Japanese Calligraphy Meditation

Japanese calligraphy is called Shodo in Japan. Japan has a 3000-year-old tradition of calligraphy. Calligraphy can be used as a meditative ritual to help develop inner peace by combing the body, mind, and spirit in the creative process of calligraphy.

Meditation Drawing

As meditation has gained increasing acceptance in various Western cultures, many people are searching for a new meditation technique, or perhaps a form of meditation that works for them where other forms have failed.

Writing uses a combination of right and left brain. After all, writing is nothing more than drawing shapes that a society has decided to interpret in the same way. There is nothing magical about a T. It is just a drawing of two lines, one perpendicular to the other. Yet, in our society, we understand it as more than the intersection of lines. We “know” that it makes the T sound in words like Toast and Trust. Combining this art with analytic thinking is what makes writing by hand such a powerful connection to both spheres of the brain. It is why so many people find meaning, understanding, and even peace in the act of journaling, or keeping a diary.

Japanese calligraphy art is the same idea, but taken to another artist abstraction.

Japanese Calligraphy

Japanese calligraphy is about more than just writing. There is something about Japanese calligraphy that puts people into a meditative state. Even more so than in English, the kanji words and characters in Japanese are works of art. The delicate strokes and precise angles used in calligraphy can be incredibly calming and can help people focus and relax.

Japanese Calligraphy Styles

Traditional Shodo has several calligraphy styles, but the main three are block (kaisho), half-italics (gyosho), and italics (sosho). In Japanese schools the block style is taught, not in a writing class, but in art class.

Obviously, unless you speak Japanese, using Japanese letters or characters may be difficult. However, just like people who can’t read music can enjoy the sounds of an orchestra, choosing a symbol, or set of symbols to use in your calligraphy and committing them to memory can be a path to practicing Japanese calligraphy without speaking the language.

Japanese kanji for love
The Japanese Kanji for Love

While you could memorize and copy Japanese letters or characters, doing so may engage too much of your analytical mind to allow for proper calligraphy meditation. If you don’t want to commit symbols to memory and practice them until they become second nature, it may be better in these cases to use symbols or shapes that are already familiar to you. Examples include the yin-yang symbol, or the symbol for infinity, a heart shape, or the sun, or a very basic drawing of a four-leaf clover. Another option is to acquire Japanese-style calligraphy paper with lightly pre-printed characters or words that you can essentially trace. These Japanese calligraphy practice papers are relatively easy to come by.

How To Do Japanese Calligraphy Meditation

There are a number of ways to meditate using Japanese calligraphy. One is to simply sit down and start practicing your strokes. A Japanese calligraphy set will usually have brushes, ink, and paper. In traditional practice a Japanese calligraphy pen would not be used, although one could use a pen and soft flowing strokes to mimic something like Japanese calligraphy.

Traditional Japanese calligraphy brush uses horsehair bristles. Japanese calligraphy ink is similar to Indian ink. Japanese calligraphy paper is called and washi paper. Horsehair brushes are very soft. They do not respond well to hard, or jerky strokes. Indian ink is water-based and flows from the brush to the paper similar to watercolor. The paper absorbs the ink without resisting or dragging across the brush.

To draw in Japanese calligraphy one makes sweeping motions with the arm rather than moving the brush with your hand. Long, smooth, slow strokes produce the best meditative technique. Remember, when practicing meditation to empty your mind. There is nowhere you have to go, there is no art that you must finish.

As you become more comfortable with the techniques, you can begin to focus on your breathing and the sound it makes as it enters and leaves your lungs. You can also try focusing on the emotions you are feeling at the moment, or on your thoughts and memories.

Whatever approach you choose, be sure to take your time and let the artistry of Japanese calligraphy work its magic.

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