The Beauty of Japanese Calligraphy
A professional calligrapher taught PVCC students and faculty traditional Japanese calligraphy on Aug. 29 in the North Mall Meeting Room. Tons of curious students filled the room to watch as she performed calligraphy on traditional rice paper as tall as the ceiling. Japanese language students of Noriko Donahue edged closer to the artist to get a closer look.
Calligraphy, also known as shodo or shuji, is a form of artistic handwriting of the Japanese language. It is considered to be difficult and beautiful. Calligraphy is done with a special bamboo brush dipped in ink. The paper used for calligraphy is also very important. It is made to prevent the ink from spilling over or smudging.
Students and faculty were able to practice five times and pick their favorite one to enter into a competition. Whoever had the best handwriting, won a prize. There were top three calligraphers from the group who won expensive Japanese figurines. The rest of the group were able to pick a smaller prize. Two Japanese students brought with them from Japan, anime designed folders and figurines for everyone to take home for free as their prize.
Norkio Donahue, the Japanese professor at Piedmont Virginia Community College, invited all her students and anyone interested in Japanese calligraphy, to watch the event. The professional calligrapher lives in Japan and had flown all the way down to Charlottesville to teach students how to do Japanese calligraphy. Each individual student was able to work with her one on one for an insightful experience. The Japan club will hold similar events like this in the future. According to the Japan club’s bio on the Piedmont website, they hope to bring Japanese culture to Piedmont Virginia Community College by incorporating Japanese games, food, and tradition. You can contact Lydia Simmers, the Japan Club president, at Lcs2849@email.vccs.edu for any questions about joining Japan club. Or you can contact Noriko Donahue at ndonahue@pvcc.edu for more information on similar events in the future.
