The Calligrapher — Zhāng Jízhī 张即之

Song master of vigorous regular and running script.

Song calligrapher (), master of regular script/running script — known for 《佛遗教经》. Song dynasty

Cultural Story

右 was the right, and often the place of honor. In Qin and Han the 右丞相 outranked the left; to sit on a man's right was to sit above him. 左右 meant either side, and then "about". The word carried a geography of respect -- the right hand that held the sword and the higher seat at the mat.

Common words & phrases

• 左右 left and right · about
• 右手 right hand
• 右方 right side
• 右翼 right wing
• 向右 to the right

Read the story behind the character

A child writes with the 右手; the sign points 向右 at the fork. The party's 右翼 argues for the open market; the count is 左右 a dozen. The word organizes the body and the map -- the hand, the turn, the flank, the rough number. It marks the side that once meant rank and now means direction, the approximate, and the place to the right of center.

Why this character belongs on skin

If the left is the hand that reaches, the right is the hand that signs. 右 is the side of oaths and swords, the hand that raises in court and cuts in battle, the one the West called dexterous and the East often set beneath or beside the left in ceremony. To wear 右 is to claim the doing hand, the one that finishes what the heart begins. There is a clean authority in it—the magistrate's seal, the soldier's salute, the writer's pen. But rightness is also a moral word in every tongue, and the character can mean just that: the correct path, the one that faces the light. Carry it on your dominant side and let it ask the only question that matters: did you do it with the hand that means it? Let the ink be your signature on the life you chose.