Deguchi Suikou Calligraphy School

A calligraphy classroom in Toneyama, Toyonaka, ten minutes on foot from Hotarugaike station on the Hankyu Takarazuka line and the Osaka Monorail. It has been taught since 2010 by Emiko Deguchi, who holds the full teaching license in calligraphy. It is not a room where everyone writes the same thing: she looks at how a person actually holds the brush and what they are trying to do, and teaches from there. Both hands are taught side by side — the brush and ink, and the pencil and pen — so the work runs from large pieces on paper down to a name, or the writing daily life in Japan actually asks of you. The paper, the ink, the practice sheets, the pens and the pencils all belong to the classroom, so you arrive with nothing in your hands.