The Calligrapher — Wáng Zhì 王志

Southern Qi calligrapher of running script, author of the Throat-Pain Letter (Houtong tie).

南朝齐 calligrapher (), master of running script — known for 《喉痛帖》. Southern Qi dynasty (Southern Dynasties)

Cultural Story

:The Odes 埋 the dead with their vessels; the Three Kingdoms generals 埋伏 troops in the gorge for the ambush. The Tang poet 埋头 over his scrolls in exile. The character is earth and a buried thing — what is covered, hidden, or laid to rest beneath the ground.

Common words & phrases

• 埋葬 bury
• 埋没 bury · neglect
• 埋伏 ambush
• 埋头 bury head · devote
• 埋怨 complain · blame
• 埋藏 hide · bury

Read the story behind the character

:They 埋葬 the grandfather at the hill above the village. A talent is 埋没 by the small firm that never promotes. The soldiers 埋伏 in the ravine until the convoy appears. She 埋头 in the thesis for weeks without a day off. He 埋怨 the late bus that cost him the interview. The cache is 埋藏 under the floorboards, found decades later by the new owners.

Why this character belongs on skin

The farmer covers the seed and trusts the dark to do what the light cannot. This is the burying — of the dead, of the treasure, of the feeling too dangerous to keep above ground. The Daoist buries his ambition in the hills and finds freedom; the grieving bury what they cannot carry and visit it in dreams. But burial is also concealment, the truth planted where no one will dig. To ink this is to honor the things you have put down into the earth and the patience of their slow return. Not everything buried is lost. Some seeds wait decades; some griefs become soil. Let the skin hold what the mouth cannot say. The ground keeps its own counsel, and so do you.