YM COLUMN　ARCHIVE

September 10, 2008

Overwhelming Masterpieces of Chinese Calligraphy

Last Sunday, I went to visit Edo Tokyo Museum to appreciate “Masterpieces of Chinese Calligraphy: Beijing The Palace Museum”. It took me three hours to see them all to have nourished my eyes and mind.

My father was a master of Noh (traditional masked dance-drama), so he was good at calligraphy as well. The figure of my father I sometimes recall even today is always that of his brush writing calligraphy in front of desk. I used to gape at his excellent writing by his side when I was in an elementary school. I liked very much that smell of sumi ink. Despite of this given environment, I now regret I didn’t seriously learn how to write calligraphy.

The main writer of the exhibition was no one else but Wang Yi Zhi. He was a politician as well as calligrapher in Dongjin province of China. He was called saint of calligraphy and believed to be the most excellent calligrapher in history. Opinion is divided as to the year of his birth and death but on this exhibition it was 303 ~ 361. The patron to have made him a master calligrapher was Tai Zong (Li Shi Min) of Tang Dynasty. Tai Zong’s own calligraphy was also displayed, which was very “taisou” (pun for Tai Zong meaning “great”).

It is so said that Tai Zong loved calligraphy of Wang Yi Zhi so much that he collected almost all works of Wang and took them all to his grave buried together with himself, which means there is no original writing existing in this world. He might have believed that he could write in another world, too. We, later generations, are so sorry for no original’s being left.

Among conspicuously beautiful all other pieces in this exhibition there was also displayed “Lang Ting Xu”, which is commonly said the very best of all his excellent works. In front of the exhibit there was a long waiting line as if waiting to see a panda for the first time at Ueno Zoo. However, this is the copy of his original so ordered by Tai Zong in Tang Period. It is a surprise that today even the copy of Tang Period is designated as the national treasure.

Only the original left today is said to be “Kuaixue-shiqing-zhang” which is displayed at National Palace Museum in Taibei. I visited the Museum a long time ago but walked around so hurriedly that I didn’t notice the masterpiece. I now regret it so much. If I knew, it would have been worthwhile to visit the Museum only to see it.

It was so well attended by so many people favoring calligraphy, which made me somewhat very pleased. Among visitors talking each other while appreciating the masterpieces, a large number of people looked like taking calligraphy lesson and also found here and there masters accompanying disciples.

There were exhibited so many works that there were inevitably my favorites of writing style and form and the ones not in my favour. I was anxious to see my best favorite works by Wen Zheng Ming (1470~1559), so favorite that I bought his calligraphy in Xian when I visited there on an academic conference; turning around a corner to look up and then the very moment the familiar style of his cursive writing came into my eyes to have shocked me with happiness. Is this real? I was so much moved as if to smell fine scent of fresh ink.

I welcome your opinions on this column to the following E-mail address.
matogawa@planetary.or.jp