Japanese Language Stack Exchange
Japanese Language Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [calligraphy]

書道. Artistic writing usually done with a brush and ink.

The usage tag applies to any question asking about style, principles and techniques of writing, reading or identifying caligraphy

41 questions
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What does this fish market banner say?

A friend has at home this banner from an old fish shop in Sapporo. I suppose it's a souvenir from Japan. It intrigues me a lot! What's this の with an upper stroke and the ten-ten? What's the name for the place? Does the following make sense: ⻌の魚? On…
Jason Lint
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Can Chinese and Japanese calligraphy of the same character be identified as such?

When I look at Chinese vs Japanese calligraphy samples and books, it seems to me that there are subtly different aesthetic principles governing the characters, even discounting variants (including stroke order switches etc) and different formal…
mmdanziger
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Understanding difficult handwriting/calligraphy

I'm having trouble deciphering this handwriting. So far, I can definitely tell that the first column says 参拾弐 in 大事, and the fourth column says 手本. Really struggling with column two and some of column three (last two kanji are 弐号, but what's the…
Bingop
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Is top-to-bottom, left-to-right writing order common in Japanese calligraphy?

My understanding is that Japanese was traditionally written in a top-to-bottom, right-to-left order (縦書き{たてがき}), and that modern Japanese is sometimes written in a horizontal left-to-right, top-to-bottom order (横書き{よこがき}) 1. But in the following…
appleby
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Sharp vs rounded (tomed) vertical stroke in kanjis

How can I know for sure in what situation I should use sharp vertical line and in what situation I should use rounded vertical line? For example, from videos on youtube I do know for sure that vertical line in 申 is sharp and I do know for sure, that…
Tchibi-kun
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How to read this sign and what it means?

A friend sent a picture he received from another friend of this framed parchment with some very flowery and old looking Japanese written on it asking me if I could read it and if I knew what it meant: I've done my best to try and figure out what…
Reveiller
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What is the proper term for the use of archaic kanji?

I noticed that in various works of Japanese art, the artists sign their work with a seal whose contents range from fairly regular kanji to very abstract variations of kanji. I have also seen it used in calligraphy, as shown in the example below. I…
user51
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How to read this kanji?

Please tell me how to read this kanji. What does it mean?
Amir
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7
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What is the origin of ゟ (より)?

ゟ is a digraph that is read より. Where does it originate from? Is it a ligature, like & <- et, or German ß <- ſs -> ss? (Wikipedia claims this, citing no source.) Also, if it is a ligature, what did the ligation process look like (e.g. what are the…
senshin
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Is this an old, alternate or incorrect way of writing 考?

Is this form of writing 考える correct? It has an extra stroke which turns the bottom portion into 与. I haven't seen it before and haven't been able to find it after searching. If it is correct, what kind of form is it?
lojordih
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Help me identify this kanji on my knife box

For context, it's a nakiri made by artist 藤原兼房. The blade is a 50/50 grind, so it's not left or right handed. I can read every character except the third one down on the left. Reading from the right: 日本鋼鍛錬　高級◯料理庖丁 にほんこうたんれん　こうきゅう◯りょうりほうちょう …
Bryan
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Is "義理" the proper term in this case?

I have trained for 25 years with a local (European) Aikido master, but now I have to move, albeit temporarily, to another town, and I would like to give a gift to my teacher to represent the "debt" I have with him for all he taught me. I also…
p.marino
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Is there a reason why the 濁点【だくてん】（ ﾞ）are placed below the stroke at ぐ and で as opposed to the other hiragana characters?

Most of the 平仮名【ひらがな】 characters have the 濁点【だくてん】 above the stroke but there are two cases where it is placed below the stroke: がぎげござじずぜぞだぢづどばびぶべぼ ぐで Why?
jarmanso7
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What exactly does くずし字 refer to?

I have been practicing and interested in calligraphy for a while. Recently I was looking in general for books on the subject and I often encountered this word: くずし字 (for example in books titles etc). Now, I have more or less an idea but I can't…
Tommy
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What does it say on this drinking game?

I have something similar to figurine that looks a Russian doll. It has kanji that I cannot recognize. This probably is a drinking game? I would be so happy to know these kanji and the official name of this: This looks like 方. After that I can't…
riverflows
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