The term Kanji literally means “Han Dynasty Characters”, and it was imported from China between the 3rd and 4th century. For Japanese in the ancient and medieval times, Kanji was a foreign language which was compulsory in order to have a contact with our great neighbouring country, China. This would be similar to Latin in Europe, which was the official language of the Roman Catholic churches. This style of Shodo is called Kanji Shodo. Learning Kanji Shodo was necessary for reading Buddhistic Sutras that were written in Chinese and for the exchange of diplomatic documents with China. Kanji Shodo is a male-dominated style of calligraphy, and one that samurais and monks learned diligently in order to get promotions. Today, when you refer to “Japanese calligraphy”, you would normally be referring to this Chinese style calligraphy which is practiced by the Japanese.
On the contrary, Kana characters were developed before the beginning of 9th century in Japan, and were based on Kanji characters. While Kanji characters are called “男手 (Otokode)” literally translated “Man Hand”, Kana characters are called “女手 (On’nade)” meaning “Woman Hand”. In Kanji Shodo, you only use Kanji characters. Kana Shodo is mainly written with Kana characters, with some Japanicised Kanji characters being mixed in to support the sentences. As such, Kana Shodo is a female-dominated art, and reached its zenith between the mid-10th to 12th century initiated by aristocratic women. Kana Shodo was important for women as they were not encouraged to learn Kanji Shodo.
At the end of the 10th Century, women's literature, such as love stories or Tanka, flourished in the former Imperial City of Kyoto. In particular, the women who belonged to the Imperial Family and nobles showed their ability as writers. For example, Murasaki Shikibu, a woman from a noble family wrote the very famous romantic novel "Genji Monogatari" using Kana Shodo. This was the first significant literature masterpiece in Japanese history.
The women of the upper classes of society wrote their love letters in Kana Shodo, too. In the Middle Ages, love letters written by noble women was the first step to show men their personalities because it was embarrassing for them to talk to men or to show their face to men. If her writing was beautiful, the woman had a better chance to win the man's heart, since the men felt that not only her writing, but also the woman herself must be beautiful. So the women tried to write in a rather soft and sexy form, compared to the dignified manner of the men. By writing a love letter the selection of the paper was also important. Because women rarely appeared before the men, they could not use their appearance. This is why Kana Shodo works are often written on colored papers with gold leaves or silver leaves to express their taste. Thus, Kana Shodo developed in Japan. Of course, men also had to learn Kana Shodo in order to impress women, to read novels, and to exchange letters with women.
Unfortunately, the Kana characters in which the women used, are rarely seen in Japan, today. Not so many Japanese can read and write these Kana characters anymore, because today only 46 of Kana characters are used in the Japanese Education System. In the past, there were at least 300 characters and thousands of variations (Itaiji). The reason for this decrease is because Japan had reduced the number of characters due to modernization. The Japanese government has selected only the most frequently used Kana characters. The rest, more than thousands of variations which were not selected, are called "Hentaigana" today. Unfortunately, we can rarely see this Hentaigana in everyday life in Japan. But one can say that the incomparable unique beauty of Japan exists in the thousands of Hentaigana.
The export of Japanese culture has risen nowadays to a considerable extent. In bookstores in Berlin, one find a lot of Japanese manga, while many Japanese restaurants line the streets in Paris.The interest in Japanese characters is also very high. Kanji tattoo is already a long time fashion, and many foreigners pay to have their names written in Kanji. But unfortunately it is only Kanji that catches my eye. Kana, the origin of Japanese culture is incredibly unknown. Kana is an art that is deeply rooted in Japanese culture. There are also many similarities between the Kana writings and Ukiyo-e paintings, the ancient Japanese paintings that even Vincent van Gogh or Edgar Degas were influenced by. I find it very disappointing that only Kanji is seen as the representative of the Japanese characters, although they do not depict true Japanese culture.
The core spirit of Kana can be first grasped through the deep understanding of the atmosphere or feeling created by old love letters or Tanka, and when you sense the emotion of the writer. From 2001 I have followed the old trade route, Nakasendo, 700 km between Tokyo and Kyoto on foot. It was a good opportunity for me as a Japanese to walk Nakasendo with an old map in my hand, and imagine the sentiments of the aristocracy, samurai, and merchants who traveled the Nakasendo in the Edo period, and discovered the world of Kana. The encounter with old letters or diaries in history museums or castles on the road, or with characters on the memorial stones in the street had made my enchantment with Kana even stronger.
After my university days I used to work in the Television Advertising sector. With the magic of digital technology everything was editable and possible. In contrast, to the stoic analog world of writing Kana, nothing can be hidden because one's soul appears always through the tip of the brush on paper. I aim to introduce foreigners and Japanese young people, who had no contact with Kana, to the beauty and charm of Kana, and to show them what is concealed behind the simple behavior of "writing".
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