I recently acquired some brush pens meant for calligraphy, one of size
'standard', and one of size 'beginner'. While I cannot find the site where
they were labeled as such, the lineup is
[here](http://www.pentel.co.jp/products/brushpens/brushtype/pentelfude-2/)
with XFL2U being the 'standard' and XFL2F being the 'beginner'.

Because of its availability where I live, I've been practicing on 5x5mm graph
paper, writing 10x10mm kanji with a pen. I've seen proper kanji practice paper
with 8x8mm boxes.

I can make both brush pens work in 10x10mm, but it gets very finicky with more
busy kanji, like 慶 or 鬱. Moreover, I feel like I'm utilizing very little of
the range of line width, and I have too little to work with to properly take
advantage of the brush, to have the _motion_ of the strokes reflected in the
character rather than merely meticulously drawing a figure.

I get that this is an art that takes practice, but the 'standard' brush in
particular feels too big for an 8x8mm square (which I assume is for
pen/pencil), because so little of its range is used. I assume a 'standard'
brush dictates a certain 'standard' line width range, which in turn dictates a
certain size of kanji determined by their 'maximum busyness'. A minimum
practical size follows the brush.

So, if a Japanese person shows up for a caligraphy course, is given a standard
brush and a box to draw within, how big is the box?
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2019-01-24T11:18:59.607
65047
2019-01-24T11:18:59.607
32687
question
kanji
What is the standard size of a kanji as written by a standard caligraphy brush