The Calligrapher — Yáng Níngshì 杨凝式

Five Dynasties master bridging Tang and Song running script.

Five Dynasties calligrapher (873–954), master of running script/cursive script — known for 《韭花帖》. Five Dynasties period

Cultural Story

Li Bai, drunk on the tower, cried he would 攬明月, gather the bright moon into his arms, the poet's reach closing on the untouchable. 攬 is the embrace that takes everything in, the grip that would hold the sky if the arms were long enough, and the moon, being polite, declined by simply staying exactly where the arms could not quite close.

Common words & phrases

• 包揽 monopolize · take on all
• 招揽 solicit · canvass
• 独揽 monopolize · keep sole control
• 揽客 solicit customers
• 揽活 take on work

Read the story behind the character

A firm 包攬s the whole job; a shop 招攬s customers; a boss 獨攬s the power; a tout 攬客. The moon is a client now. The embrace that takes all in is the same, whether it grasps a heaven or merely a market, the arms never quite distinguishing the two, and the client is only the moon, billed monthly and still out of reach.

Why this character belongs on skin

The harbor at dusk pulls the whole horizon into its arms, and the boats come home without being told. To gather the world to your chest is the oldest gesture of belonging we have. The poets of the south, drifting on the river Xiang, lifted wine and gathered the moon into their sleeves because nothing they loved could be held any other way. Love is not possession; it is the open hand that says come. A mother gathers her sleeping child; a general gathers his scattered men with a single glance. The character is drawn with the hand, because what we embrace we first reach for. To wear it is to confess that you were made to take the world in, not push it away. Let the ink be the arm around the things you cannot lose. Some embraces outlast the body that gave them.