JAPAN: Children from across Japan participate in a New Year's calligraphy competition

Record ID: 464228

  • Title: JAPAN: Children from across Japan participate in a New Year's calligraphy competition
  • Date: 5th January 2010
  • Summary: JAPANESE CHARACTERS
  • Embargoed: 20th January 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAANS2ILYTXDAXVAAFRBNRAP3W3
  • Story Text: Young and old calligraphers from around the country converged in Tokyo on Tuesday (January 5) to take part in an annual calligraphy contest.
    In the first days of the new year, people across Japan write their resolutions, wishes or auspicious Chinese characters to commemorate the coming of the new year.
    The contestants, who were divided into six groups, were given 24 minutes to complete their calligraphic portrayals of the year ahead using a thick, horse-hair brush and ink made from charcoal.
    This year, nearly 3,000 people ranging from kindergarden-aged children to eighty-somethings took part in the event at the Nippon Budokan hall.
    The assigned Chinese characters included "tradition" and "universe".
    "I love it when my teacher praises my work," said Moe Ueno, an eight-year-old participant.
    Some participants said the contest was helping them re-discover tradition.
    "Nowadays, everybody's using computers and cell phones to write, so they tend to forget the actual shapes of these characters. So that's why I prefer writing like this on my own," said another participant, 11-year-old Saori Koizumi.
    Once completed, all the entries were gathered for judging. It will take a few days for the judges to view and grade each entry according to the strict rules which govern the calligrapher's skills.
    "When one writes a love letter, no matter if it's a man or a woman who's writing it, it's always better to write in beautiful handwriting. Whoever receives such a letter would be impressed and assume that the sender must be a good hearted person," said Hikaru Matsunaga, President of Nippon Budokan, an organisation that promotes calligraphy as well as Japanese martial arts, such as Judo and Kendo.
    Calligraphy is a widely practiced and revered art in many parts of Asia. The act of writing Chinese characters is believed to sharpen the mind and improve concentration.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register