Swords(manship) and calligraphy

It’s on my mind for many years now: I once saw an action movie where -I think- the main character was a Japanese master swordsman and you see the guy wielding a wooden cane in a box of sand on the floor, implying a close connection between swordsmanship and calligraphy. According to this article, there is, at least within Japanese budo culture.

The thought of a link between writing aesthetics and weaponry stayed with me when I studied Arabic. I got interested in Arabic calligraphy and wondered if the strokes of the Arabic reed pen could also somehow be tied to the scimitar wielding Arab warriors. Having no clue how to investigate further, I just looked at images of swords and calligraphy.

I am and will never be an expert on swords, but it doesn’t take a scholar to establish that an average Arab scimitar’s or dagger’s characteristic is its curved shape of the blade. Similarly, most people would probably say that Arabic script -as most people currently come across it- is most easily identified by its curviness.

Then, thinking back of the movie I watched, in my mind I compared (what I believe is) Japanese calligraphy with the shape of typical samurai swords as you generally see them in movies.

Also, closer to ‘home’, I imagined European medieval swords and letters and calligraphy of that time.

Interesting, right?

Now, I know that these comparisons do not particularly prove anything. It may just have been regional aesthetic preferences of the time that brought people to forge swords with similar standards of beauty as were applied in calligraphy. But I would definitely pay money to go see an exhibition on swords and calligraphy that includes multiple regions and eras.

I did a quick search on the web but couldn’t find such an exhibition. If anyone wants to use this idea to put together such an exhibition, feel free! Or, if anyone has an idea which movie I’m thinking of, then please let me know!