Japanese Type Design

What are the common names for each radical? Apart from those in which the original kanji names are used as they are, such as “ki-hen, take-kanmuri, mon-gamae,” etc., there are names with a t…

As previously introduced in this blog, kanji can be categorized by radical. Although the number of radical categories varies depending on the dictionary, there are some radicals that have co…

Adjustment of thickness is essential to creating a sense of unity in the character. For “木 (Ki)” that comes in the center, there are more adjustments in the horizontal stroke. Thickness is a…

As introduced in the first article of the series, some forms of “木 (Ki)” incorporate a stop brush on the forth stroke. Adjustment of this stop brush may be bold compared to the other strokes…

“木 (Ki)” becomes vertically long in ki-hen, such as “村, 榑, 樹,” etc. The width of “木 (Ki)” is tuned to a fine degree to match the element that comes on the right side. On the other hand, ther…

From this time, I would like to focus only on “木 (Ki)” and introduce what kind of adjustments are made in creating kanji. There are a lot of kanji with “木 (Ki),” such as “札, 杉, 村, 極, 機, 樹, 呆…

To create a radical, there is a group of patterns that are approved, such as making a certain stroke in a stop brush or sweeping. Even with choices made freely, taking a broad view of charac…

The radicals of the enclosed system include “tare,” “nyou,” and “kamae.” Thickness is adjusted so that appearance of the enclosing side is stronger, and the enclosed part is weaker. Regardin…

Today, I would like to introduce points on creating a kanji that consists of the top and bottom division as the horizontal division system. The part on the top of kanji is called “kanmuri (c…

The part on the left of kanji is “hen,” and the part on the right of a kanji is “tsukuri.” Today, I would like to introduce hen, tsukuri, and points on creating constituents of kanji with ve…

Kanji can be grouped by radical. Radicals are a part of kanji. For example, “焼, 炊, and 炒” are all kanji with a common radical. This radical is “火” when it is written alone. As the part on th…

It is a basic requisite to design any Japanese character in an imaginary body of the same size. However, there may be dispersion in the space between characters at the time of typesetting, a…

Even in one character, several patterns, such as “connecting/separating strokes,” may be allowed. When the difference is neither superior nor inferior from a wide perspective, it is required…

Mincho typeface is a standard typeface in Japanese typesetting often used in texts, etc. in books. Comparing kanji and kana in Mincho typeface, the elements are quite different. Originating …

As an important point for creating the thick weight in particular, there is thickness adjustment for strokes. Even when all strokes of kanji, hiragana, and katakana are numerically set at th…

Each glyph of a font is designed in the square frame called “imaginary body.” Furthermore, a frame one size smaller than imaginary body called “type face” is set in Japanese glyphs to use as…

Features of Japanese notations using three character types, titled “Typesetting Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana” are described previously in this blog. Focusing on the perspective of design wo…