“You Died” and that’s OK
Calligraphy and Dark Souls - A comparison and retrospective JODY FRYE For forty-five minutes I sit in a side room in my teacher’s house, slowly and methodically writing out kanji stroke by stroke. I make sure that the paper is flat, taut. I make sure that there’s not too much ink on my brush. I double check the spacing of each stroke, and do my best to make sure their thickness is consistent and edges are clean. For forty-five minutes, I maintain my concentration on each kanji, making sure that each is satisfactory. I’ve already scrapped 3 pages within the first 5 minutes because I can never get the second stroke right: but this submission 76
is good! I’ve finally found that state of flow. At forty-six minutes I can feel my hand begin to twitch. Three strokes to go. Taking a second to put my brush down and give my hand some relief, I look at the clock: barely ten minutes left, no time for another submission attempt. I pick up my brush again, but my mind is already onto whether or not Itoku will still have discount karaage by the time we get there. While I fight against myself to try and get back in the zone and focus on the final strokes, I miss-space the first, the second is at the wrong angle, and my hand
