Japanese Calligraphy, Japanese Culture & Traditions
How To Choose Best Writing Brush For You? – Standards and Types
Sep
Shodo is an art of Japanese calligraphy writing. However, Shodo is not only for professional calligraphers. You can also enjoy calligraphy writing with equipment. In fact, many people in Japan enjoy calligraphy writing today. So, Shodo equipment is also in many places. Regardless of this IT age, there are chances to enjoy Shodo in Japan; people write greeting cards by handwritten calligraphy, or some people prefer to write address on envelopes by writing brushes.
Therefore, Shodo equipment varies from professional use to ones for beginners. Among those equipment, writing brush is one of the most critical tool that affects written characters directly. There are hundreds of lineups and variations in order to match calligrapher’s preference and objective.
In this post, I’ll let you invite the world of deep writing brushes.
What Is The “Good” Writing Brush?
To choose a writing brush, you need to select one that is appropriate for the size and taste of characters you’ll write. In any case, there are “four virtues” that good brushes must have. With these virtues, good writing brushes should fulfill your demands.
The Four Virtues of Good Writing Brush
- Sen – the tip of brush should be sharp enough
- Sei – brush hair should be beautifully bundled
- En – brush hair should be shaped in complete round
- Ken – brush should be appropriately elastic and can be moved smoothly
How to Choose Appropriate Hair for Your Writing Style
Writing brush for Shodo is made of animal hair of various kinds. It is recommended to choose an appropriate hair material for what you’d like to write. As I explained styles of Kanji writings, there are several types of writing taste e.g. Kaisho, Gyosho, Sosho. Please read through this post (Link) if you want to know more details of character styles.
Horse hair is best for writing Kaisho style
Very solid horse hair is appropriate to write Kaisho style characters.
Solid hair is basically good to write explicit Kaisho characters, although its solidity varies among from where the hair came from: mane, tail, stomach, etc.
Kaisho Style
Sheep wool is good for Sosho style
Writing brush made of sheep wool is very soft, therefore it’s suitable for writing cursive-like Sosho style characters. Although sheep brush holds good amount of ink at a time, it requires technique to write well.
Sosho Style
Weasel hair brush can be handled quite easily
Writing brush made of weasel hair has moderate solidity, so it’s nicely used both for Kaisho and Gyosho. Gyosho is slightly disordered style from Kaisho style. It’s softer than horse brush, which allows you to write smoothly. Therefore, this brush is good for not only professionals but also beginners. Color of weasel brush is dark brown.
Gyosho Style
Kolinsky hair brush can be handled much easier
Kolinsky brush has similar properties to weasel brushes, but it’s nicer. More smooth and more appropriate solidity for Kaisho and/or Gyosho writings. Color of its hair is chestnut color.
Kengo brush is also great for Gyosho
If you’d like to write Gyosho specifically, then what is called Kengo brush is your choice. Kengo is not a name of animal but is a brush category in which hairs of various animals are mixed in a certain proportion. More specifically, core part of brush is made of solid horse hair, and its surroundings are made of sheep wool. By this mixture, brush can have solid core, hold appropriate amount of ink, and be moved at user’s will, all at the same time!
Take All-purpose Brush If You Can’t Decide
As we’ve seen so far, Japanese writing brush is made of various kinds of hair and have various thickness and size. So, it may be a tough work to choose a best one for you. In that case, there is all-purpose writing brush which is for both beginners to expert and for any types of writing characters. It’s literally all-purpose. It may not enough specialized for certain type, you can try various writing style with this brush.
What’s The Differences For Expensive Brushes?
Just like other tools, brushes also range from cheaper ones to high-end crafts. Then, what’s the different between them, and how much they differ actually?
In a word, that’s the difference of “writability”.
The points to assess writing brushes can be summarized into four points as introduced at the beginning of this post. These points have unchanged from old age and still alive today.
Again,
The Four Virtues of Good Writing Brush
- Sen – the tip of brush should be sharp enough
- Sei – brush hair should be beautifully bundled
- En – brush hair should be shaped in complete round
- Ken – brush should be appropriately elastic and can be moved smoothly
Best brushes have all of the four virtues. Expensive brushes fulfill all in highest level and they are well balanced. Therefore, calligraphers can use them as a part of their body and write exactly what they intended. This is hard to tell whether a brush really worth its price, as simple structured writing brushes don’t differ so much. Furthermore, you can’t try until you purchase because new brush is fixed with starch. If you have any concern, it’s better to ask the shop. In any case, let me say this again. In addition to the four virtues, good writing brushes should fulfill your demands. Think about how you want to write by Shodo calligraphy writing!
Author - Hiro
Lived in Kyoto in school days, I was impressed by profundity of history and tradition of the city. Had a job to join the three major festivals of Kyoto: Aoi, Jidai and Gion festivals. Love Kyoto and Japanese culture.
Manager of OrientalSouls.com, selling items of Japanese culture, tradition and craftsmanship. I'll introduce interesting information about Japan!
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