TABLE of CONTENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  • A Personal Invitation by the Author

INTRODUCTION TO KANJI CALLIGRAPHY

  • WHAT IS KANJI?
  • THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF KANJI
  • STYLES OF KANJI
    • Kaisho
    • Gyousho
    • Sousho

THE MODERN JAPANESE LANGUAGE

  • OVERVIEW OF THE JAPANESE WRITING SYSTEM
    • Kanji Characters
    • The Roman Letter Alphabet (Romaji)
    • Arabic Numerals (Sanyou suuji)
    • Hiragana
    • atakana
  • SPECIFICS OF THE KANA SYSTEM
    • GOJYUU'ON
      • Voiced Sounds (Daku'on)
      • Half-Voiced Sounds (Handaku'on)
      • Vowel Palatalization
      • Geminate Sounds
    • OTHER SOUND CHANGES AND WRITING VARIATIONS
      • Long Vowels
      • Vowel Palatalization
      • Geminate Sounds
      • OTHER SOUND CHANGES AND WRITING VARIATIONS
        • Long Vowels
        • Small Characters
        • Sequential Voicing (Rendaku)
      • PRONOUNCING JAPANESE SOUNDS
      • THE REPEAT SYMBOL
      • ROMANIZATION METHODS
      • PRACTICING KANA
      • HIRAGANA CHART
      • KATAKANA CHART

      THE STRUCTURE OF KANJI

      • FORWARD
      • BUILDING BLOCKS OF ENGLISH
        • Level-1 Elements: Letters & Other Characters
        • Level-2 Components: Word Roots & Affixes
        • Level-3 Structures: Independent Words
      • THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF KANJI
        • Level-1 Elements: The Strokes
        • Level-2 Components: Radicals
        • Level-3 Structures: Kanji Characters
      • RADICAL CHART
      • KANJI PATTERNS
      • RADICAL POSITIONS
      • KANJI CATEGORIZATION & LOOKUP METHODS
      • KANJI PRONUNCIATION METHODS
        • Onyomi
        • Kunyomi
        • Jinmeiyomi

      THE TOOLS OF CALLIGRAPHY

      • THE BRUSH
      • INK & INDIA INK
      • THE INK STONE
      • CALLIGRAPHY PAPER
      • THE PAPER WEIGHT
      • THE BRUSH MAT
      • THE BRUSH HOLDER

      WRITING POSTURE & HOLDING THE BRUSH

      • WRITING POSTURE
      • BALANCE OF THE SHOULDERS
      • USING THE BODY
      • HOLDING THE BRUSH
      • BRUSH PRESSURE & STROKE SHAPE

      BASIC BRUSH STROKE TECHNIQUE

      • GENERAL
      • THE BRUSH STROKE
      • COMMON TRAITS OF THE 8 BASIC STROKES
        • The Head
        • The Body
        • The Tail
      • PRACTICING THE BASIC STROKES

      THE EIGHT BASIC STROKES LIBRARY


      BASIC STROKES PRACTICE PAGES


      BEGINNING KANJI CALLIGRAPHY

      • THE STROKE ORDER
      • GENERAL ORDER OF CONSTRUCTION
      • CHARACTER SHAPE VARIATIONS

      THE KANJI CHARACTER LIBRARY

      • ABOUT THE LIBRARY
      • WRITING PREPARATIONS
      • RENDERING THE CHARACTERS
      • SINGLE CHARACTER SECTION (166 Characters total: only one shown here.)
      • DOUBLE CHARACTERS

      CHARACTER INDEX
      CHARACTER INDEX BY MEANING
      TEXT INDEX