The Calligrapher — Xiè Língyùn 谢灵运

Liu Song poet-calligrapher of cursive script whose works were imperial 'two treasures'.

南朝宋 calligrapher (), master of cursive script/running script — known for 诗书兼擅. Liu Song dynasty (Southern Dynasties)

Cultural Story

To 握 is to close the hand on a thing and keep it, the lord who 握 the seal, the lover who 握 the hand at parting. The character is the grip that possesses, the fist as the smallest deed of ownership in the language, and the seal in the lord's fist was the only title the rival could not forge, because the fist itself was the signature.

Common words & phrases

• 握手 shake hands
• 握住 grip · hold
• 把握 grasp · assurance
• 握紧 clench · hold tight
• 掌握 master · grasp · control

Read the story behind the character

You 握手 on the deal; a climber 握住s the ledge; an investor wants 把握, assurance; a man 掌握s the method. The seal is a grip now. The closing hand is the same, whether it holds a stamp, a stranger's palm, or merely the confidence that the thing will not slip, and the grip on the ledge is only the seal, pressed into living rock.

Why this character belongs on skin

The sword held firm through the parry is the difference between a story and a grave. To grasp is to close the hand around the means of your own continuance—the pen, the tool, the other's hand in the dark—and to keep the grip when the arm tires. The merchants of the silk road sealed their bargains with a clasped forearm, because a grasp is a promise the body makes before the mouth can lie. We are defined less by what we reach for than by what we hold once we have it. The Daoist master grasps the unbending in the yielding; the lover grasps the hand that anchors the falling. To wear this is to name the grip that has carried you. The open hand receives. The closed hand keeps. Both are holy.