A biomechanical case study of the brushwork of an expert calligrapher

Abstract

The purpose of the present case study was to clarify calligraphic skill of a Japanese calligrapher quantitatively. For this purpose, the brushwork of an expert calligrapher was kinematically compared with that of a novice as well as an intermediate. Three subjects (an expert calligrapher, an intermediate, and a novice) participated in the experiment. A motion capture system was used to capture the motion of a brush during writing a kanji on a Japanese writing paper. As results, absolute writing speed tended to fasten and the variability of the vertical displacement of a brush decreased along with the calligraphic skill. The frequency analysis of the horizontal velocity of a brush revealed that a dominant region shifted toward a low-frequency direction in the expert in comparison with the intermediate although their absolute writing speeds were not significantly different. These results suggest that the expert calligrapher could move the brush with rather slow than rapid change of velocity on the horizontal plane accompanying with lowering the vertical brush displacement.