The Calligrapher — Shì Yànxiū 释彦修

Five Dynasties monk whose cursive follows Zhang Xu, seen in his Luoyang poems stele.

Five Dynasties calligrapher (), master of cursive script — known for 《草书诗》. Five Dynasties period

Cultural Story

Qu Yuan, in the Fisherman, declares that while all the world is drunk he alone is 醒, clear-eyed and clean amid a muddied age, and the line became the cry of the loyal exile. The 醒 was sobriety of spirit before it was waking from sleep. From that Chu elegy the character kept the pain of a man who sees what others will not.

Common words & phrases

• 醒来 wake up · awake
• 清醒 sober · clear-headed · lucid
• 提醒 remind · warn · prompt
• 醒悟 realize · come to see · awaken
• 觉醒 awaken · wake up · arouse
• 醒目 eye-catching · conspicuous

Read the story behind the character

A phone 提醒 lights up with tomorrow's train, a sleeper 醒来 to the alarm, and an ad keeps its type 醒目 on the platform poster. A friend 醒悟 at last to the scam. The 清醒 of a clear head guides the day. The character now blinks on a screen and a sign, the old sober clarity of the exiled poet carried into a reminder and a sudden seeing-through.

Why this character belongs on skin

The character 醒 began its life smelling of rice wine: its radical is the wine vessel, and its first meaning was the sobering—dawn after the feast, head cool, regrets filed in order. Only later did it widen into the great sense it holds now: to wake, to become aware, to come to one's senses. The Buddha sat under a tree and did essentially this—blew off the intoxication of illusion and saw the world at full strength. Waking is not once in a life. It happens in small doses: the morning you notice you have stopped loving a lie, the afternoon you look up from your phone and the light on the floorboards is unbearably beautiful. That is the character working. Ink it where you will see it, and let it ask its one blunt question every day: are you awake yet, or still at the party?