As I mentioned in my last post the most important thing I miss when I leave Japan is my friend (yes, the mysterious oft mentioned friend haha). The reason I miss him is we get along so well, we are both very quiet people, and he's really thoughtful of me.
He always thinks of new places to bring me, or activities to make my trips more interesting. He comes up with great ideas, which I really appreciate as an indecisive person, and one of the best rainy day activities he came up with was ... calligraphy!
First hiragana attempt, the important points circled on my friend's example on the left
When he was younger he studied calligraphy from a master so he could explain the basic fundamentals even to a nervous un-educated person like me hehe! I have terrible handwriting so I was really scared I would just make ink blobs and embarrass myself.
The second attempt, the bottom half of my "ra" is disappointing tho haha!
He started out by showing me the calligraphy in hiragana, which is much easier than kanji. He just wrote out my name and I could try and copy it as best as I could^^ The first picture was Sara, and second is my full name Sara Mari.
He said my hiragana calligraphy was actually decent (I would say he was just being nice, but he seemed genuinely surprised XDD) so he asked if I felt like trying kanji calligraphy. I got even more nervous, but I thought it's good just to try because the whole point is the experience!
And my first attempt at kanji calligraphy! Could be worse I think XD
He asked what kanji I wanted to write, and I wanted to pick a concept that is important in Japanese art/culture. So I picked the kanji with the meaning "the empty space between things" Honestly I'm pleased with how it turned out on my first try haha (I mean it's not beautiful but its readable = success!).
I had been excited to write about this calligraphy practice for a long time, it was really a special memory with my friend for me. I think it's so great if you can experience Japanese art hand-ons, if you have spare time maybe you can join a calligraphy class during your trip to Japan!
