Japanese Calligraphy Class 書道教室

December 2011

My colleague told me about a Japanese calligraphy class 書道教室 in Kumamoto City Community Center for foreigners. Since I had nothing to do on weekend, I decided to join that class. All the teachers were volunteers. They were very kind and funny. It's an activity to make a calendar using Japanese calligraphy, there were 3 classes.

1st Class: learn to draw something using ink brushes
2nd Class: learn to write kanji 漢字 using ink brushes
3rd Class: carve on a mold to make stamp

Kumamoto City Community Center 熊本市中央公民館

1st Class
The teacher taught us the way to use ink brushes, how to ground inkstick with the inkstone, etc. Well, I actually learnt Chinese calligraphy when I was in primary school, but during that time, it was homework, and the teacher would grade it. I did it because I had to, not because I love to. However, I really enjoyed this class, it was fun and not something I was forced to do.

the tools needed for Japanese Calligraphy

Finally I understood the reason why a scholar would need a servant in the Chinese period drama. It was very tiring to ground the inkstick with the inkstone to get the ink!

inkstone and inkstick (grounding together with a little bit of water can produce ink)

The first thing the teacher taught us was how to draw bamboo. It was not so difficult. I am not someone with talents for art, but doing that really improved my confidence on my own drawing. Hahaha!

Japanese Calligraphy: bamboo

Then, fish. The most difficult part was to draw the water movement. Compared to the teacher's drawing, mine looked horrible.

Japanese Calligraphy: fish

Japanese Calligraphy: fish

Japanese Calligraphy: fish (my teacher said that it looks like puffer fish, 河豚)

Japanese Calligraphy: fish

Japanese Calligraphy: fish (the water movement is so difficult to draw)

Then, the teacher showed us how to draw other things. So interesting!

Japanese calligraphy: cucumber and eggplants

I kept drawing fish. In my opinion, fish is the easiest object to draw!

2nd Class

This class, the teacher taught us how to write kanji. It's something that I am familiar with. So, nothing special about this class.

3rd Class

Time to carve a stamp!

In the earlier 1st and 2nd class, we learnt drawing and writing using Japanese calligraphy. So, we used our newly acquired skill to draw and write on a paper pre-printed with 2012 calendar. Then, we carved our name in a mold. It's a very soft material, it can be carved using thin sticks.

instructions on how to carve a stamp

After finished carving, just dipped the stamp into the red dye solution and stamped on the calendar.

the red dye used for stamping

My work - 2012 DIY calendar using Japanese Calligraphy!

my 2012 calendar

final - with fellow classmates and our prized works

Well, this is a very great activity for foreigners to learn about Japanese culture. I am glad that I went to the classes!