East Asian Calligraphy

Introduction

In this textbook, brought to you cooperatively by the Korean, Japanese, and Chinese language textbooks, we hope to illustrate some principles of East Asian writing systems that apply to all three languages above.

Whether we are talking about Chinese characters, Japanese kana, or Korean jamo, East Asian writing systems share many similarities, including their stroke forms, basic shapes, and character structure.

Nevertheless, there are also some differences. Not all of the lessons in this textbook apply to all of the languages. Depending on the language that you are learning, you will (fortunately) be able to skip over some lessons and sections.

In the following table of contents, each link is preceded by one or more letters. The letters indicate which writing system each unit applies to. The letters are:
Chinese characters, including Chinese hanzi, Japanese kanji, and Korean hanja
Japanese kana, especially hiragana
Korean hangul

If a lesson isn't required for the language that you're learning, feel free to skip it.

Note that this course is strictly focused on writing nicely and legibly, and is meant as a supplement to the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Wikibooks. It does not teach you the actual characters / kana / hangul themselves.

Table of Contents

C	J	K				Cover
C	J	K				Introduction 介绍 介紹 紹介 소개
C	J	K				History 历史 歷史 歴史 역사
C	J	K		Unit 1	—	Basic strokes
C	J	K		Lesson 1	—	The dot
C	J	K		Lesson 2	—	The horizontal stroke
C	J	K		Lesson 3	—	The vertical stroke
C	J	K		Lesson 4	—	The left falling stroke
C	J			Lesson 5	—	The right falling stroke
C	J	K		Lesson 6	—	The right rising stroke
C	J			Lesson 7	—	Hook strokes
C	J	K		Lesson 8	—	Sharp bends
C	J	K		Lesson 9	—	Smooth bends
		K		Lesson 10	—	The circle
	J			Lesson 11	—	Cursive strokes
C	J	K		Unit 2	—	Basic shapes
C	J	K		Lesson 1	—	Basic stroke order
		K		Lesson 2	—	List of shapes found in Korean jamo
	J			Lesson 3	—	List of shapes found in Japanese hiragana
	J			Lesson 4	—	List of shapes found in Japanese katakana
C				Lesson 5	—	List of shapes found in Chinese radicals
C	J	K		Unit 3	—	Putting everything together
C	J	K		Lesson 1	—	Fitting into a square
C	J	K		Lesson 2	—	Balance and style
C	J	K		Lesson 3	—	Ways to practice
C	J	K		Lesson 4	—	Going cursive