 | | |
| Brush Writing: Calligraphy Techniques for Beginners | 
 enlarge | Author: Ryokushu Kuiseko
Publisher: Kodansha International
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
Buy New: $8.20
You Save: $18.80 (70%)
Buy New/Used from $8.20
Avg. Customer Rating:  (4 reviews)
Sales Rank: 431564
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 96
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 11.5 x 8.6 x 0.3
ISBN: 0870118625
Dewey Decimal Number: 745.61
EAN: 9780870118623
ASIN: 0870118625
Publication Date: August 15, 1988
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
For many a deep and lasting interest in Japanese culture, its people and its language, begins with a fascination for beautifully drawn characters produced by a master calligrapher. Compared with the squarish, regular representation of Chinese characters reproduced in books, newspapers, and magazines by modern printing techniques, the appealing brush strokes of a handwritten Japanese scroll, letter, or menu is often considered a work of art, and associated with the aesthetic and mystical. Brush Writing is dedicated to such enthusiasts of Japanese calligraphy who have searched for a basic and introductory guide in English to this traditional and challenging Eastern art.
Any learner of Japanese will almost certainly find this book an invaluable aid to writing kanji, a subject that is rarely dealt with. adequately in language textbooks, as well as providing fundamental clues to decipher handwritten Japanese. Through nearly fifty model characters, Brush Writing teaches the basic techniques of writing almost any kanji. For each character, we have clearly shown the correct stroke order, major readings in romanized Japanese, and meanings in English. Advice on balance and other practical tips on writing kanji have also been included. Equally important to all non-native learners of Japanese, this book explains the secret of writing attractive hiragana, the key, in fact, to ensuring that handwritten Japanese is clearly legible and leaving the impression that it was penned by an adult Japanese hand.
But it does not end there. Brush Writing is more than a kanji guide for students of the Japanese language. After working through the systematic instructions carefully explained in this volume, anyone, with an appreciation of the beauty and art of quality brush work, should find little difficulty in creating fine calligraphy of their very own, even if the meanings of the shapes themselves remain a mystery. This volume begins with a comprehensive, but brief introduction to the history of Chinese and Japanese characters to satisfy the curiosity of the enthusiast. For novice calligraphers, not only have we explained how to use the necessary materials and equipment, such as brushes, paper, and sumi ink, but we have also appended a list of stores selling calligraphic supplies throughout the United States.
For Japanese language students and aspiring calligraphers alike, Brush Writing is the perfect introduction to the art and technique of shodo, Japanese calligraphy.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Good buy for beginners November 10, 2005
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Like the title promises, this is a good book for beginners. It has useful suggestions on how to begin and end the main strokes found in Shodo, as well as suggested kanji with how to write them and what they mean. I found it very helpful.
 As promised: Basics for beginners July 28, 2003
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
The title well describes the content. The focus is on the techniques with a short intro of the essential equipment. The reader is guided through a selection of some 50 characters with the emphasis on how to proceed stroke by stroke and how should the result look like.
This book is a good quick start but won't serve as a long-lasting reference. As soon as you find the art of shodou as the thing for you, you'll be looking for more in-depth and covering texts on the subject. Although somewhat narrow, all the content is useful - except a list of the equipment suppliers in the US.
 Great for beginning students May 2, 2000
22 out of 22 found this review helpful
This is a good book for beginning students learning to write Kanji and Hiragana. The large format makes it easy to see how to form the character correctly. The instructions are excellent, showing you step-by-step, how to write each symbol in detail. Though cursive script is shown, it is smaller and detailed instructions for writing it are not given. Each character's reading and meaning are shown as well. However, since less than 75 words are covered, it is not intended to teach you to read Japanese. The book also covers materials, techniques, & a brief history of Asian calligraphy. There is a beautiful calligraphy appreciation section in the back. It shows some of the characters reflecting their meaning.
Good beginning brush technique book. Beautiful examples. December 6, 1999
27 out of 27 found this review helpful
This is a good beginning book for learning brush technique for Japanese calligraphy of the pictographs that are based on the Chinese characters. She goes through everything from basic setup and rubbing ink through a couple dozen characters, so if you already know stroke order and have some idea of the characters you want to do, this book focuses on how to make the brush strokes for plain 'block' characters work, with some hint as to the possibilities with script characters and more artistic forms. There is a single page for how to form the phonetic characters as well.The sample characters are big, bold, and easy to learn from and have the easier posture of a native calligrapher, rather than the squared-off posture of most American renderings. It's a very good starting place for someone wishing to make characters with more personality than can be done with a normal pen or pencil. But is only a beginner's book if you already have some experience with a brush and ink.
|
|
|
| | |
