What have I got myself into?

[QwertyJPC]

I have just had my first day of calligraphy class. The teacher put five pieces of paper on the board with Kanji on them and told us they were all the same character. I was very surprised, because at an earlier time, I talked to the main Japanese advisor at my school, and he said I would only study Kaisho (regular/square style) with this teacher of Japanese 103, Japanese Caliigraphy. AT first I wasn't really shocked. but later, it was as though a hammer hit my head. Five writing styles!? I found out about three of them through Charles' page that was shown here on this board, but five? Here's his page by the way:

http://soli.inav.net/~ceicher/pages/calligraphy.html

Anyways, the teacher expects us to learn the kaishou style for one month. Then she will teach us gyoushou for two weeks and soushou for two weeks. Then Reishou (Clerical Style) for one week and get this: Tenshou (seal style) for one week! Then, two weeks of seal carving!

I just know already that this teacher is going to try to teach us too much in so little time. I always wanted to learn the three styles and have a cool stone seal, but I didn't realize my wish would come true. I did hear before, that someone had taken this class a record for times in a row! I won't do that though.

If you guys are interested, I could scan the green sheet and show it to you guys. Wish me luck, even though I am taking this class credit/no credit!

Here's the book she recommends but does not require:
Brush Writing:Calligraphy techniques for Beginners by Kuiseko,Ryokushu

[Charles]

You should be glad she's only doing a survey of calligraphy, if this was a proper class, you'd probably just sit there drawing horizontal lines for the first week.

[baka tono]

You should be glad she's only doing a survey of calligraphy, if this was a proper class, you'd probably just sit there drawing horizontal lines for the first week.

Yeah lines in the air. Week two is water on paper, week three you might actually get to use the ink.

[Doctor Stop]

You kids have got it easy. We had to make our own paper, that's after planting our own trees and waiting for them to grow big enough. The trees also came in handy later for the lumber we needed to build our own boats and catch the squid to get the ink.

[emperor]

You kids have got it easy. We had to make our own paper, that's after planting our own trees and waiting for them to grow big enough. The trees also came in handy later for the lumber we needed to build our own boats and catch the squid to get the ink.

[QwertyJPC]

You should be glad she's only doing a survey of calligraphy, if this was a proper class, you'd probably just sit there drawing horizontal lines for the first week.

Hmmm...the first week we only had one day. It's not like the beginning language classes where we had class every day. So that one day (the 1st week as it counts) she showed us all five styles.

since this week counts as the second, she only had us do the horizontal strokes. just the kanjis ichi and san.

I will say, I did practice for a day or two during winter vacation using my magic paper (so I wouldn't waste any) and it feels so weird to do the basics again when I've done really complicated characters.

I got myself a seiza bench and desk via this guy, Doug Adams:

http://www.mumstudents.org/~kdaley/posture.html

the price for an angled seiza desk and a seiza bench is $35 total, with maybe $70 or more for shipping. The reason why they're cheap is because they're not finished. You would have to do it yourself, which is what I have been planning to do..

He also does flat desks in addition to the angled ones pictured here, it costs extra.

I dunno, can you find a seiza desk that costs less than $100? I think not.

Just email him with a picture of what you want. Doug told me he's been doing woodworking for 30 years.

Disclaimer: If your desk and bench arrive damaged, it is not my fault. Or anything else happens, it is not my fault either. I am only telling people about this since I feel Doug deserves some word of mouth...

[Charles]

Calligraphy on a desk with a slanted surface? Heresy! The ink would run.

The early focus on horizontal lines is fairly standard, as there is a speed and rhythm to a single brushstroke that is learned more easily when there are no other complicating factors present.

[Doctor Stop]

"And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you."

[Greji]

You kids have got it easy. We had to make our own paper, that's after planting our own trees and waiting for them to grow big enough. The trees also came in handy later for the lumber we needed to build our own boats and catch the squid to get the ink.

Ahh, what kind of hair did ya use for the brush and where can I get some?

[dimwit]

Ahh, what kind of hair did ya use for the brush and where can I get some?

Ear hair is usually preferred but ass hair will do in a pitch.

[QwertyJPC]

Calligraphy on a desk with a slanted surface? Heresy! The ink would run.

The early focus on horizontal lines is fairly standard, as there is a speed and rhythm to a single brushstroke that is learned more easily when there are no other complicating factors present.

Well, that's why I bought a flat desk! you can make up a custom desk, but the more you deviate from the original, the more it costs.

She concluded the second class of the week with 2 vertical stroke characters yama and kawa. Our homework due Tuesday is two copies each of ichi & san, with yama and kawa and our names in Kanji or Katakana.

[Doctor Stop]

Ahh, what kind of hair did ya use for the brush and where can I get some?

Funny you should ask. We used Taro Toporific's scalp hair, and let's just say that getting enough of it for just one brush required several steel drums full of Minoxidil and a great deal of patience.

[Greji]

Funny you should ask. We used Taro Toporific's scalp hair, and let's just say that getting enough of it for just one brush required several steel drums full of Minoxidil and a great deal of patience.

Your trouble may have started with that sharkskin toupee of his!

[QwertyJPC]

We finished the kaisho style last month and started the gyoshou style this month. It's not as hard as I thought it would be, but I am a bit nervous about going into the soushou/grass script mostly because it just seems hard to read and also hard to figure out what the stroke is supposed to look like done in that style.

last month, we only did about four kanji characters a week. The class is held twice a week. what usually happens is that my teacher gives us two kanji characters per day. Except for the last week of February, in which we did six kanji characters. on that week, one day we did four kanji characters and another day two kanji characters. What she has us do with the kanji characters each class day is, she tells us to practice the grouped kanji characters at home and give at least two of the best copies of those grouped kanji characters. Then she collects it the following class. during class, she displays the best characters done by the class, which is pushpinned to a long, thin piece of styrofoam that is taped on the white board in front of the class. Then she starts praising each of the brushed in kanji. She then asks for people's opinions on the kanij characters. Where they good, bad, your favorite one, etc. At the end of class she gives back the kanji that was displayed on the styrofoam pieces to their owners. The owners are identified by the name they wrote in Kanji and/or Kana. Mostly everybody uses katakana. If your piece was not displayed on the board, and it has an orange circle, that piece goes into your calligraphy portfolio. The portfolio must be turned in on the last class day. If it does not have an orange circle, it probably has orange correction brush strokes she made. I usually have at least one kanji piece make it to the board. There was only one time that my kanji characters did not make it to the board. So I must be doing well in the class...Oh yeah, if you don't get a piece with an orange circle, you have to re-do the character(s).I only had to do that once so far..

Last week, she had us do Yumi (dream) as a goushou character, which reminded me of Seiko Matsuda's line in her 80's song, Squall.

The class, in my opinion, is not as serious as I thought it would be. But what really sucks are the small desks we have to use in class. There's not enough room to write the kanij on. We end up having to do one or two characters at a time (this depends on how many total we have to do on the one piece of paper we are using)and then we have to pull up the paper to get more room to do the next character(s).

Another thing: She recommends (it's not required) this book: (long link)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0870118625/ref=wl_it_dp/104-5009801-3523921?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2DIBDXUDWM52H&colid=120OAXLBJ3AGC

what do you guys think?

[kurohinge1]

. . . during class, she displays the best characters . . . pushpinned to a long, thin piece of styrofoam that is taped on the white board . . .

I usually have at least one kanji piece make it to the board. There was only one time that my kanji characters did not make it to the board. So I must be doing well in the class . . . .

That depends - are you the only student in the class?

[QwertyJPC]

there is a shortage of people this semester. I think there are only 16 people...

[QwertyJPC]

We just started to learn soushou this week. It's a lot easier than I thought it would be, but trying to remember a kanji looking like that is soooo hard..

OT stuff...
because of freeking term papers from 2 other classes, I've been sleepless for two days. that's a record for me...

[QwertyJPC]

Man, I barely passed the Japanese Caliigraphy class. I went through other bad stuff in my other classes.

Let's just say i went down really hard this semester

[Greji]

Man, I barely passed the Japanese Caliigraphy class. I went through other bad stuff in my other classes.

Let's just say i went down really hard this semester

BTW what did that teacher look like? Being a long term J-resident, I may know some strokes she would like to learn!

[Western All Stars]

This sounds like my bird who's been going to a class once a week to learn how to wear a kimono....for 3 months! So I say:

"Why don't you just put it on like a bathrobe? You know, left, right, tie the obi. Seems like a waste of money to take a class."

"No, it's really difficult. It takes a lot of steps and is hard to do by yourself."

"Ok, can I join the class and learn how to wear a jinbei or yukata by myself?"

"No, you just wear that like a bathrobe."

[QwertyJPC]

actually, I ordered 2 desks: one flat and one angled. You can probably tell that I used the flat one for most of the caligraphy and the other one for papers and books.

but I had a lot of trouble with my final project. It was a cheap paper scroll with plain tree branches for wanting to be a pen pal wannabe . I couldn't use my seiza bench doing it, and I used a small brush. it was supposed to be sent to Ayame Misaki, but I decided to make it for everybody. I wish I could do it again...it took five tries to get it nice but I eventually let myself mess up..I could do another scroll like this later on.

[Charles]

..seiza bench dong..

[pheyton]

You kids have got it easy. We had to make our own paper, that's after planting our own trees and waiting for them to grow big enough. The trees also came in handy later for the lumber we needed to build our own boats and catch the squid to get the ink.

Wow, you had it easy! We had to make our own ink blocks from soot and animal gelatin. After 6 months of collecting the soot, we then had to mix in the melted gelatin slowy. After it was mixed we had to pound the shit out of it untill it was malleable. The we put it in our wooden, block mold, covered it with newspaper and sand, put it in a closet and flipped it everyday for 3 months.

While waiting for the shit to dry we made brushed from bamboo. Slice, wet, pound, slice, wet, pound. Repeat all day. I watch too much Testuwan Dash.

[Charles]

Wow, you had it easy! We had to make our own ink blocks from soot and animal gelatin. After 6 months of collecting the soot, we then had to mix in the melted gelatin slowy. After it was mixed we had to pound the shit out of it untill it was malleable. The we put it in our wooden, block mold, covered it with newspaper and sand, put it in a closet and flipped it everyday for 3 months.

While waiting for the shit to dry we made brushed from bamboo. Slice, wet, pound, slice, wet, pound. Repeat all day. I watch too much Testuwan Dash.

I don't know what the hell sort of show you're watching, but ink sticks are made from carbon, pine resin, and glue. Gelatin has nothing to do with it.

Do I need to remind people once again that anime is fiction? And that you should not mistake it for reality?

[TFG]

Wow, you had it easy! We had to make our own ink blocks from soot and animal gelatin. After 6 months of collecting the soot, we then had to mix in the melted gelatin slowy. After it was mixed we had to pound the shit out of it untill it was malleable. The we put it in our wooden, block mold, covered it with newspaper and sand, put it in a closet and flipped it everyday for 3 months.

While waiting for the shit to dry we made brushed from bamboo. Slice, wet, pound, slice, wet, pound. Repeat all day. I watch too much Testuwan Dash.

Luxury!

We lived in a shoe box in the middle of the road & my Dad used to thrash us with broken bottles every morning before we went to school.
Tell that to the young these days. They won't believe ya!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

[pheyton]

I don't know what the hell sort of show you're watching, but ink sticks are made from carbon, pine resin, and glue. Gelatin has nothing to do with it.

Do I need to remind people once again that anime is fiction? And that you should not mistake it for reality?

Dude, you're telling me you don't watch:
http://www.ntv.co.jp/dash/

Last episode I watched they made ink, exactly as I described it. The Tokio boys have a farm, they grow shit there and make shit the old fashioned way. Their solar van is badass too. I would kill to have that ride!

[Samurai_Jerk]

I don't know what the hell sort of show you're watching, but ink sticks are made from carbon, pine resin, and glue. Gelatin has nothing to do with it.

Do I need to remind people once again that anime is fiction? And that you should not mistake it for reality?

Charles, you're just as much a loser otaku as the anime lovers. Any guy that goes on about Japanese classics and calligraphy is half a fag.

[Charles]

Charles, you're just as much a loser otaku as the anime lovers. Any guy that goes on about Japanese classics and calligraphy is half a fag.

I might accept your point, except that the chemical properties of sumi are part of my professional expertise, and I've spent many years researching gelatin emulsions for photographic printing purposes, because I make a living producing art. Yeah, it's an obscure thing, but at least it has an anchor in the real world, and generates real money.

[pheyton]

Charles, you're just as much a loser otaku as the anime lovers. Any guy that goes on about Japanese classics and calligraphy is half a fag.

The projection and homophobia on this board is epic to say the least.

[hundefar]

The projection and homophobia on this board is epic to say the least.

You like it up the Gary, do you?