Shodo is a Japanese word that is often translated as the skill of beautiful writing. Others refer to shodo as the art of traditional Japanese calligraphy. The word ‘shodo’ has become more commonly known in recent years outside of Japan and the Far East as one of the ‘-do’ arts, along with sado (the way of tea), aikido, judo and kendo (the martial arts), and kado (the art of flower arranging).
Shodo, also called sho, is one of the oldest and most profoundly traditional art forms in Japan, where it has been developed and appreciated since the fifth century. It is also a skill and an aesthetic; the depth of beauty is the result of diverse techniques and complex brush movements. Most essentially, the practice of shodo needs to
