NEW YEAR’S CALLIGRAPHY “KAKIZOME” WORKSHOPS 2025

The first workshop to be offered in my new studio will be New Year’s Calligraphy “Kakizome” Workshops in January! Kakizome is a wonderful Japanese tradition where you can take a moment to center yourself with good thoughts and wishes for the fresh beginning of the year. Let’s write an auspicious word for your new year’s resolution in calligraphy, and start the New Year in good spirit.

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Kakizome (書き初め) is the term for the first calligraphy writing of the new year, traditionally performed on the second day of January. This event is also called 吉書 (kissho: good luck calligraphy), 初硯 (hatsu-suzuri: first ink well) and 試筆 (shi-hitsu: challenge writing).

Traditionally, water called “wakamizu” (若水) used to make the Sumi ink for Kakizome must be the one taken from the well on the New Year’s day, which is believed to be pure and holy. Wishing for a good luck for the year, we write Kakizome facing towards “ehou” (恵方), the fortunate direction for the year based on the local zodiac. People write auspicious kanji characters or a short poetry, such as haiku or tanka, or their favorite characters that symbolize one’s wishes for the New Year.

On the New Year’s day, following the tradition, pour water in a container and bring it with you to the class. Don’t worry if you were not able to – we have extra wakamizu saved for you. During the workshop, you will rub the ink stick with your wakamizu to create fresh sumi ink, and write calligraphy of words of your choice from a selected list provided. We will go over the basics from how to hold the brush to how to control the brush, the balance between the mind and body, understanding the structure and meaning of Japanese characters, basic brush techniques and possibilities of sumi ink. You will practice on standard hanshi paper, and then work on a final piece on a long yatsugiri paper. You will take home your finished calligraphy artworks, an ink stick, and an artwork folder that you will be binding during the class.

This workshop is for youth & adult beginners.