楷書　行書

Shodo, or shuji, is the Japanese art of calligraphy. There are several different styles of Japanese characters, corresponding to fonts in the Western alphabet.

Two of the most popular are kaisho　楷書: the regular block style that looks closest to the printed word, and gyosho 行書, a semi-cursive script slightly more fluid than kaisho, but not fluid to the point of near-illegibility - as is the case with the very free and flowing sosho 草書.

Above are two examples of the same phrase written in the two styles: kaisho on the left and gyosho on the right.

The phrase is, as most shodo phrases are, a four-character phrase (yon-moji-jukugo 四文字熟語). It is pronounced tosho hitori tanoshimu, and simply means "the solitary pleasure of reading."

Read more about Japanese calligraphy.

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