Monday, January 19, 2009

Show and tell

Mel is hosting Show and Tell again this weekend. I've never had anything I wanted to show, but I've enjoyed seeing what others post about and finally, finally it's my turn! I've got something!

I've mentioned before that I'm taking a weekly calligraphy class. My instructor is a wonderful, calm and patient man who is retired and is doing this strictly for the fun of it. He's a friend of the family and I'm incredibly grateful to him. He teaches me entirely in Japanese. This cannot be an easy thing for him since my Japanese is, well, a work in progress. As such, I'm sure it's difficult for him to convey some ideas to me, although the "watch what I do" technique has worked quite well for us thus far. And it surely helps that I'm getting one-on-one instruction.

That's the telling, now on to the showing. My work is on the left and my instructor's work is on the right. I still need quite a bit of practice but this is my best work from my class the other day:



Updated to add: I've been asked about what the words mean. Good question! It's actually part of a larger phrase. Thus, on it's own, this segment doesn't really mean anything. However, it's my understanding that starting from the top right and reading counter-clockwise the characters individually read as: world, taste, usual and gate. As is the case with reading these characters in Japanese, sometimes you combine two words and get a third (often related) new word. Oddly enough, in my Japanese class I find it easier to read than write the Kanji I study, while in calligraphy class I find it easier to write than to read. I'm all a-jumble!

11 comments:

  1. wow that is so cool!! I've always wanted to do shuudo (thats the Japanese word right?)

    sounds like a fun and worthwhile hobby to pick up and good way to practice/learn some more japanese.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fantastic! I wouldn't have been able to guess which was yours and which was the instructor's.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wooooow that is neat. Very beautiful looking. I've always admired people who have the patience and skill to do that because I seriously lack both.

    ReplyDelete
  4. wow. That looks great. My one and only very sad attempt at shuuji ended in tears when I spent all day working on one that wouldn't be defaced by corrections only to have my masterpiece defaced with that great big swirly circle good work mark. I like your teacher!! And learning something in Japanese is such a great way to learn Japanese- way more fun than a textbook. Go you!

    ReplyDelete
  5. It looks beautiful....is there some special meaning to the alphabets there....is it some Japanese phrase?

    Thx for sharing! It really is vrey neatly done.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have always wanted to learn shuuji but never had the opportunity or never made an effort, you are lucky!!!

    I really can not tell one from the other, but I second what OP said... it is a fabulous way to polish up with Japanese and learn Kanji... I think Japanese.. at least for me is always a work in progress..

    ReplyDelete
  7. I lived in Japan a long time ago and this post rekindles my interest in the fine arts.

    Your work is beautiful. Omedetoo gozaimasu!

    ReplyDelete
  8. You did a GREAT job! If you hadn't labeled which one was your instructors, there is no way I could have told the difference. I left you an award and a meme on my blog. I hope you don't mind, I also hope you'll do it. I'd love to get to know more about you!
    Enjoy your day,
    D

    ReplyDelete
  9. That's amazing! What does it say? I hope that you'll post more from future lessons! I'm truly fascinated.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am very very very impressed!!!! Whether I use a brush, pen or my finger, it always looks TERRIBLE! Worse than a first grader's! I can't tell yours from your teacher's!!!!! WOW!!!

    ReplyDelete