The Calligrapher — Wáng Xīzhī 王羲之

The 'Sage of Calligraphy'; his running script has set the standard for 1,700 years.

Eastern Jin calligrapher (303–361), master of running script/cursive script/regular script — the Sage of Calligraphy; his Orchid Pavilion Preface is the most celebrated work in the tradition, and nearly every later master traces lineage to his hand. Eastern Jin dynasty

Cultural Story

履 shows a shoe and a sound element, meaning a shoe or to tread; the Shuowen gives to tread on. One would 履行 (fulfill, perform) a promise, and a 履历 (resume, record) traced a man's steps through life. The 步履 (gait) of an elder spoke of health, and 草履 (straw sandals) were the poor man's humble wear.

Common words & phrases

• 履行 to fulfill · to perform · to carry out
• 履历 resume · curriculum vitae · record
• 步履 gait · step · pace
• 履带 track · caterpillar track
• 草履 straw sandals

Read the story behind the character

You 履行 (fulfill, carry out) a contract and hand over your 履历 (resume). A tank's 履带 (track, caterpillar track) grips mud, and grandpa's 步履 (gait) slows with age. Monks once wore 草履 (straw sandals) on pilgrimages; the word walks from the sole of a shoe to the keeping of a vow.

Why this character belongs on skin

First you put on the shoes. Then the road decides the rest. 履 means to tread, to walk, and the shoes themselves—the character is built from a body stepping, from the sandal and the sole. It lives inside 履行, to fulfill a promise, as though every kept vow were a distance actually walked, one footfall at a time. The I Ching devotes a whole hexagram to it: Treading, the image of a man walking behind a tiger's tail without being bitten, because his conduct is true. That is the whole theology of the word—fate respects a careful step. Confucius said the man of virtue walks so his tread can be examined, as though each stride left evidence. There is something pilgrim-like in it: Canterbury, Camino, the thousand li that begin, boringly, with footwear. To ink 履 is to promise motion with integrity—no stride taken you would be ashamed to retrace. Put it along the ankle or shin, just above the laces of your actual life, and let every step afterward answer to it.