Chinese calligraphy : an introduction to its aesthetic and technique : with 6 plates and 155 text illustratons

THE STROKES

inherent in mountains, streams and trees which we wish to reproduce. We strive to make our writing appear as if it had itself grown naturally.

To achieve this is a great joy, ie it involves the patient assimilation of a very subtle and even esoteric technique only to be learned through actual practice.

In earlier chapters I have several times referred to the ‘ type of stroke’ of an individual calligrapher as if there were only one stroke and various personal ways of making it. But actually Chinese characters are composed of a multitude of different strokes, each of which is executed with a different movement of the writer’s hand and arm. The same stroke, too, varies according to the style employed. In general, and always for practice, we take as our standard the strokes of K‘ai-Shu or Regular Style. We believe that a calligrapher will find it comparatively simple to make the strokes of the ‘ freer ’ styles, such as Hsing-Shu or Ts‘ao-Shu, if he has first mastered those of K‘ai-Shu, especially if he has taken as his model the work of Ou-Yang Hsiin, Yen Chéng-Ch‘ing, or Liu Kung-Chiian.

The Emperor Chang of the Later Han dynasty differentiated fourteen types of stroke; the Lady Wei distinguished seventytwo. The classification of the great calligrapher Wang HsiChih in his book, ‘ The Eight Components of the Character “ Yung”’’,' has been more widely studied than any other system and is still the most generally used as the basis for practice. The eight strokes of Yung are: Tsé (Wil), Lé (#h), Nu (43), Yo (#@), Ts‘é (48), Liao (4%), Cho (*%), and Chieh (#), as in Fig. 100. Wang Hsi-Chih affirmed that one would have a good hand if, after practising these eight strokes, one could

1 Yung means ‘ eternity ’.

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