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Utsukushii boorupenji no kihon renshū
Japanese title美しいボールペン字の基本練習
Author 野本 翠苑
CategoryCalligraphic
ISBN4537019417 [COPAC, Webcatplus, Wikipedia]

Review of Utsukushii boorupenji no kihon renshū by David Chien

Starts off with dozens of pages of examples of how characters should be written (kanji, hiragana/katakana, numbers, etc.) in pen. Blank space next to them with shadow of character to mime. Lots of Kanji after to mime. Some examples of running script (continous pen writing ala English handwriting), how cards and letters look when written in Japanese for example, and a small smattering of a few Kanji in brush as a comparison.

Opinion: Hiragana examples are sometimes oddly written and not standard at all. Katakana is better and more classical/correctly written. Most of the Kanji is mundane - not so badly written that they're imbalanced in the classical Chinese sense, acceptable as commonly seen daily Japanese pen writing, but nowhere near cool, awesome, or even beautiful.

Shaky hand syndrome in many characters ruin the beauty of strokes within a Kanji, and insecure strokes are present throughout. The example letter on the cover is far more 'normal' looking than the weak characters within, which possess little life to them.

Good enough if you're just a Gaijin learning to write kanji and not trying to go for gold in handwriting appearance. A must-return book if you're looking for good examples of 'nice' handwriting penmanship in pen.

Makes you wonder how she ever got to her age, yet writes so lifelessly.

☆ See all reviews by David Chien.


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