【Culture】What is Japanese calligraphy style?

Japanese calligraphy is derived from China however it's grown up its own way. So, there are some differences between Japanese calligraphy and Chinese calligraphy.

Let the difference of those two look at!

Nowadays Japanese use three different types of Japanese characters, Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. Kanji is derived from China, on the other hand both Hiragana and Katakana are made by Japanese.

漢字　Kanji　 ひらがな Hiragana カタカナ Katakana

Around in 794 to 1185, it is said that Hiragana and Katakana were made.

Hiragana came from the simple style of Kanji, and Katakana was taken from one part of Kanji.

In the past, it was not favorable women to using Kanji, so Katakana was using by them.

Katakana was mainly used by men. When they studied and were taking memo, Kanji was taking more time to write, so they found out more easy way to write, that' why Katakana was made by.

The three types of character reflect that gender gap was there in the time.

However, it is a good point that people became to choose which types of character were going to use, more and more people could read and write words.

In current, we use any types of characters, so you can use them case by case.

For example, your name may have a strong meaning, it is better to use Kanji, even if you are women. (Because in recent years we've had no gender inequality in our society!)

If you would like to use your name for introduction to somebody with soft image, you are going to use Hiragana. Oops, I forgot to tell you.

Katakana is a simplified use of Kanji, but it is also used for foreign words. Actually, your name is not Japanese, every name is becoming foreign words, then it should be used for Katakana.

But it is all your choice! Which one is better for you??? You can chose whichever you want. That is a life!