Changes in Calligraphy through Cultural Interaction: The Cross-Cultural Transmission of "Tang-like" Calligraphy in the Edo Period

Abstract

As a concrete expression of Chinese calligraphy in Japanese culture, Tang-like calligraphy of the Edo period has shown complex characteristics of intermingling and evolution in the process of cross-cultural dissemination. Tang-like calligraphy is not only a continuation of Chinese calligraphy style in Edo period Japan, but also a result of adaptation and recreation in Japanese context. With the Tokugawa Shogunate's closed-door policy, although direct exchanges between Japan and the outside world were limited, cultural exchanges with China were maintained with Nagasaki as the core direct transmission route and Korea and Ryukyus as indirect transmission routes. Calligraphers in the Edo period learned "Tang-like" calligraphy by copying Chinese posters and interacting with Chinese calligraphers, which was not only an inheritance of skills, but also an in-depth fusion and re-creation of Chinese and Japanese cultural connotations. The spread of "Tang-like" calligraphy in the Edo period reflects Japan's absorption and localization of Chinese calligraphy, thus gradually forming a unique style that not only maintains the spirit of traditional Chinese calligraphy, but also combines the aesthetic demands of local culture. In this process, the art of calligraphy in the Edo period not only reflects Japan's admiration for and learning from Chinese culture, but also demonstrates the construction and innovation of its cultural subjectivity. The cross-cultural dissemination of "Tang-like" calligraphy provides an important historical reference for cultural and artistic exchanges in the era of globalization, thus demonstrating the dual dynamics of innovation and inheritance in cultural dissemination. In the modern era of globalization, the phenomenon of cross-cultural dissemination of "Tang-like" calligraphy in the Edo period provides an important reference for the global dissemination of contemporary art and cultural fusion, thus demonstrating the complex process of selective absorption and innovative interpretation of foreign cultures by local cultures in cross-cultural exchanges.