To Be by Kaoru Akagawa 

In 10th century Japan, women were prohibited from learning to read and write using the Kanji Shodo writing system.  As a result, Japanese noblewomen found and began to use the Kana Shodo system to write love letters, literature,  and poems.  The system was known as onnade or “womans hand” and  had over 300 characters in the 10th century. However, only 46 characters are currently featured in the Japanese Education System today.  Now in the 21st century, very few people can read or write using Kana Shodo.  Artist Kaoru Akagawa uses her work to keep the ancient script alive by creating typographic portraits using Kana Shodo. In using “womans hand”, Akagawa communicates the contributions of Japanese women  to Graphic Design history through their use of script and typography.