Somewhere in the middle of this thread was a discussion that most Japanese can not read what is written on the scrolls...
This point needs to be clarified because in some cases the statement is true and in some cases it is not.
There are many writing styles in 書道
Shodo or Japanese Calligraphy. I will mention four, because these are the styles my wife submits monthly to her Japanese Calligraphy society.
1. 楷書Kaisho-Block Print This is legible and any Japanese could read this style. It is also the first style learned in Calligraphy.
2. 行書Gyousho-Semi Cursive This is legible, because even I can read writing in this style. It is marked by combining one or two brush strokes and abbreviating some of the writing.
3. 草書Sousho-Full Cursive This is illegible because the calligrapher is combining many strokes into one, two or three strokes for one character. It is very beautiful, but is still governed by rules. In most cases, Japanese can not read the characters, unless they are told by the artist themself. However, it is not random and my wife always utilizes her book to choose from a variety of Sousho styles to write the works.
4. かなKana-Woman's Hand This is a purely Japanese style of calligraphy. It incorporates a lot of hiragana and is written in uneven lines for poetic or conceptualization of the writing. I can read the hiragana in this form of writing but typically can not read the kanji.
Hope that clears some things for you to understand writing that may or may not be legible on scrolls more fully. If you want to see more samples of different writing styles go to my blog at
www.wallscroll.blogspot.com