The Calligrapher — Zhào Mèngfǔ 赵孟頫

Yuan master whose elegant regular and running script revived classical tradition.

Yuan calligrapher (1254–1322), master of regular script/running script/cursive script — Yuan reviver of classical elegance who could write any script beautifully and did. Yuan dynasty

Cultural Story

驹 (jū) pairs 馬 with the phonetic 句. 《説文解字》 reads 馬二歲曰駒, “a horse of two years,” the young colt. Its bright, unbroken energy made it a metaphor for promising youth.

Common words & phrases

• 马驹 foal · colt · young horse
• 驹子 colt · foal
• 白驹 white colt · time fleeting
• 骏驹 fine colt · steed
• 龙驹 dragon colt · talented youth
• 千里驹 thousand-mile colt · talented person

Read the story behind the character

驹 is the young horse. A 马驹 (foal) frolics, a 驹子 (colt) grows, 白驹 (white colt) images time fleeting, a 骏驹 (fine colt) shows promise, 龙驹 (dragon colt) a talented youth, and a 千里驹 a gifted person.

Why this character belongs on skin

He is all legs and lightning, the young horse who has not yet learned the weight of the world. 驹 is the colt, the foal — spirited, unbroken, the promise of speed before the bridle. The ancients saw in him the young warrior, the untamed talent, the heart that has not yet been taught to fear. To tattoo 驹 is to keep your own wildness alive, the part of you that still bolts for the open field. There is a Daoist freedom in his gallop, a Christ in the colt led gently to the city. Let this character sit on the thigh, the muscle of running, where the animal lives under the skin. Some marks are wisdom; this one is the earlier, faster self you refuse to lose. Carry the colt. He is the proof you were born to move, and the fence was never really yours.