As a special feature during the long holiday weekend, we're introducing local super kids in three installments.

This second installment features Mizuki Nakamura, a 12-year-old resident of Fukuoka City.

What's her talent?


"Calligraphy."

She's an exceptional talent who has achieved consecutive victories in national calligraphy competitions, even competing against adults.

Behind this success lies tireless effort to master the art of calligraphy.

A separate "calligraphy practice room" outside of her home

Mizuki Nakamura, a first-year junior high school student, is a perfectly normal junior high school student, doing schoolwork at home and enjoying her hobby of sewing.

However, when it comes to calligraphy, everything is extraordinary! She showed us a room in an apartment separate from her home. Q. What is this room for?

Mizuki Nakamura (12), a calligraphy prodigy

"This is the room where I always practice calligraphy." She actually rents an entire apartment just for calligraphy practice!

She became the youngest ever national champion in fourth grade! Further Consecutive Victories

The room is filled with trophies and plaques awarded in calligraphy.

Mizuki has won over 150 awards to date. In particular, in a competition with approximately 15,000 participants ranging from children to adults, she became the youngest ever champion in Japan when she was in fourth grade, and achieved a second consecutive victory the following year—truly a "calligraphy prodigy."

Exceptional Concentration and Practice Dedication

Mizuki Nakamura (12)
"After school, I come home and practice for two hours, and on weekends, I practice from 9 am through lunch until around 8 pm. There's a big competition in the summer, and I really wanted to concentrate on it, so I rented this place to create a space where I could focus." What she sought was an environment where she could concentrate on practice for as long as possible.

Not only can she store many tools, but she doesn't need to prepare or put away things each time, which means she can dedicate that time to practice—that's the best thing about this room.


Mizuki first held a brush at 3 months old

Mizuki first held a brush at the age of 3 months. Under the guidance of her mother, Satsuki, who is also a calligraphy teacher, she has walked her calligraphy journey hand-in-hand with her mother. Her mother, Satsuki, says that Mizuki's strength lies in her ability to repeatedly practice to get as close as possible to the example, and her perseverance in creating works without any idiosyncrasies. Nakamura Mizuki (12)
"I practice a lot during summer vacation, so I go through about six of these bottles during the summer. (Each bottle is 1.8 liters)."

Challenging "Gyosho" (semi-cursive script) as a middle school student

Based on that foundation, now that she's a middle school student, she's challenging herself with "Gyosho," a more cursive style of writing.

She's also honing her "expressiveness" in conveying images through her calligraphy style.

This time, to show us the differences in her calligraphy style, we asked her to write the characters for "spring breeze" using three different expressions: "refreshing," "gentle," and "strong wind." Refreshing "Spring Breeze"
"For this refreshing spring breeze, I used the regular script (Kaisho) and tried to make the strokes enter smoothly to give it a refreshing look."

Gentle "Spring Breeze"
"For the gentle spring breeze, I had a round image in mind, so I softened the brushstrokes and made the dots round and soft."

Strong Wind "Spring Breeze"
"For the spring breeze I imagined as a strong wind, I tried to make it a powerful piece by making the strokes thicker and adding some blurring."

When placed side by side...

Even though they're all called "Spring Breeze," you can almost picture the kind of wind blowing. Mizuki Nakamura (12)
"The characters and fonts considered beautiful vary depending on the competition, so I adjust my style to suit the competition."

Mizuki also took a break from calligraphy for six months last year to prepare for entrance exams. Currently, she's balancing her studies and calligraphy at her first-choice middle school. Mizuki Nakamura (12)
"I dedicated the time I used to spend on calligraphy entirely to studying, so I didn't really feel like I wasn't doing much calligraphy. But because I'd taken a long break from calligraphy for studying, I was surprised when I wrote for the first time (after the entrance exams) and realized how bad I was."

Her younger brother is also a "super kid" in calligraphy.

Mizuki has a cute junior.

This is her younger brother, Kanta, playing innocently in the living room. Q. What's the biggest stuffed animal?

Kanta (6)
"Rijichou"

Q. Why is it named "Rijichou"?

Mizuki Nakamura (12)
"It's a stuffed animal that Kanta won in a lottery when he received the Chairman's Award, so it's called 'Chairman'." In fact, Kanta is also a super kid, having won more than 10 calligraphy awards. Mizuki ...