The Calligrapher — Shì Zhìguǒ 释智果

Sui monk-calligrapher and student of Zhiyong; author of the 'Heart-Form Ode' on structure

Sui calligrapher (), master of regular script — known for 《心成颂》. Sui dynasty

Cultural Story

The 'Book of Changes' praises Tang and Wu for their 革命, the changing of the mandate that follows heaven and answers the people — the first use of the word now spoken as 'revolution.' The 皮革 of a warrior's shield and the 革新 of a stale rite both drew on that same sense of stripping the old. To 革除 an abuse was, in the old court, to flay it from the body of custom.

Common words & phrases

• 革命 revolution
• 改革 reform · restructure · change
• 皮革 leather · hide
• 革除 remove · abolish · dismiss
• 革新 innovate · renew · reform

Read the story behind the character

A leather workshop cuts 皮革 for a belt while the firm next door announces a 改革 of its bonus plan. The designer argues for 革新 in the stitching, and the manager moves to 革除 the slow approval step. A worker notes that 革命 is too strong a word for the meeting, though the 皮革 smell and the new 革新 both signal change is here.

Why this character belongs on skin

Strip the hide from the beast and you hold transformation in your hands — the skin made into something new, the old form broken so the next can begin. The character is the tanned hide, and from it the great word for revolution: to remove the mandate, to change the very skin of an age. Nothing stays in its first shape. The snake sheds, the dynasty falls, the self you were dies so another may stand. The Christians call it being made new; the Daoist calls it the constant return. There is no renewal without the tearing loose. Let 革 sit where you have changed — the place that closed and reopened, the scar that is now leather. The ink is your second skin, worn over the one you outgrew. Shed.