The Calligrapher — Ōuyáng Xún 欧阳询

Tang regular-script master whose 'Ouyang style' is a basic learning model.

Tang calligrapher (557–641), master of regular script/running script — Tang codifier of regular script; crisp, architectural strokes you could measure with a ruler. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

樵 meant firewood and the one who gathered it. The Shuowen ties it to wood cut for burning, and classical life depended on the 樵夫 woodcutter who climbed the hills at dawn with his axe. Literature made him a free soul: Su Shi's Red Cliff rhapsody muses on 渔樵 fishermen and woodcutters on the riverbank, while 樵采 gathering firewood marked the humble labour that kept a cold house warm through winter.

Common words & phrases

• 樵夫 woodcutter · woodman
• 樵采 gather firewood
• 渔樵 fisherman and woodcutter

Read the story behind the character

Though few city dwellers chop wood now, 樵 lingers in speech and story: a nature documentary shows a 樵夫 woodcutter in the mountains, a proverb pairs 渔樵 as symbols of a simple life, and 樵采 still names the gathering of fuel in rural reports. Hikers joke about becoming woodcutters, and historical dramas show the 樵夫 guiding a lost general. The character keeps the scent of pine smoke and an old freedom from the hills.