Up until recently, many artists were able to earn a living by selling their art and creations, however in recent years, this has taken a change, with many inbound visitors looking not to buy but to experience. There has been a sharp increase in experience based events and functions with a decline in simple selling of goods.
Reference: Japan Tourism Agency, "Recommendation for the creation of experience-based content for inbound guests"
(Kankoukeizai Shimbun Japanese only)

The practice of Japanese Calligraphy or Shodō (書道) has been around for over 1,500 years, dating back to when Chinese characters or Kanji was introduced to Japan. Examples can be found dating back to around 686 AD. Over the years the way of writing has changed, with a variety of styles occurring. There are three main styles that are in use today:

"Kaisho"楷書（かいしょ）: A style where the artist deliberately makes each stroke recognisable, and is easiest to read. This would be seen as being closest to printed text.
"Gyosho"行書（ぎょうしょ）: A style where strokes are less deliberately made. This is seen as being one of the most common forms of Shodō and the foundation for many schools of calligraphy in Japan.
"Sōsho"草書（そうしょ）: A style that is highly stylised and is made normally with the artist's brush rarely leaving the page. Due to being highly stylised, without mastering the art, it can be nigh impossible to read. This is seen as being the main style for artists to shine in.

There are a collection of different organisations that oversee calligraphy in Japan. The largest of these is NITTEN, The Japan Fine Arts Association. NITTEN is one of the oldest art organisations in Japan, starting in 1907. It contributes by being one of the largest combined art associations in the World collecting a selection of different crafts and artistry. Being part of this exhibition is seen as being a great honour, being able to show of your work among other masters of their trades.

Even for those artists that wish to create an experience for visitors to Japan, it can be extremely difficult for these artists to find a place to do so.

Even if they coordinate everything themselves or approach a travel agency, getting foreigners to attend the experience can be a huge hurdle to overcome. In order to help with this, this project's main aim is to create a place where pro artists and creators of Japanese traditional cultural arts can come together and hold these experiences. The aim is to create this in Central Tokyo a minute walk away from Tsukiji Station.


Address: 2-chōme-11-12 Tsukiji,Chuo City, Tōkyō-to 104-0045

After the creation of this space, artists will have a permanent place to both hold these experiences as well as display their goods for people to see and purchase. By doing so, it will help to bring both artist and guest closer together, as well as giving the artists the chance to accept made to order requests.

Of course there are a variety of special culture experience companies in Japan, which showcases the culture on a basic level. You can find tea ceremonies, kimono wearing experiences, as well as ninja experiences in Japan, but for the most part they are run by amateurs. One thing that makes this project different is that we look at bringing in professionals. By doing so, we both look at raising up those that hone their skills over the years and decades, as well as giving tourists and visitors an experience that is not attainable elsewhere!

For those that just want to just touch on Japanese culture a little while here and while exploring the rest of Japan, the first situation is a good compromise. It allows for tourists to explore Japanese culture in English for the most part and are able to understand the culture on a base level. But for those that want a more in-depth experience, this service will give the participants the chance to get in touch with amazing professionals and learn the culture on a deeper level. There is also an apparent need for those that have a higher disposable income as well as companies that wish to attend these in-depth experiences and learn about the culture more. This is why it is a great opportunity for these professionals of their fields to offer their years of cultural knowledge to those that wish to learn!
Reference:Not Enough Valuable Experiences for the Wealthy in Japan（PRESIDENT Online -Google Translated Article）」18th October 2019

So we've not really introduced ourselves. We are Japan Culture and Technology (https://j-cat.co.jp/). With a motto of "Share Culture by Innovation and Technology", we are looking to use technology and new platforms to help support, protect, and broaden culture to those all over the world! In the future, we hope to be able to create a platform that will allow Japanese artists, no matter their location or skill level, to conduct and teach workshops to anyway to that is willing to learn!

At the moment we have secured the support of some amazing artists. These are people that I've been able to meet via work connects, or networking or through other artists. For the most part, it is centred on Calligraphy but we are also looking towards those in the crafts field as well as flower arrangement, tea ceremony and so on.

Shougo Kuroda: Lacquer craftsman and calligrapher

A member of the Sogen Calligraphy Association as well as being selected for Japan Fine Arts Exhibition 6 times. Member of Toyama Design Association. http://sho5kuroda.com/index.html

Shizue Morioka: Female calligrapher

A member of the Sogen Calligraphy Association as well as a participant at the Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition an event sponsored by Mainichi Shimbun. The president of "Seichoukai 青鳥会", a calligraphy class. (https://www.facebook.com/pg/moriokashizue/posts/)Entrant to the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition. Offered experience based events in Paris, Milan, Finland, and The Czech Republic. https://www.shizue-morioka.com/

Focus: Atsushi Miyazaki: Calligrapher

With our first focus, Mr. Atsushi Miyazaki, we wanted to look at both some of this amazing professionals accomplishments as well as look at the students that have joined his classes.
Background:
A member of the Sogen Calligraphy Association as well as a participant at the Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition an event sponsored by Mainichi Shimbun, one of the largest newspapers in Japan. Member of the All Japan Sho Federation. A regular member of the Japanese Poetry Writers Association. Holds adult calligraphy classes in Shibuya / Shinjuku (https://www.calligraphy-lesson.com/). He has won numerous prizes, including the Sogen Calligraphy Sogen Exhibition Special Selection Prize, and the Sogen Calligraphy Sogen Exhibition Mainichi Shimbun Award.

Guest Impressions:
A more in-depth interview can be found on Japankuru.com here: Traditional Japanese Artist: Atsushi Miyazaki - Calligrapher

Below is a list of other calligraphers that have also put forward their support!
Everyone that is involved has studied calligraphy from an early age and went on to specialise in these areas, such as calligraphy or art studies at university. They are the leaders in their fields, and as such hold teaching licenses, are experienced teachers at schools, preside over numerous classrooms and have received a variety of awards from exhibition, in Japan and overseas.
▼Hakou Takano　
Member of Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition
Sogen Exhibition Judge
Selected for Nitten
President of Ryuho Calligraphy Association
Senior high school, vocational school calligraphy lecturer

▼ Wakyo Saito　
Member of Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition
Sogen Exhibition Judge
Selected for Nitten
Former Chiba Prefectural High School Calligraphy Teacher
Founder of Saito Kazuko Calligraphy Class

▼ Kyoka Takada　
Member of Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition
Sogen Exhibition Judge

▼ Shihou Abe　
Member of Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition
Sogen Exhibition Judge
High school calligraphy lecturer
Founder of Shihou Abe Calligraphy Class

▼ Kenyo Nakazawa　
Member of Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition
Sogen Exhibition Judge
High school, vocational school calligraphy lecturer
Founder of Nakazawa Calligraphy Class

▼ Kouka Fukuoka　
Member of Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition
Sogen Exhibition Judge
Founder of Kouka Fukuoka Calligraphy Class

▼ Kaei Nakamura 　
Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition Friends
Sogen Exhibition Judge
Senior high school calligraphy
Founder of Kaei Nakamura Calligraphy Class

▼ Hiroko Shimazaki　
Member of Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition
Sogen Exhibition Judge
Founder of Shimazaki Calligraphy Class

▼ Takato Kaneko　
Member of Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition
Sogen Exhibition Judge
Editor-in-chief, "Calligraphy Magazine"

▼ Kaori Kujirai　
Member of Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition
Sogen Exhibition Judge
President of Kujirai Calligraphy Class

■ Thank you message and update pictures
We would like to send a thank-you message and a photo of the completed workshop space to all those who have backed the project.
■ Name posting on the website (when completed)
Your name will be posted on the website we will be making for the space (only for those who wish, nicknames and arbitrary names are also allowed)

■ Workshop invitation
After opening, we want you to come and experience the culture workshops! Although it varies depending on the field you wish to experience, we are looking at a price of about 5,000 yen to 10,000 yen for each experience, so you can attend and learn at a reasonable price. The number of guests we can invite varies depending on the amount of support we receive. (Experiences planned so far are Calligraphy, flower arrangements, crafts, etc.) (*A temporary expiry date is set for the end of June 2020. In addition, reservations for more than 2 people may be requested.)

■Special Japanese made Goods（Original Folding Fan）
For those that can't come but wish to support us, we want to provide you with a special return, in this case an order-made fan, which is designed with your name in mind. By getting professional artists to make the fan using your name or kanji it will be a unique item to you that doesn't exist elsewhere! For those that wish for this return, please let us know what you want on the fan!

↑English Names written in Kanji (Japanese writing system) These make perfect gifts! Left：マリオン(MA RI O N)/Marion（毬音）、Top Right：ケリー(KE RI -)／Kelly（恵里衣）、Bottom Left：ピート (PI – TO)／Pete（飛斗）

■Works from a Professional Artist (Small Size)
We want to offer you the chance to receive a smaller sized piece of calligraphy or craftwork from a professional that would cost around 50,000 yen or so. We can a hearing with you to discern what you want!

Sample

■Works from a Professional Artist (Medium to Large Sized)
We want to offer you the chance to receive a piece of calligraphy or craftwork from a professional that would cost around 100,000-200,000 yen or so. We can a hearing with you to discern what you want!

With this project, even if it doesn't reach its target goal, we'll be opening the workshop with the money raised.
It would be harder to start the processes to bring guests in to experience, but we want to start by creating this amazing place that artists and creators can come and offer their services to foreign visitors that wish to learn in-depth about our amazing traditional cultural crafts.
Here is the breakdown for the costs of this project:
Workshop space for one year: 200,000 Yen x 12 Months: 2,400,000
Website creation and reservation creation: 300,000 Yen
Promotion costs: 300,000 Yen
Total: 3,000,000 Yen

As you can see that the target goal is only 1,000,000 yen. This is because with the help of calligraphers, 2,000,000 Yen has been raised! But to make up that last part of the total costs we needed to look to other areas to help raise the money.

Ways to back the project!

＜Credit Card Processing＞

Registration to the site is necessary to back the project via credit card.
Click on the top of the page where it says [Sign Up] and you can enter your email address to quickly finish making your account.


Once you have made your account, you should return to this page and choose the return you wish to back.
After you’ve chosen, please enter all the necessary information as well as your credit card information and then click through to the confirmation page.
If everything has been entered correctly that will finalise your crowdfunding support.

For more information please check out this guide!