Japanese Type Design

Collected symbols, such as circles, triangles, square figures, weather marks, etc., vary depending on the font set. It is a point to show the figures in visually the same size, not to arrang…

Similar to the previously-mentioned parentheses, there are several types of arrows. Depending on the arrow, each glyph must be prepared up and down, left and right. Using the same shape for …

I would like to talk about convoluted parentheses this time. In addition to having several types, such as parentheses “()” and square brackets “「」,” there are open and closed versions of eac…

Here, we discuss the macron and iteration mark. Although the macron (“ー”) looks like a simple straight line, it must be designed in accordance with each font. As there are differences in cre…

Japanese yakumono (punctuation marks and symbols) is a generic term for symbols (punctuation marks, parentheses, etc.) apart from words and numbers used in typesetting. In this series, I wou…

The glyphs collected in StdN have been introduced in this series to this point. Today, in the series finale, I would like to introduce kana system glyphs that increase much more in large cha…

Today, I would like to introduce points on creating half-width and blocks of multiple characters arranged in a space equivalent to that of a single character, testing the application ability…

I introduced the story of the number of glyphs in the previous article of this series. Today, I would like to introduce points on creating them. Kana with voiced dots and semi-voiced dots It…

“The 50 sounds in Hiragana” are often referenced. However, when creating Hiragana in font creation, 50 glyphs are not enough, and usually an approximate 100 glyphs are created. Glyphs, such …

I don’t think anybody can catch a glimpse of the creator’s feeling by looking at each font character. However, many kanji characters have this meaning embedded, so I tend to associate a vari…

When the characters of “之繞” (shin-nyou) are typed in a font, there is a group with one dot for shin-nyou, such as “近, 送,通,” and another group with two dots for shin-nyo, such as “迚, 遙, 迴.” F…

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…