Learning Japanese (+ calligraphy box)

by Philippe Florent · Published August 30, 2022 · Updated October 27, 2022

You know when your telling yourself, “One day I’ll learn Japanese” ???

Well I finally decided to put my mind (and memory) into it!

The whole idea is about :

learning the theory
watching tons of Japanese videos to familiarize my ears to the pronunciation
making a box to store my ink and plumes

So I learn a couple of word here and there, put them in an excel sheet and exercise myself to remember the words and how to write them.

I am so happy when I see a word or a letter that I recognize, walking around in the streets, or in a youtube video.

I realized how much I liked to use a plume and write Japanese words.

Here I spell the word はじめまして meaning “nice to meet you” and pronounced ha dji mé ma shi té

Now, although I am not aiming at being a master in calligraphy, I still decided to make myself a calligraphy box !!

Yeah I know there are plenty of boxes to purchase online, but where would be the fun ? And they don’t look as gorgeous as the one I made.

so TADA !!!

For those who don’t know, these patterns are called Yosegi.

These are not painted, they are slices of wood !!!

The wood blocks are built from wood sticks of different colors and shapes, glued together to form intricated patterns. Only Japanese could have the patience to invent and practice such a technique.

Now hold on ! While the result is astonishing, it’s not the only trick Japanese craftsman’s had in their sleeves ! They use these sheets to decorate secret boxes.

Secret boxes surface contain hidden sliding panels. To be opened, these boxes require you to figure out which panel to slide, how to slide them and in what order.

Japanese secret boxes are quiet expensive and can have hundreds of hidden panels to move.