Tokyo: Ancient Script Calligraphy with a PhD Calligrapher

Discover Japanese calligraphy through the history hidden inside the characters themselves.

This private one-hour workshop in Roppongi is led by calligrapher Fugaku Watanabe, who earned a doctorate in Calligraphy Studies from Daito Bunka University and specializes in the study and artistic expression of ancient character forms.

Rather than simply copying a modern kanji, explore how Chinese characters changed over centuries and how ancient scripts such as seal script became part of the calligraphic tradition practiced in Japan.

Learn basic brush technique, examine older character forms, choose a character with personal meaning, and create your own calligraphy piece to take home.

Meet a calligrapher with a doctorate in the field

Your instructor, Fugaku Watanabe, began practicing calligraphy as a child and later studied at Daito Bunka University.

In 2019, he completed a doctorate in Calligraphy Studies with research focusing on historical bronze-inscription calligraphy. He currently teaches calligraphy, exhibits professionally, and runs calligraphy schools including his Roppongi studio.

This academic background is what makes the workshop different from a standard tourist calligraphy class.

Begin with brush and ink

Start with the fundamentals of Japanese calligraphy.

Learn how to:

• Hold the brush

• Control its angle

• Adjust pressure

• Begin and finish strokes

• Use black ink

• Balance the character on the page

The purpose is not to reproduce a computer font perfectly.

Calligraphy uses movement, pressure, rhythm, ink, and space to give written characters visual expression.

Discover older forms of kanji

Next, explore how familiar characters looked in older writing systems.

Historical calligraphy includes several major script styles, including seal script, clerical script, cursive script, semi-cursive script, and standard script. These forms continued to be studied and practiced in Japan, and historical Japanese educational materials also used the five styles together.

Depending on the confirmed Alva program, your instructor may introduce styles such as:

• Tensho — seal script

• Reisho — clerical script

• Kinbun — inscriptions associated with ancient bronze vessels

The exact scripts included should follow the instructor’s confirmed lesson plan.

Understand where the ancient forms came from

Avoid the idea that these scripts originated in ancient Japan.

Kanji developed from Chinese writing traditions and were later adopted and transformed within Japanese language and culture.

Your instructor will help you see how the shape of a character changed over time and how an ancient form can reveal visual ideas that are less obvious in its modern version.

Look at bronze-inscription forms

One particularly relevant area is kinbun.

Bronze inscriptions refer to characters cast or engraved on ancient Chinese bronze objects.

Fugaku Watanabe’s doctoral research centers on historical bronze inscriptions and their reproduction through calligraphy, making this an especially distinctive subject within his work.

If kinbun is included in every Alva session, this should become one of the headline features of the tour.

Choose a character

Select a character you would like to explore.

Possible examples may include concepts such as:

• Dream

• Harmony

• Love

• Fortune

• Journey

• Strength

The instructor can explain the meaning and show how the character changes between modern and older forms when an appropriate historical form exists.

Do not guarantee that every requested English word can be translated into one perfect kanji.

Practice before making the final piece

Try the character several times on practice paper.

Your instructor can demonstrate the stroke order, movement, proportions, ink amount, and spacing.

Corrections may be shown directly on the practice sheet according to the instructor’s teaching method.

The current Alva listing promises traditional red-ink correction, so this should remain only if red-ink feedback is part of every standard session.

Create your final artwork

Once you become comfortable with the brush, create your final calligraphy piece.

Fugaku Calligraphy Studio’s public international program currently offers artwork production on either colored calligraphy board or an uchiwa fan.

For the Alva experience, confirm whether guests always choose between:

• Shikishi board

• Uchiwa fan

or whether the format changes by session.

Take your work home

Your finished physical artwork becomes your souvenir from the class.

Instead of purchasing a piece of calligraphy made by somebody else, you leave with a character you selected and wrote yourself.

See calligraphy as both language and art

Japanese calligraphy is not simply handwriting practice.

The same character can look very different depending on script style, brush pressure, line quality, spacing, ink, and the calligrapher’s interpretation.

The workshop is designed to show this connection between:

character → history → brush movement → visual art

within one short experience.