A beautiful book, it’s such a stunning one to keep going back to browse through and it has really clear and helpful instructions on how to learn this special skill and to improve your art skills to be able to do it. It’s been so fun to go through it for me and try and learn more about this and to practice it too! Definitely recommend if your looking to pick up a new hobby or skill!

An interesting book with a lot of detail about a fascinating subject! The illustrations and diagrams are much appreciated. This isn't the kind of hobby I think I can pick up from a book, having read it, but I'm appreciative that the opportunity exists for others who can read and do versus needing a show and tell.

I very much enjoyed this beautiful book. The illustrations and directions are well done, concise and clear. The combination of Calligraphy and Mindfulness interested me and Shodo was not a disappointment. I would thank the publishers and Netgalley for an ARC of this lovely book.

This is a beautiful introduction to the world of Shodo. The author expertly outlines such an ancient and important art in a way that is easy to understand for beginners and non-Japanese speaking people. Covering topics such as essential equipment, initial techniques and practice kanji, as well as the more weighty aspects of zen and mindfulness, this rounded approach to Shodo ensures anyone can practice and begin to see the benefits of this kind of approach.

Having the author's examples throughout the book was really wonderful, and helped to gain that understanding of the difference between Shodo and merely writing out the characters, It also assists with learning Japanese for anyone not familiar with the kanji covered. I felt like reading on my kindle didn't allow the work to shine as it should, so I'd recommend getting a hard copy of this book,

A lovely piece that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in Japanese language & culture, mindfulness, or calligraphy itself.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for this ARC - all opinions here are my own, honest, and freely given.

A good book for beginners, the book is very well written

The zen and mindfulness was an interesting part to read and helped me to think about things I usually forget about. As a child I was very interested in Calligraphy so this was a nostalgic read for me and it's something I think I'd like to take back up again, it's often a dying art as we move further into the modern world, it's something we should keep alive, Shodo is very expertly researched and translates into a wonderful book that is slightly different to most given the subject topic and it's because it has the highlighted area's of zen and meditation something I feel the modern world needs.

A very calming book and a very interested and mindful read.

Many thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC in return for my somewhat late but not forgotten review!

I have been struggling to learn Japanese for two years and this book has really helped. I was going to fast and not absorbing what I had learned before racing on. Now by slowly writing out the Japanese characters following the methods in Shodo, learning Japanese has become clearer and more enjoyable. It is very mindful and calming.

Such a great book teaching all about the Japanese art of Shodo! With calligraphy becoming popular again in the mainstream, I love this book for teaching its origins and educating us about its roots. Very cool!

I enjoyed this and found it really useful as I have recently taken interested in calligraphy. I have yet to try the techniques but am looking forward to putting them into practice.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Watkins Media Limited for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed Shodo by Rie Takeda. This book is very clearly written. I enjoyed the detailed breakdown of the different Shodo Calligraphy techniques. The stoke instructions were easy to follow, especially on the ebook set up next to my workspace. The beginning of the book has a detailed history of the practice and is quite interesting. All of these things in themselves would make this book a real gem for anyone's art room. What sets this book apart is taking the idea of a regular Shodo practice into a more meditative, mindfulness practice. The relaxation and energy achieved from trying her techniques were much welcomed by this stressed-out reader!

I have previously done an online course on Shodo, so I was interested to see what this book would be like. Overall, I think it is a good guide, especially for beginners. As well as discussing Zen and mindfulness, the author reviews the equipment required for Shodo and the basic strokes, before introducing a series of kanji to practice with in more detail. The book is nicely laid out and illustrated throughout with useful diagrams and images of completed kanji calligraphy. It would definitely make a good introductory text for anyone interested in Shodo and it gets 4 stars from me.