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| Figure 1: Kana Shodo as written in the Tale of Genji, the world's oldest novel (Source: The British Library) |
Typically when one reflects on human history the accomplishments and exploits of men are the focus, but women had a great deal of influence, power, and contributions to art/literature, religion, military conquests, human evolution, and more. Today’s blog post will expand the current blog posts concerning women in history, specifically addressing Kana Shodo (Figure 1), a native Japanese script that is slowly being revived thanks to the efforts of one woman. The history and meaning of Kana Shodo will be discussed, along with the revitalization efforts that are bringing attention to this lost script.
The term Kana Shodo translates to “woman’s hand” and it was derived from Kanji Shodo, the script imported from China, and manyougana, the oldest Japanese script that was also adopted from Chinese script. It began in the 10th century, and Japanese myth assigns the originator of this script to a Japanese priest. There is no historical evidence to back up this claim or identify who specifically invented this script. It was used primarily by women for personal correspondence (e.g. diaries or letters among women), the composition of love letters and important pieces of popular literature, as well as for secretive communications, such as planning assassinations and more.
The content of early Kana Shodo writings provides a rich glimpse into imperial Japanese life and culture, particularly from the women’s perspective. Kanji Shodo was considered the script of the Japanese male elite, thereby reserved for samurai, monks, and noblemen, and the texts written in this script often showcase the military, religious, and political interests of the Japanese. It was also prohibited to be learned and used by women, who wanted to express themselves through the written word. They therefore created Kana Shodo, a flowing, cursive like text that was meant to embody femininity and beauty. One of the key purposes of Kana Shodo was for women to court men. As it was taboo for women to speak with or show their faces to men women were left with writing letters, and it was a Japanese belief that the more beautiful the letter (in script and content) the more beautiful the woman. It is said that Japanese noble women would compete to create the newest Kana Shodo scripts, with the most feminine being adopted.
Kana Shodo also provided women an opportunity to break into male dominated fields, particularly literature. Women would write poems and novels in Kana Shodo, which became popular among not only women but men, too. In fact, the world’s first novel was written in Kana Shodo and by a female author. This, along with the desire to correspond back with women love interests, forced men to be able to read and write in Kana Shodo, although they were discouraged from writing in the script unless it was in correspondence to women. This did not stop them or women to use the script to plot political intrigue, such as assassination attempts.
In the 1900s the Japanese education system was formalized, and only 46 of the Kana Shodo characters were adopted into the formal written language. Approximately 300 characters and thousands of variant characters were lost as a result. They were not, however, forgotten. Master calligrapher Kaoru Akagawa became inspired by reading her grandmother’s writings, as well as historical texts written by Japanese women, and sought and continues to work to revive the lost characters. She cites that this is one of Japan’s own written languages, a true piece of their cultural identity, which means it should be saved and used more often over Kanji Shodo, which was brought in from Japan. She uses her fame as an artist and calligrapher to share her story, the Kana Shodo script, as well as Japanese culture with the world, all in an effort to revitalize Kana Shodo.
References
Akagawa, Kaoru. Kana-Artist and a Master of Kana Shodo, Kaoru Akagawa. 2010. Electronic. 3 June 2021.
Dearnley, Elizabeth. "Saving 'woman hand': the artist rescuing female-only writing." The Guardian 26 June 2019. Electronic.
Jozuka, Emiko. "The Japanese calligrapher who keeps a forgotten female ancient script alive." CNN Style 15 March 2020. Electronic.
