Calligraphy, or ‘Shodo’, is a form of artistic writing in Japanese language, which literally means ‘the path of the brush’.
Sensei Ransetsu Ozawa began to learn the art of calligraphy when she was not yet five years old. Traditionally in Japan, children start to learn the art or craft of some kind of a special day - 6 of June (the sixth day of the sixth month) in the year when they turn 6 years old. Sometimes, the child is considered to be one year old on the day of birth in Japan, so in some families children actually begin to learn arts and crafts at five.
Photo: Ozawa Ransetsu Official Webpage
Her Sensei, a well-known master of calligraphy Yanagida Taiun, recognizing the student’s talent, offered three choices of creative nickname for her. All three options included the ‘Ran’ hieroglyph, meaning ‘orchid’, which made a part of the name of Yanagida’s mother, also a famous calligrapher. She chose strict and elegant ‘Ran Setsu’, the ‘Snow Orchid’.
After graduation from the university, where she studied English literature, and marriage she still went on with the calligraphy that became the main business of her life.
Photo: Ozawa Ransetsu Official Webpage
'Merely оnе line
Маy be all that remains
From а person's brush;
Yet this alone would reveal
The heart of the writer'.