleagues’ master-class and concluded that Japanese and Chinese calligraphy have significant distinctive features, meaning not only hieroglyph and brush size, paper thickness, but also a unique emotional purport, theatrical aspect, reflecting some features of Japanese national character. Mr. Chen also said he learned a lot from that class.
After a three-hour calligraphy performance the audience was still reluctant to leave, elated by such an impressive art-soiree. The artists were elated by the spectators’ keen eyes, the spectators – by a common positive mood, the journalists – by rich material for their news reviews, fellow-calligraphers – by the shared creative experience. By the way, the collection of the Contemporary Museum of Calligraphy has been enriched with a few exclusive pieces of art.
