Japanese calligraphy: You never know what you will get | Kumiko (Pt. 2) | RONJIRU JAPAN

With Japanese calligraphy, you never know what you will get until your brush touches the paper—and once it does, you only get one chance to write the characters. You cannot fix them, correct them or change them. Award-winning Japanese calligraphy artist, Kumiko, explains this one-time-only moment, in this excerpt from Episode 3 of the RONJIRU JAPAN podcast.

You cannot hide your feelings or personality when writing Japanese calligraphy. They express themselves the moment you begin to write. It is beyond the writer’s control. But sometimes the ink on the paper reveals something from the heart that is unexpected, which is why some calligraphers write beautiful characters even when they are sad, or can’t seem to find that beauty even when they are very happy. This, too, is beyond the writer’s control.

For Kumiko, it is exactly this difficulty in controlling the output that gives Japanese calligraphy some of its magic. It’s a snapshot of the soul at a single moment in time. You never know in advance what will appear from within. It only happens once with each piece, characters cannot be changed once written, and all the practice in the world still yields something unexpected when brush meets paper. Thus each piece of calligraphy is a surprise, every time. It’s the Art of the Moment.

Kumiko hopes that people around the world can learn the joy of Japanese calligraphy, experience “the moment” and grasp the spirit of the art form.

NOTE: all calligraphic artwork is by KUMIKO. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

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