A 90-year-old calligrapher from Kobe started the campaign to have Japanese calligraphy added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, and a UNESCO advisory body has now recommended its inscription, which would make it Japan's 24th such listing.
Keido Ishige, head of the Japan Calligraphy Culture Association, proposed the effort. The tradition he set out to protect is kana calligraphy, or kana-sho, a Japanese form in which ink lines and white space are composed together.
From kana to Japanese calligraphy culture
The campaign began in 2009, when Chinese calligraphy was inscribed on the intangible heritage list. "Japan has to try a bit harder too," Ishige recalled thinking, saying the idea was to think 100 years ahead so that calligraphy culture continues, and to have UNESCO say it should be treasured.
The original target was kana, which is distinctively Japanese. Ishige sees its character not only in its forms but in soft curves. He says the Japanese aesthetic shows in a line he describes as rich and warm, one that echoes the curves of birds painted on dotaku, the bronze bells of ancient Japan.
In 2014 he and two other calligraphers asked the commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs to seek inscription. Asked whether the request was from an individual, Ishige realized the limits of one person's efforts. The following year he set up a promotion council of major calligraphy organizations and began campaigning as a group.
He also widened the proposal from kana to Japanese calligraphy culture as a whole, including new year calligraphy and other practices rooted in daily life, and has led the campaign nationwide.
A push for brush and ink in early grades
With UNESCO inscription in prospect, Ishige wants children to handle a brush during their first and second years of elementary school. Calligraphy with a brush currently starts in Japanese language classes in the third grade.
"Even one character or two on hanshi paper — if they write it with a brush…" he said, before the sentence was cut off in the published text.