How I used Python to Resurrect an Ancient Japanese script 角字 - 江戶文字
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- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
- Kakuji (角字) is a style of characters used for creating seals which became popular during the Edo era in Japan. It is classified in a group of styles from that time known as Edomoji (江戶文字). Using Python and Fontforge's scripting tools I created a font which comprises all known Kakuji style characters which is available to download below.
GitHub: github.com/Ink...
New Kakuji Font: www.myfonts.co...
www.notin.tokyo
If you want to check out my python script send me an email at inkboxsoftware@notin.tokyo 
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Lots of time and love went into this project. Well done my man! Very cool piece of art for you to revive!
Your absolute passion when it comes to "scripts" is absolutely heartwrenching.
I thought I liked 字. Yet here you are making a font out of a 200 year old character art style.
Absolutely breath taking.
Very well edited and lovely use of technology, looking forward to future videos :)
Thanks so much, this is my first project like this, so I appreciate the support
Inkbox Software even if it doesn’t go viral, if you consistently output informational and creative videos like this you will be very successful :) great work man 👍🏼👍🏼
*Sees you add in Latin letters to the font.*
Ah yes, now I can write my Western initials as Kakuji.
You should get in touch with ZENZO (search ZENZO + 角字), who creates customized kakuji based on all known and documented kakuji since its inception during the Edo Period. The problem with this particular style is that it's open to interpretation because of the size restrictions (you have to fit multiple strokes with the same proportions inside a square). Any character under 3 or beyond 10 strokes becomes an extremely daunting task and forces one to be very creative and still look aesthetically pleasing. Keep up the good work!
I've just checked out ZENZO and am blown away by their work. I want to get in contact with them but can't seem to find any information on their website. Are you familiar with how I could reach out to them?
I wonder instead of manually painting every character design if you could extract the commonly used radicals from existing Kakuji characters and use them to automatically synthesize new ones based on their radical composition. Something similar how the RRPL project builds its characters.
I considered doing that at one point, but the issue is that the small gaps in the characters need to align as well, meaning that even characters with the same radical can be drawn differently. For example the 3 water drop radical in 清 and 汉 have their radical drawn in slightly different ways to align with the gaps in the right side of the character. But I did also check out the RRPL project, I'm going to have to bookmark that page and I will definitely be using that later, thanks for bringing it up.
This is really motivating to watch, hehe
I got a bit scared when you mentioned FontForge, but you got the hang of the program way quicker than I did
I've been interested in space-filling graphics and fractals, for a while now (at 22 y/o). It is so good to see that history has already touched upon this area in typography and this has given me a lot of inspiration, so thank you. Gratitude is needed in places with little infrastructure such as this. Making glyphs fit a grid, always completely filling it, only using hairline counter spaces and preserving stroke continuity and direction... are some unique constraints for human writing. Great work! I appreciate it a lot
What a wonderful project, through execution and documentation. Thanks for sharing with us. Through experience, I know that making a video on your project can end up taking as much time as the project itself. Good luck to you in future endeavors.
Really cool video! I'm looking forward to future videos from your channel.
Even though I can't read it, I can certainly appreciate the artistry of this. I am curious why you didn't simply post the source code on your website instead of coordinating through e-mail. It would be less hassle for you that way.
Found this while looking for some help with FontForge with Python. Nicely done and very inspirational.
Are there any plans to do Hiragana and Katana in this style? Even as separate fonts under the same family (I would buy them 😁). It would be something really cool to see as well. As a hobbyist python programmer it is really cool to see other projects that are using python and what they are trying to accomplish.
I've considered doing so, but since I don't know Japanese I don't have any plans on doing it soon. During my research for this project I did come across this Japanese twitter page that had designs for Hiragana so you can see what it could possibly look like. I'll link that here: mobile.twitter.com/i/events/873941035050713088.
@@InkboxSoftware Thank you for the reply and the Link!
@@InkboxSoftware isn't kakouji japanese?
Great job dude!
Man, this is so good to watch., 'can't explain why.
The foundry 白舟 is already developing a 角字 font supporting around 8k kanjis.
I loved the story
Fun fact: this typeface is now the citation for kakuji on Wikipedia. We have come full circle
Cool video.
Can you make a tutorial on how to make glyphs out of png images using PYTHON, PLEASE
SECONDED WE NEED THAT
RUclips be recommending some…. Interesting things this year.
Good job nonetheless.
This was very cool
No, it was all beautiful.
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Even your design of the Latin alphabet in a Kakuji style is beautiful.
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This is art, be proud of it.
.
.
The 戶 in the title should be 戸, also it's Edo not Ido
Anyone gonna tell him it's Edo, not Ido?
7:11 29 and 31, is it legal?
@@InkboxSoftware already knew, just checked people, who got hooked on this
nice
這非常好,不過我看不懂.
cool
Stuff from the 17th century isn't "ancient".
Excellent work... Inspiring really!! Kudos!
MAJOR respect, you took that project till the very very end. youre a CHAMPION of linguistics ㊗️🉐🈵🧧
Good luck with the foundry 🫡