Kevinka san,
Konnichiwa.
Calligraphy is a compulsory subject from 3rd grade (year 3) in primary school.
However students in 1st and 2nd grades must use pencils.
Using brushes are much more difficult than using pencils.
Teachers sometimes ask parents to prepare 2B or 4B pencils because the strength of young children’s pen pressure is weak.
Once students in 1st and 2nd grade master how to write hiragana, katakana and kanji with pencils, they practise brush writing in calligraphy classes.
Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com