Fall 1998 Proposal
name: Akira Ronald Takemoto

institution: Whitman College

language: Japanese

status: Full-time, tenure track

type: TravelFellowship

title: Writing Japanese Beautifully (Utsukushii moji)

duration: January to May, 1999

description:

Introduction
Beginning students of Japanese study how to write two different syllabaries (hiragana and katakana ) as well as a specified number of Chinese-Japanese characters called kanji. When teachers introduce the writing system, they normally begin by teaching students about hiragana, a series of symbols that represent the sounds of Japanese; and they emphasize the importance of recognizing and reproducing these characters quickly and mechanically. Students learn stroke order and quickly begin to practice how to write these symbols. In general, however, teachers introduce hiragana as static images or icons and students often see them for the first time as computer generated This project will assume a different posture. We will ask students to learn the Japanese writing system not as a series of static symbols to memorize, but as a living script to be drawn and produced with care, skill, and feeling. That is, the sounds of Japanese, when written, represent a beautiful series of hand-drawn pictures. For this reason, we will ask students to begin seeing the hiragana and katakana and kanji not as mechanically produced symbols, but as pictorial images that can be produced beautifully and well. We hope that students will also learns to appreciate good writing implements and develop a spirit or heart that senses the aesthetic qualities inherent in the characters.

A Workbook/Practice Book ( renshu cho )
To help students see the syllabaries and the kanji in a different way, we plan to begin by developing a different kind of workbook. Our intent here is to provide good calligraphic models of the hiragana and katakana and kanji. The models will be done by master calligrapher Yoshiyasu Fujii. These models will be scanned into the computer so that we can manipulate the grayscale spectrum in ways that are not possible with photocopy technology. When the scanning has been completed, we will then be able to create a practice book that will show how each stroke looks, how each stroke is combined, and how each stroke works to create a harmonious and beautiful whole. We want students to understand, however, that writing and producing Japanese script symbols does not come easily. This skill does not happen quickly. In this workbook, therefore, we want provide students with lots of space to practice and lots of models to trace, copy, and reproduce. Students will write and practice the hiragana and katakana and kanji following skillfully drawn models provided on specially designed practice paper.

Videoclip Lessons
Once the workbook is complete, we plan to develop an instructional CD-ROM program that includes videoclips that shows students how the hiragana and katakana and kanji are written by a master calligrapher in real time. We want to show students how the calligrapher produces each stroke. We want students to appreciate how the hand holds the brush and how it allows the brush to work. We want students to see how the brush glides over the paper , both quickly and leisurely, as it produces an aesthetically pleasing character. Indeed, we want students to understand and to discover that learning how to write Japanese in this way will lead to a different kind of pleasure. We want to provide some bridges which will help students see that learning Japanese is more than a verbal or mental art, it is a visual art as well.

outcome: see introductory paragraph to the project description.

timeline:

January, 1999

  1. Writing the Models: The hiragana models have been written. We would like to begin the process of scanning these into the computer.
  2. We have preliminary drawings of the workbook page. We plan to continue working to come up with a page layout that will allow maximum practice space on specially designed blocks or squares that will be divided into quadrants so that students can develop a sense of proportion. That is, we want students to see that the writing of the Japanese script is as much as about seeing spaces as it is about learning how and where the lines go.

February, 1999

  1. We want to combine calligraphic models with the practice page layout.
  2. We will also provide textual explanations that will guide students in terms of
    1. pronunciation and stroke order and meaning
    2. calligraphic hints on how to write each character well

March, 1999

  1. Create and develop further textual information
    1. the history of the writing system
    2. the handling and care of writing implements
    3. the art of writing
  2. Integrate text into page layouts

April, 1999

  1. Create cover
  2. Develop grammar notes
  3. Write introduction
May, 1999
  1. Complete workbook and prepare for use in the Fall Semester, 1999

Begin Summer Project: Videoclip and CD-ROM

amount: $1,728.00

breakdown:

Travel Costs: 3 trips to Seattle to meet and work with Fujii Yoshiyasu, master calligrapher