14/11/2017

Promoting internationalization has been a goal of Hokusei Gakuen University since its establishment. As part of this, the university has been working to provide a variety of international exchange programs and events in addition to formal academic classes that are taught in several languages.
At present, there are 19 international students studying at Hokusei Gakuen University in the fall semester exchange program (16 students who arrived in September and three who are continuing from last semester). A calligraphy introductory lesson was held on Wednesday, October 18, as one of the various Japanese culture programs for the international students.
This was the first time for the international students to do Japanese calligraphy, so they began by learning how to use the tools, especially the special fude (brush). At first it was difficult for them to hold the brush correctly, but they learned with help from the Calligraphy Club members.
After learning how to hold the fude, they moved to next step of learning how do draw lines and curves. After that, they practiced writing actual kanji (Japanese characters) starting with easy ones like yama (山= mountain)and kawa (川= river). Finally, the international students displayed their works on the blackboard and introduced why they choose the word that they wrote.