The Calligrapher — Péi Xiū 裴休

Tang chancellor and calligrapher; author of the Guifeng Stele in regular script.

Tang calligrapher (), master of regular script — known for 《圭峰碑》. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

In the 礼记, a courtier approaching his lord was to 趋, quicken his steps in respect, the body itself performing deference. 趋附, to cling to the powerful, and 趋势, a trend, both grow from that leaning forward. The respectful hurry of a hall became the drift of a whole age. The respectful quickening of feet was the body performing loyalty in public.

Common words & phrases

• 趋势 trend · tendency · drift
• 趋向 tend toward · trend
• 趋附 curry favor with · cling to
• 日趋 become gradually · day by day

Read the story behind the character

At a briefing, an analyst charts a 趋势, trend, of falling sales while a nation 日趋, day by day, grows closer to its neighbor. A courtier's descendant 趋附, curries favor with, a boss and a river 趋向, tends, to the sea. The ritual step of the Zhou court now graphs a forecast. The trend line and the toady both descend from that leaning forward.

Why this character belongs on skin

There is a way the a river decides the shape of the land without ever meaning to. You feel it in the body before the mind agrees: the lean toward a door, the step that quickens without command. The old scribes drew this character with the mark of the walking foot, because to tend toward something is already a kind of travel. Confucius spoke of the gentleman's bearing as a quiet leaning into rightness; the Daoists watched water and learned that the softest current bends the hardest stone. Desire, too, is only a direction. We do not choose the first pull, only what we do once we feel it moving under us. To wear this is to admit the tilt you cannot hide, the slope of the heart toward whatever it was born to find. Let the ink name the current. Some roads begin as weather.