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Japanese is traditionally written vertically, although horizontal writing is now becoming more common in web page’s and textbooks. Horizontal text is read like most western languages (left to right, and top to bottom). Vertical text, like Chinese, is written top to bottom, and from right to left.
There are a few ways to write kana; the main examples in the guidebook are common in print and on the web. However, as with English letters, this not how you are likely write to it when you use a pen rather than a typewriter, (e.g. ‘a’ as opposed to ’a’). We illustrate various fonts which typify kana handwriting with each glyph. Notice how in the handwritten examples, some glyphs have certain strokes more or less ‘connected’. When writing kana by hand, some people prefer to use a pencil for as it looks softer and less mechanical.
The art of Japanese calligraphy revolves around the three techniques named after the way of finishing a stroke, these are:
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