History of Shyuji

The history books tell us that the legendary emperor Shotokutaishi sent emissaries to China in 690 who brought back Chinese culture and the Chinese writing system, or kanji, to Japan. At that time, China was to East Asia what Mesapotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome were to the West - the birthplace of culture - and for many years, China played the teacher to Japan's diligent studnet. But as the years wore on, the Japanese began to adopt what they had learned and invent a writing system that was more appropriate for their own language. Kana, or phonetic syllabaries similar to western alphabets, appeared. By the time the classic Genji Monogatari was written by an anonymous court lady in the 11th century, written Japanese had more or less taken its present form: a combination kanji adapted to the Japanese language, and hiragana, a kana invented (it is though) by court ladies. (Another kana, katakana, is used today mostly to write foreign loan words, usually from English, so you don't see it in traditional calligraphy).

For years, calligraphy was at the heart of a good education, and pre-World War II writing is notable for its beauty, even when it was written by ordinary people for ordinary purposes. But Japan's defeat and the post-war world brought changes. The American occupation imposed education reform which downplayed the imporatance of tradition. "The way of the brush" was actually banned from the education system after elementary school. The tradition of centuries was endangered.

Today, young Japanese write more and more with word processor and older Japanese bemoan the loss of writing skills. But the art of calligraphy is alive and well, even in Brazos County, Texas. Now you can enjoy this magnificent art, either by ordering it from this webpage or by joining me for calligraphy lessons. Enjoy - and let the cultural traidtion of Japan enrich your life.

A note about terminology: Calligraphy is usually called Shyuji . The first kanji means learn and the second means character. Shodo, , refers to both calligraphy and traditional brush-and-ink painting: the first character means write and the second means way. So when we refer to the calligraphy itself, we use the term Shyuji; but when we talk about lessons where you learn Shyuji, we use the term Shodo. So, if you join me for lessons, you will be taking Shodo lessons to learn Shyuji. Yes, it's a little confusin, but that's what happens when you have centuries of tradition telling you how to label things.