How strictly does calligraphy typically abide by stroke rules?


[![Kyokushin
logo](https://i.stack.imgur.com/OBf70.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/OBf70.jpg)

My previous question wasn't great, but I didn't want to ask this question
without being sure that the kanji below the blue line is 会, but I'm assuming
that it is.

[![Example](https://i.stack.imgur.com/BSk8d.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/BSk8d.jpg)

In the above example, I've circled the parts that seem to be completely
superfluous in blue, and in green I drew what I felt was the most natural flow
between the strokes. Obviously calligraphy is supposed to be artistic/stylised
but is it reasonable to just add extra strokes? The vertical stroke between ニ
seems to be an extra stroke after 4th (judging by the flick upwards on the
bottom stroke of ニ), and it seems to be connected to the bottom part. The ム
seems almost to be reversed in how it's written, with some additional parts.

On the other hand, most calligraphy I've seen (including the 極真 above) seem to
be much more faithful to stroke flow/direction. Is this just an outlier or is
it expected that calligraphy takes such liberties in how kanji are written?




Depending on the style of calligraphy, creative liberties may be taken, and
the stroke rules aren't as iron-clad as people like to think. But in this
particular case, the reason the final character looks quite different from
your expectations is that it's actually closer to the older form that 会
replaced: 會. (You will see this character towards the bottom of the link
virmaior posted.)

To be specific: the first stroke across corresponds to the line directly below
the angled "roof." The next stroke across and vertical stroke going down
corresponds to the "eyes." And the spiral below that corresponds to the 日, a
slightly stylized take on a very common way to draw a 日 at the base of a
character which itself derives pretty clearly from the standard stroke order.




Depending on the style of calligraphy, creative liberties may be taken, and
the stroke rules aren't as iron-clad as people like to think. But in this
particular case, the reason the final character looks quite different from
your expectations is that it's actually closer to the older form that 会
replaced: 會. (You will see this character towards the bottom of the link
virmaior posted.)

To be specific: the first stroke across corresponds to the line directly below
the angled "roof." The next stroke across and vertical stroke going down
corresponds to the "eyes." And the spiral below that corresponds to the 日, a
slightly stylized take on a very common way to draw a 日 at the base of a
character which itself derives pretty clearly from the standard stroke order.

