A photo of a kanji character "Gold" in three different fonts.

Calligraphers write illegible characters

Every year, one kanji is chosen to symbolize the year in Japan. This year, the selected character is “金” (Gold). A renowned monk from a famous Kyoto temple wrote it in a performance to announce the selected character. Interestingly, the character gained attention because many people found it “illegible.”

Calligraphy artists write kanji in various styles:

  • Kaisho: clear and easy-to-read.
  • Gyosho: faster to write.
  • Sosho: cursive and artistic.
  • And more styles with longer history

The kanji for this year seems to be written in Sosho. While Sosho is beautiful, it can be challenging to read without training. For calligraphy masters, Sosho must be second nature, but for most Japanese, it might look like a completely different character.

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