Exploring the calligraphy of the great earth at Heart Brush
In this last session of the year, we talked about the meanings of Daichi 大地, great earth or vast earth, and the various styles that could be used for both these characters.
We especially looked at the possible styles for Dai – 大, a kanji – Chinese character – meaning big, large or great, which appears so simply with its three strokes, but has quite a balance to it. The symmetry of this character can change a lot depending on how it is brushed, and if using the tensho, kaisho, gyosho or sosho styles. It is interesting how the original pictogram of a person changed into the meaning of large or great.
Participants experimented with smaller characters using fudepen 筆ペン brush pens, as well as takepen 竹ペン bamboo pens ( handmade and not that easy to find in Japan, very beautiful marks) and noticed the different feel and style of the marks from the larger and softer fude brushes. Towards the end some folk tried the two kanji of Daichi together.