(image by client)
I was very honoured to receive a commission to create this artwork. “Mako” is the name of the client’s beloved cat.
I love cats >^^<
The name “Mako” is the nickname of the Japanese actor Makoto Iwamatsu. Because it is a Japanese name, I decided to render it in hiragana.
Hiragana is one of Japan’s three writing systems. It contains about 50 elegant, round characters, and is a syllabary, meaning that each character represents a phonetic sound rather than (in the case of kanji) a meaning.
Hiragana is used for:
- Short versions of names (such as “Mako” above).
2. Writing a word that you have forgotten the kanji for (common with children and foreigners!).
For example, “cat” in kanji is 猫. You can also write it phonetically in hiragana: ねこ.
3. Verb conjugations. The kanji represents the verb, and the hiragana that comes after it changes depending on whether it’s affirmative, negative, present tense, past tense, etc.
Example:
食べる = eat (present/future)
食べた = ate (past)
(食 is the kanji for “to eat”, and the characters after it are hiragana).
4. Adjective conjugations. In Japanese, adjectives conjugate too, in a similar way to verbs.
If you’re interested in owning your own custom-made calligraphy artwork, please feel free to get in touch. More details here.
Calligraphy by Vicky 