Calligraphy (Shodo:"The
Way of Writing") is the art of writing Kanji beautifully.
Kanji are Chinese characters introduced to Japan in the 5th century
by way of Korea. Kanji are ideograms. Every single character corresponds
to a word. When combining characters, more words can be built.
There are about 50,000 characters of which 2,000 to 3,000 are
needed to read a Japanese newspaper. The Japanese Government declared
a set of 1,945 characters as the Kanji for everyday use. Calligraphy
is a popular traditional hobby in Japan and in other parts of
the world.
These Kanji T-Shirt designs are
printed from my original calligraphy. My Asian studies started
many years ago with Chinese Brushwork and Calligraphy as a student
of Professor Wang Chi-yuan and a graduate of his School of Chinese
Brushwork. I am currently studying Shodo as a student of Kampo
Cultural Institute of New York and Japan.
Kwanzaa