On the 7th of May, there was a lovely event, Kodomo no hi, Children’s Day, on a sunny Sunday afternoon full of interactive workshops for children! JACCU, the Japanese Art & Culture Centre of Utrecht, organised a children’s day event in the aikido dojo Aikido Vereniging Domstad. Once again, Lanka was invited to collaborate with JACCU to give a shodō workshop, this time for children.

In Japan, the 5th of May is Children’s Day, Kodomo No Hi [子供の日]. It “celebrates the healthy growth and future success of all children”.

Lanka was volunteered to give two rounds of workshops. There were so many children who wanted to try Japanese calligraphy and learn how to write a kanji character. Lanka presented basic brushstrokes that are easy for beginners, so the children did not need any prior knowledge of the Japanese language. Lanka gave them some options such as dog (inu, 犬), horse (uma, 馬), flower (hana, 花), and helped them to draw them on washi paper.

Children enjoyed the workshop so much that it was difficult to take the brush back!