Database: Calligraphy

The Japanese art of calligraphy dates back to the introduction of Chinese characters (kanji) and was influenced by the styles of both the Korean and the Chinese. The Japanese style began to distinguish itself as early as the 9th century, and by the 10th century, the wayō style of calligraphy had developed. Wayō displayed characters in a smooth, fluid form, while harmonizing the kanji with the hiragana, the newly established phonetic alphabet.

Many calligraphers were the descendants of Fujiwara no Yukinari, the greatest calligrapher of that time. Their calligraphy style, known as Sesonji-ryu, became the predominant trend at the imperial court.

During the 13th and 14th centuries, a new and distinct style, influenced by the Chinese calligraphy of the time, was taken up by priests travelling frequently between Japan and China and was widely used in Zen temples. In the 14th century, a member of the imperial family named Son'en, who became the head of Enryaku-ji temple, developed a style of calligraphy known as Oie-ryū, which incorporated elements of Zen with the Sesonji style. This new style had a major impact on calligraphy and was used extensively in the official documents of the Muromachi shogunate. It gained popularity among the general public during the Edo period and so became the standard Japanese writing system. In the 16th century, the Ryukyu Islands, which were considered a foreign land in Japan at the time, adopted the Oie-ryu style for official documents and stele inscriptions.