The Calligrapher — Mǐ Fú 米芾

Song eccentric genius of dynamic, 'flying' running script.

Song calligrapher (1051–1107), master of running script — Song eccentric genius ('crazy Zhang, idiot Mi') whose running script alternates discipline with glee. Song dynasty

Cultural Story

任 is 人 with 壬, a man bearing a load, to take on a duty, to appoint another to bear it. The 說文 reads it as to bear, to employ. 責任 is the load you carry; 任命 the commission given. 信任 is the weight of belief lent. The character is the burden and the trust, the office taken and the person put in it, the load passed from shoulder to shoulder.

Common words & phrases

• 任务 task · mission · assignment
• 责任 responsibility · duty · liability
• 任何 any · whatever · whichever
• 任命 appoint · nomination
• 信任 trust · confidence · faith
• 担任 serve as · hold the post of

Read the story behind the character

任务 is the assignment and the mission; 责任 the duty and the blame. 任何 is the any of a rule, 任何人. 任命 is the appointment in the gazette; 信任 the trust you earn or lose. 担任 is the post you hold. The character names the load and the letting, the task, the blame, the faith. It still means bearing, whether a burden, an office, or the belief someone places in you.

Why this character belongs on skin

The character shows a man and a burden he agrees to carry — 任 is duty, office, the load you take on because it is yours. Confucius spoke of 任 as the weight of the Way itself, a burden heavy enough that none may set it down lightly. To the Western reader it is the knight's oath, the pastor's vow, the promise made before witnesses. There is no escape in it and no complaint. A tattoo of this word is for the person who finishes what they start, who answers when called, who has learned that freedom is not the absence of obligation but the choosing of the right one. The shoulder bends; the step does not falter. Wear it where the weight would rest, and let it remind you: some things are carried not because they are easy, but because they are yours.