Japanese Calligraphy, Shodo, its Chinese Origins and Zen Bond

Japanese calligraphy, called shodo in Japanese, is the calligraphy brushed in Japanese. As it happens with many different art manifestations in Japan, Japanese calligraphy has its beginnings in Chinese calligraphy. For many centuries one of the most praised calligraphers in Japan was Chinese Wang Xizhi that lived in the 4th century.

Still, since the Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries were attached to the Japanese writing system, Japanese calligraphers began to shape native Japanese approaches of calligraphy.

Styles of Japanese Calligraphy

The traditional types are roughly the same in Chinese calligraphy as in Japanese calligraphy. They are the following:

1. Seal Script, tensho in Japanese language, an very old style of calligraphy

2. Regular Script, kaisho in Japanese, also named Standard Script in English

3. Clerical Script, reisho in Japanese

4. Semi-Cursive, gyosho  in Japanese

5. Cursive, sosho in Japanese, sometimes called Running Script in English

The Four Treasures of Eastern Calligraphy

The 4 essential tools you need for traditional Japanese calligraphy are the 4 Treasures and they are: the brush, ink stick, rice paper - also called mulberry paper in the West- and  the inkstone to liquefy the fresh ink.

Chinese Calligraphy Roots and Start in Japan

Chinese calligraphy goes back three thousand years, when pictorial symbols or pictographs were engraved on bones mostly with religious motivations. Later on, in the Qin reign, the writing was standardized as it had became an important tool for the administration of the Chinese state.

The Chinese tradition of calligraphy was introduced to Japan around AD 600. Since then, in Japan calligraphy has been practiced continuously. It has developed its own style especially in the Zen tradition.

Today in Japan pupils train in the art of Japanese calligraphy and it can be studied in high school or universities along with other art disciplines such as painting or music.

Finally, the emergence of performance calligraphy has made it a fashionable interest practiced together in clubs by the younger generation. Performance calligraphy has also been introduced to the Western world and it seems to captivate many people.

Japanese Calligraphy and Zen

Zen Buddhism has had a significant influence in Japanese calligraphy. The most popular representation of the Zen school of Japanese calligraphy is the enso circle. The calligrapher depicts the enso circle of enlightenment in one single free-flowing stroke that is never adjusted or altered.

Zen calligraphy, the Way of the Brush, is a form of meditation in action.

The Straightforward Mind Is The Dojo: Aikido T-Shirt

Japanese Aikido T-shirt, with an original hand-brushed calligraphy of the Zen saying Jiki Shin Kore Dojo, meaning The Straightforward Mind Is The Dojo, also translated as The Straightforward Mind Is The Place Of Practice, The Direct Mind Is The Place Of Enlightenment. The free flowing calligraphy is available in the cursive or semi-cursive style of Japanese calligraphy. This distinctive Zen calligraphy T-shirt makes a rare creative gift for Zen followers, Buddhists, meditation, Yoga and Martial Arts and Aikido practitioners, a great gift for a birthday or any special occasion|celebration.

The Genesis of Aikido and Morihei Ueshiba Sensei Morihei Ueshiba

Aikido is known as the Art of Peacefulness. Not only Aikido but true martial arts are based on a philosophy of harmony and reconciliation. To a layman this statement can be difficult to accept when you see how Aikido practitioners strike at each other at high speed. However it is true, the fundamental principles of aikido and numerous martial arts are harmony and tranquility.

Aikido was created by Morihei Ueshiba, born in Japan in 1883 to a family of farmers. Strangely, he was quite weak as a kid and youngster and he spend numerous hours reading and on quiet activities. It is said that he even considered becoming a Buddhist monk. It is quite remarkable that he later developed a series of Japanese martial arts. It isn’t how you would envisage the founder  of the popular Aikido martial arts.

Despite everything, Morihei Ueshiba came from a lineage of samurais and his father would tell him all the time about the adventures  and audacity of his grandfather. Ueshiba's father was involved in politics and one day he saw how the followers of a rival political group attacked his father. It was that day that he resolved to work on his physical shape .

He explored jujitsu and judo, among other martial arts, but he didn't really make them his own for several years. At the time, the early 1900s, he was an infantryman in the Japanese military and he displayed such promise that he was recommended for the Military Academy. Nevertheless, he left the army and went back to the family farm. In 1912 he relocated with his wife to Hokkaido, an island in the north of Japan.

Morihei Ueshiba's aikido has many influences of older martial arts practices from Japan. One of them was Daito-ryu Aiki Jutsu, which he practiced seriously with master Takeda Sokaku in Hokkaido. It was at this point and with Takeda as his teacher that Ueshiba began taking the study and training of martial arts seriously.

After Morihei Ueshiba departed from Hokkaido, he met Onisaburo Deguchi who taught him the Omoto-kyo religious practice based on traditional Shinto. Deguchi's pacifism and his spirituality made a crucial effect on Ueshiba. This would contribute considerably to the spiritual tenets of Aikido.

Uesiba developed the Aikido martial arts between 1925 and 1942 and gave it several names. During these years, he had a number of spiritual experiences and understood  that the true intention of a real warrior wasn't to defeat the enemy but to ward off slaughter.

In 1942, he moved to Iwama from Tokyo and opened a dojo and the Aiki Shrine. He started calling his practice Aikido for the first time. Aikido is usually rendered as The Way of the Harmonious Spirit, The Way of Unifying with Life Energy or Ki.

He taught the Aikido martial art for about twenty years and he became known as O Sensei, meaning Great Teacher or Great Master.

Despitehis pacifism the Japanese government decorated him a few times. Before his death in 1969 Aikido had already spread to several European countries, Australia and the USA. Nowadays Morihei Ueshiba's Aikido, or the Art of Peace, is practiced across the world.

Ueshiba created a practice that has assisted countless people throughout the world. Some decades after his death, Aikido practitioners still regard him as their supreme teacher, their Sensei, their master.

The Straightforward Mind Is The Dojo