#calliigraphy

Meaning Love ♡ shun.kei on Instagram

Usually I write Japanese calligraphy in kanji, a logographic script in which each complex character has a meaning.

The above characters are hiragana, another Japanese script. Hiragana is a syllabary - each character represents a sound, but has no meaning by itself.

Kanji was invented in China, but hiragana is a purely Japanese invention. Hiragana characters are curvy and flowing, giving this type of calligraphy artwork a more graceful feel.

It’s often said that there are 2 writing systems which were invented in Japan - hiragana and katakana (another syllabary). 

However... today the above may very well be written "🌊🎣", so I would like to propose that there are in fact three writing systems which were invented in Japan :)

This article by StoryLearning has a good explanation of how Japanese writing systems are used:

You might notice that the above characters are a different style to the characters I usually write. 

Usually I write calligraphy in kanji, which is a logographic script in which each complex character has a meaning.

The above is in hiragana, which is a syllabary - each character makes a sound, but has no meaning by itself.

Kanji was invented in China, but hiragana is a purely Japanese invention.

It’s often said that there are 2 writing systems which were invented in Japan - hiragana and katakana (also a syllabary). 

However... today the above may very well be written "🌊🎣", so I would like to propose that there are in fact three writing systems which were invented in Japan :)

To learn more about the way Japanese writing systems are used, take a look at this article by StoryLearning: