The Calligrapher — Yǔ Yì 庾翼

Jin general and calligrapher of cursive script who once rivaled Wang Xizhi.

Jin calligrapher (), master of cursive script — known for 与王羲之齐名. Jin dynasty

Etymology & Meaning · 字义溯源

2 · The Character: 昔 Xi (1st tone). The Shuowen Jiezi reads 「昔, 乾肉也; 从残肉, 日以晞之」 — dried flesh; from leftover meat, dried by the sun. The graph shows meat under a sun, the ancient method of preservation. From 'dried' came 'former times, the past': the Odes, Cai Wei, open 「昔我往矣, 杨柳依依」 (long ago I went, the willows were soft); the Documents, Yao Dian, say 「昔在帝尧」 (in former times, Emperor Yao). Name-lore splits between Metal (金) and Fire (火); Kangxi eight strokes (日部). As a free morpheme 昔 means 'of old, once'. Honest route: 昔 is gentle nostalgia, not sorrow; pair it with 今 or 往 (今昔) to frame the piece as the honored past, a source, not a loss.

Cultural Story

昔 is the far behind. 昔日 the days of the lost capital; 往昔 the poet's 'former times.' 今昔 is the contrast the exile draws — then and now, the same river, the different man. The word is memory with a long lens, the bygone the chronicler sets against the present to measure what the years took.

Where a Western reader can stand: Where a Western reader can stand: 昔 is 'once, of old' — Latin quondam, a backward glance. Yu Yi was a Jin court general and chapter-cursive master of the Yu clan; his disciplined, martial hand gives the bygone a soldier's weight. A lone 昔 reads as completed; pair with 今 'now' (今昔) so the remembrance becomes a source, not a closing.

Common words & phrases

• 昔日 former days · in the past · bygone days
• 往昔 past · former times · yesteryears
• 今昔 past and present · then and now · present and past
• 昔年 former years · years gone by · former year
• 古昔 ancient times · olden days · the past

Read the story behind the character

昔日 is the throwback post; 往昔 the memoir. 今昔 the reunion's ache; 昔年 the old song. 古昔 the sage's 'in olden days.' The word frames the before — the town before the dam, the you before the city. From the album to the eulogy, 昔 is the past we set beside the now to see how far the light has moved.

Why this character belongs on skin

Sunken below the present, xī is the former day, the time that shaped the one you stand in now. The character holds a sun and something washed away—the ancient knowing that the past is what the water has already carried past your knees. We ache toward xī: former lovers, former selves, the empire that fell so cleanly. The Daoist watches it flow; the mourner wades back in. To mark yourself with xī is to honor the current you cannot see but are swept by—the grandmother's hands, the war, the childhood room. Let it sit near the heart, where memory pools. You are not only now. You are the residue of every yesterday that refused to let go of you. The past is not behind. It is beneath, bearing you up.