Japanese/Chinese Calligraphy Brush Set, Small and Medium Size (2 pcs)

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Take good care of your calligraphy brush, because the hairs are very delicate. After each session you should rinse your brush under tap water in the same way as when you open a new brush.

Wang Xizhi's influences remained dominant, which are shown in calligraphies written by Kūkai or Saichō. Some other Chinese calligraphers, such as Ouyang Xun and Yan Zhenqing were also highly valued. Their most notable admirers were Emperor Saga and Tachibana no Hayanari respectively. Hanashi: Hanashi is a white paper that an artist uses to write characters. Fude, Sumi, Suzuri and Hanashi are recognized as the four treasures of Japanese calligraphy tools. The brushes come in various shapes and sizes, and are usually made using animal hair bristles. Typical animal hair may come from goats, sheep, or horses. The handle may be made from wood, bamboo, plastic or other materials. [6] History [ edit ] Chinese roots [ edit ] Inscription on the halo of the statue of the Medicine Buddha, Hōryū-ji Temple At the same time, a style of calligraphy unique to Japan emerged. Writing had been popularized, and the kana syllabary was devised to deal with elements of pronunciation that could not be written with the borrowed Chinese characters. Japanese calligraphers still fitted the basic characters, called kanji (漢字), into the squares laid out centuries before. A fragment, Kara-ai no hana no utagire ( 韓藍花歌切, AD 749) is considered the first text to show a style unique to Japanese calligraphy; it shows a Tanka (短歌) poem using Man'yōgana, thus deviated from contemporary Chinese calligraphy. Ono no Michikaze (AD 894–966), one of the so-called sanseki (三跡, "Three Brush Traces"), along with Fujiwara no Sukemasa and Fujiwara no Yukinari, is considered the founder of the authentically Japanese wayō (和様) style, or wayō-shodō (和様書道). This development resonated with the court: Kūkai said to Emperor Saga, "China is a large country and Japan is relatively small, so I suggest writing in a different way." The "Cry for noble Saichō" ( 哭最澄上人, koku Saichō shounin), a poem written by Emperor Saga on the occasion of Saichō's death, was one of the examples of such a transformation. Ono no Michikaze served as an archetype for the Shōren-in school, which later became the Oie style of calligraphy. The Oie style was later used for official documents in the Edo period and was the prevailing style taught in the terakoya (寺子屋) schools of that time. semi-cursive (行書 gyōsho) ( pinyin: xíngshū) The semi-cursive script (gyosho) means exactly what it says; this script style is a slightly more cursive version of kaisho script. This script was practiced at the same time as the reisho script. There are three different levels of "cursiveness" called seigyo, gyo, and gyoso. The style of gyosho utilizes a softer and more rounded technique, staying away from sharp corners and angles. In Japan many works were made using the gyosho technique during the early Heian period. Later in the Heian period, once Japan began to separate itself from China a Japanese version called wayo began to emerge. The Japanese version of gyosho became widely popular and became the basis of many schools of calligraphy. This was a result of gyosho meshing very well with both kanji and hiragana and writing with this technique was both natural and fluid. [2] [3]

The four most basic tools were collectively called the Four Treasures of the Study ( 文房四宝, bunbō shihō).

During the Heian period (794-1185), the new traditional Japanese style of calligraphic writing emerged under the reign of one Emperor Saga. The goat’s hair brushes are white-haired brushes made from the hair of sheep, goats, cats or even deer. They are very absorbent and supple, and produce rounded forms and saturated fleshy brushstrokes.Use of more or a consistent amount of ink depends on the artist’s preference. Japanese Calligraphy Tools