Re: OT: Japanese spirit writing

In a message dated 2002.03.11 07.51.14 AM, annis@BIOSTAT.WISC.EDU writes:

>When I was in college, oh those many years ago, at the University of
>Texas (Austin), I accidentally came across a survey of writing systems
>in Japan.  In Japanese.  One of the syllabaries given was apparently
>used by "spirits" or something like that.  It's a very sqiggly writing
>system, but at the time I thought it looked pretty cool.
>
>Has anyone else heard of this, or am I hallucinating?  Can anyone give
>a name for this?
    AFAIK it could be some kind of Shinto shamanistic/oracle-type calligraphy
system (sort of like "automatic writing"). Or it could be talismanic writing
of some kind - to make charms to appease, invoke or repel different spirits.
Or it could simply be a Zen-influenced calligraphy style. Or "all of the
above" ;)  - afterall, like Chinese calligraphy of all kinds (poetic, sacred
Buddhist, talismanic Taoist, etc.), Japanese calligraphy is no less "applied."
    I happen to possess a book that has Chinese calligraphy very similar to
what you write of: _Tao Magic: The Secret Language of Diagrams and
Calligraphy_ by Laszlo Legeza, New York: Thames & Hudson, 1975. ISBN
0-500-27062-7
    Hope that helps you search a little bit to a lot :)

czHANg

             __ __  _   __  _  __   __  __  _   __ _    ___  ___ _  ___ __
Un COUP De DéS ... JAMAIS ... N'ABOLIRA ... Le HASARD
A THROW Of the DiCe ... NEVER ... WILL ELIMINATE ... CHANCE
                                                    ~~~ Stéphane Mallarmé

"Logic, organization, government should all be forgotten inasmuch as they
begin themselves by making us forget the essential. ... We should learn to
live without working. That would mean we would have to live creatively."~~~
John Cage