But that would not be the experience that a Japanese person has when they view the display with the kanji scroll. They would know what it says. So why don't they display scrolls with English on them so that they could experience it the same way, if that's the way its "supposed" to be experienced?
- bob
I didn't say english was the way it should be experienced?
It's not about what is on the scroll always. Sometimes it's about the art of the kanji. Trust me, I could hang 50 scrolls with calligraphic kanji on them and line up 100 Japanese guys, and maybe they would read two of them.
Japanese Calligraphy is almost impossible to read even for a Japanese person. There are possibly tens of thousands of hanko on pots that are lost to time because no one can read what they say. No one can read the chops nor the signatures. They are personal and the characters mean nothing to someone not knowing what they read.
It's like autographs. We all have seen very famous autographs in magazines and books and unless someone tells who it was we would have never figured it out based on the writing. It's to obscure.
I am the president of a Japanese club, Akatsuki. My teacher is 75 years old, and very old school Japanese. I have 27 scrolls now. I have showed them to my teacher and my Japanese freinds and have only had one read. The one I posted. "Pine needles in the wind". They can't even read the signatures, which should be readible.
