How to do Calligraphy
Good afternoon, everyone! Our theme is Japanese calligraphy. It is called "shodo" in Japan. It is one of the famous aspects of Japanese culture.
First, I will introduce about it. Japanese people study shodo when they are students in elementary school, and some people take lessons in shodo after class or when they are older. People have an image of beauty when they write shodo, and shodo is said to have healing effects.
Some people do shodo every year in the New Year's Holidays, and this is called "kakizome". We write our aim for the new year with our whole heart.
You need some tools if you practice calligraphy. Brush, india ink, Japanese paper, and so on. Next, we will show you how to do shodo from now on actually.
There are no simple straight lines in shodo. Even the simplest Japanese character "ichi" or "one", has a delicate curve to it. Remember, every stroke is done with three steps: start, stroke, and stop.
One kind of stroke is "start, stroke, release". It is called harai in Japanese. I'll call this "release" for short.
Another kind of stroke is "start, stroke, jump". It is called Hane in Japanese. I'll call this "jump" for short.
Before you start, you have to wet your brush in charcoal ink, or sumi. Dip your brush, or fude, well enought. Don't be afraid it might contain too much ink. Once you dip your fude, you are not allowed to do it again until you finish one whole Japanese character. Always hold your fude upright. Don't tilt it in any direction while writing.
Now I explain these Japanese words. This word is called " ". It means " ". This word is "..." It means "..."
Who would like to try writing calligraphy? What animal/color do you like?
I will write ____ in Japanese characters.