Song Dynasty Woodblock Print of Running and Cursive Script Thousand Characters: Zhi Yong

Author: Wang Haoming
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Publish Date: 2004-10-01
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Zeng Zhiyong, whose surname was Wang and given name was Fazhi, was a native of Kuaiji in the Chen and Sui dynasties. He was a person from the Sui Dynasty and also the seventh descendant of Wang Xizhi, the great calligrapher of the Jin Dynasty. In his early years, he became a monk and later traveled to Shanlin Town, Wuxing County, Zhejiang Province. He stayed in Yongxin Temple for thirty years. Here, Zhiyong lived a secluded life, rising at dawn with the crowing of the rooster, grinding a large amount of ink, and then copying Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy scrolls without interruption. Zhiyong also prepared several large baskets in his room, each holding over one stone in capacity. When his brush tips became worn out while practicing calligraphy, he would take them off and throw them into the baskets. Over time, the broken brush tips accumulated to fill ten baskets. Later, Zhiyong dug a deep pit in front of the window of Yongxin Temple and buried all the broken brush tips in the soil, building them into a tomb, which he called the "Tomb of Discarded Brushes." The legend of "discarded brushes becoming a tomb" originated from this. Through long-term, persistent and hard work, Zhiyong’s calligraphy finally reached a level of soaring power and formed his own style, becoming a famous calligrapher in China. At that time, so many people sought his calligraphy and inscriptions that the wooden doorframes in the temple were worn through, forcing them to wrap them in iron plates. Later, this story became a legend known as the "Iron Doorframe." In his later years, he used the contemporary literacy text "Thousand Characters" as the content, writing over a thousand copies in both regular and cursive styles. From among them, he selected eight hundred that he was most satisfied with and distributed them to various temples in Zhedong. To this day, Zhiyong’s "Thousand Characters" ink rubbings and printed editions are still regarded as models for learning calligraphy. In the "" (Notes) of Dong Qichang of the Ming Dynasty, he said that Zhiyong studied Zhong Yao’s "Xuanshi Table," stating, "Every time he used a brush, he curved it, turned it back, and ended it firmly, as they say, when he wrote, he wanted the brush to pierce through the paper." He also said, "Each stroke of his 'Thousand Characters' seemed to come from the air and return to the air, even though it was like the trace of ink dripping from a leaking roof, it was still not enough to describe it." By carefully examining his ink rubbings of "Thousand Characters," we can see that he used his brush with a hidden head and tail, in a way that twisted and turned, full of subtle and rhythmic charm. Dong and He’s descriptions can be said to be precise, specific, and appropriate.