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JapaneseCulture

Shodo

Shodo

Shodo literally means “The way (second kanji character in the image above) of the writing (first kanji in the image above)”. It is the art of writing with a brush and ink on a special paper. It is taught in Japanese schools as a part of the Japanese language curriculum. Either way, it is not very common nowadays, although it is still used on New Year’s cards, in special occasions when money is handed out in envelopes, etc. There are also true artists who practice Shodo professionally. To become really good, it is said that you need several years of very hard training.

During the Vulcanus in Japan programme some years ago, we had a few Shodo lessons. One of the most important things is to always keep the brush perpendicular to the surface and to follow the proper order of the strokes.

Shodo

Fude: brush made out of bamboo and horse hairs.
Sumi: ink you pour into the stone container (Suzuri)
Hanshi: special paper for ink writing.
Shitajiki: protection you need to place underneath the paper.
Bunchin: weight to hold the paper in place.

Shodo

Shodo
Practicing

Shodo
Presenting the results

For those interested, you can buy Shodo kits with all you need from 3,000 Yen in specialized Japanese stationery stores.

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Advertising Technology

Toshiba sends a chair into the stratosphere

To promote its new LCD televisions with LED retroillumination, Toshiba decided to send a chair to the highest altitude possible and record it. The chair was able to reach a 30 km altitude after an hour and half balloon trip until it broke down. The video was recorded using a 1920×1080 Toshiba camera and a 3,000 euro chair was specially designed for the mission by Artem.


The official commercial. Don’t miss the last seconds when the chair breaks down.

More details about the making-of.

Categories
JapaneseCulture

Japanese tea ceremony

When I first arrived to Japan I attended a typical Japanese tea ceremony. Known in Japan as chanoyu (茶の湯) or chado (茶道), it is a ritual that has its origins in Zen Buddhism. The preparation is very laborious and some very strict steps must be followed. Even the angle in which things are placed is important. It’s also curious the fact that the ritual changes depending on the season. It is said that you need several years to learn all the steps in the tea ceremony. For those of you who want to know all the details, nothing better than the article in Wikipedia.

Japanese tea ceremony

Japanese tea ceremony

Japanese tea ceremony

Japanese tea ceremony