Did you know? A Tidbit about Calligraphy

Since the eighth century, the Chinese have linked calligraphy intimately with poetry and painting, calling them the Three Perfections.  In Japan, the items used to create calligraphy -- brush, ink stick, ink stone, and paper -- are known as the Four Treasures.... The Japanese speak of the brush in almost balletic terms, extolling its soaring leaps and the interludes when it is poised in stillness in silence.  Calligraphy is both a form of exercise and a form of meditation.  
-- from Paperie: The Art of Writing and Wrapping with Paper by Kate's Paperie with Bo Niles, page 44