The students in year 3 at Ishida Kindergarten have began to practice writing Japanese calligraphy.

They completed their second lesson on Monday, and their first lesson had taken place in the middle of May.

Ishida Kindergarten has a room on the second floor that is dedicated as a calligraphy room.

The lessons are currently conducted by Nakamura sensei, who is the new calligraphy teacher at the school.

All the students have been learning how to use the different calligraphy tools. At their desk they use a felt mat, a metal bar, a rubber mat, an ink pot, and a calligraphy brush.

Firstly, each student’s pot is filled with black ink, and they receive a sheet of special paper. The paper must be folded in half, and then opened up; thus gaining a halfway dividing line. The metal bar is then placed at the top of the paper, to hold it in place.

Following this, the students must dip their brush in the ink, being careful not to get too much ink. They can then start to write lines on the paper. The brush should be gripped similar to how they  grip a pencil, and it should then be held vertically.

During the first lessons, the children mainly learned the basic skills of brushwork, and practiced horizontal and vertical lines. At the end of the second lesson, they practiced two characters of hiragana – “ko” and “i”.

It was a little difficult to keep the lines straight, well spaced out, and of the correct thickness.

Everyone sat nicely and tried hard to learn the rules and techniques of calligraphy. I am sure that they will enjoy to practice more characters over the coming months.

Well done to all the students in the Lion and the Tsubaki classes. I am really looking forward to see more of their calligraphy work!!

– Mark –

 

（年長組は書道教室があります。1回目は5月半ばに、そして2回目の書道教室が月曜日にありました。

幼稚園の2階には書道教室の部屋があります。今年度からは中村先生をお招きしています。

子ども達は、書道の道具（筆、すずり、文鎮、下敷きなど）の使い方について学びました。

そしてすずりに墨汁を入れてもらい、半紙を1枚受け取ります。半紙は半分に折り目をつけ、文鎮を載せます。

そして筆に墨汁をつけます。つけすぎないように気を付けながら、半紙の上に縦線と横線の練習をします。筆は鉛筆のように持ち、立てて書きますよ。

初めての書道教室では、縦線と横線を描き、筆の使い方を練習しました。そして月曜日の最後には、ひらがなの「こ」と「い」を練習しました。まっすぐな線、線の太さや文字の位置に気を付けながら書くのは、少し難しそうでしたね。

みんな姿勢よく座り、先生の話をよく聞いて頑張りました。これからいろいろな文字を練習するのが楽しみですね。

Lion組、そしてつばき組の子ども達はとても頑張っていましたよ。これからの書道教室も楽しみですね！！

Mark先生より）