Hello everyone.

It is still cold and snowing in Japan.

Well, at NILS, we held a “書初め（Kakizome）” session.

Do you know what a “書初め（Kakizome）” is?

初め means “For the first time” and 書” means “Write” in Japanese. People do calligraphy to celebrate the New Year and write their goals at the beginning of the year.　It is one of the traditional annual events that have been held in Japan since ancient times.

NILS students write calligraphy at the beginning of each year!

After practicing how to write with their teachers, students write their favorite kanji characters.

Let’s take a look at the class!

First, the students watch the teacher’s model and practice writing.

Very good! Not surprising at all.

Mishima-sensei is a teacher at NILS and has a certificate to teach calligraphy.

Can students draw well?

Well written! Very nice work.

Everyone is very serious. The people in the back are looking pretty good to show off to the camera. lol

Finally, the students wrote a clean copy on a piece of card paper and took it home with them. Everyone’s work is very well done.

Some of the fine works are displayed at the school.

This one in particular made all the teachers swoon!

Wow! It was written by Mr. Han from Vietnam.

The character he wrote is “zanshin”.

Zanshin” means “to leave one’s mind behind,” and in Japanese martial arts, it means to keep one’s attention on the enemy’s attack, even immediately after an attack. The sentiment of the word and the characters are so perfect that even passing teachers couldn’t help but pause at the work.

When we asked him why he chose this word, he replied

” Because the shape of the character was beautiful.”

There seemed to be no deep meaning. Lol 

Still, it’s wonderful, isn’t it?

We can’t wait to see what next year will bring!

↓↓Please click here for more information and new update!↓↓

https://www.nilsjapan.com/programs/