Every spring, I take a 1-2 week trip to Japan, the place where I grew up. I’ve come to appreciate my culture more deeply as I spend more and more time outside of Japan. This makes me wish that I paid more attention while I lived there, but I was too young and busy.
I just came back from my annual trip to Japan. This was the first trip since I started exploring the world of Zentangle, and it helped me to understand some of the reasons why I feel drawn to Zentangle designs.
Simple and beautiful patterns can be found everywhere in Japan. We call them Komon (pronounced like “common”) and it literally means “small patterns”. They have been used on kimono fabrics and buildings for many centuries. As a traditional Japanese dance instructor, my grandmother often wore kimono and I remember some of them had simple geometric patterns much like we see in Zentangle.
One of the many attributes that foreigners praise about Japan is how we harmoniously mix something traditional with something very modern.
Here’s one example I saw by an escalator going up to the top floor of one of the newest department store buildings in Osaka.
These wooden panels are a modern application of a traditional Japanese architectural method. In order to bring more light into a room, carved wood panels (called “ranma”, shown in the image below) were installed in the upper part of the wall.
These panels are no longer used in modern Japanese houses but they are still available if you are willing to pay a small fortune for it. I happened to meet a 5th generation carpenter who takes custom wooden panel orders. He showed me a picture of huge hand carved panel that he’s been working on for about 10 months. I can’t remember the exact size of his project, but the panel itself is more expensive than my house! I guess if you can afford to buy a house that’s big enough to install it in a single wall in Japan, cost is not an issue…
For me, I settled with a couple of small wooden coasters from him. These are laser printed / cut to keep the price affordable, but nonetheless beautiful. If you are familiar with Zentangle patterns, you’ll see some very familiar designs on them like Crescent Moon and Keeko. But these are all traditional Japanese Komon patterns that have been used in Japan for centuries.
One of the Komon patterns that I saw in many different places throughout this trip is called Asanoha. I saw it on purses, tv show sets, coasters and even on bottled water!
I’m inspired to incorporate these traditional designs into my Zentangle practice.
Take a deep breath and be grateful for the opportunity. Also, take time to appreciate the tools in front of you. The Zentangle tiles are a heavy-weight and acid-free paper made out of 100% cotton. The edges and corners are left uneven to remind us that we are not pursuing perfection. The 
With a graphite pencil, draw four tiny dots near each corner. There’s not a whole lot to elaborate here… As long as you have four dots somewhere near each corner, you are good to go. Easy enough?
Connect dots with a graphite pencil to create a border. The line doesn’t have to be straight. It can be wavy, curvy… (wibbly, wobbly, timey wimey as Dr. Who might say). I went for straight-ish lines in my example.
Just draw a few random lines with a graphite pencil. The lines can cross each other, loop around… however you feel like. Don’t overthink it. Pretend you are 3 years old and go for it! The string will create smaller sections on your tile and free your mind from worrying about composition. I drew a zigzag on mine this time.
There are many beautiful doodle arts and Zentangle inspired arts (ZIA) without any shading. But shading definitely adds depth and drama to your piece, and provides an opportunity to make the piece uniquely yours. You can see the difference it makes in this example.
You are almost done! Now it’s time to put your signature on your art like a pro. For a small piece like the Zentangle tile (3.5 inch square), it’s probably more fitting to just initial than sign your entire name.
We are so accustomed to go from one thing to the next. Let’s take a moment to appreciate your art, your friends’ art, the uniqueness of each person and their art, and your experience above all.
