The art of the 3,000-year old Traditional Calligraphy

Civilizations are judged by the quality of historical knowledge documented and records left behind.

For about three thousand years, Seo-ye, the art of calligraphy, has been one of the visible documentations of East Asian civilization and culture.

The ink used in the traditional calligraphy called "Meok," made from burnt carbon, lasts longer than anything else, even surviving fire when the paper which it is on is burned.

For the people of East Asia, the art of traditional calligraphy, using a brush to draw or write words has been around forever in human terms.

In traditional calligraphy, each brush stroke carries greater philosophical thoughts beyond just the literal meaning of the written characters.

For example, a dot in the traditional calligraphy represents heaven, while a horizontal line across represents the land. The vertical brush stroke represents the person.

During the last several millennia of constantly evolving arts and culture of East Asia, there have been scores of prominent calligraphers and countless talented calligraphers. Calligraphy is an individual discipline like motorcycling or bicycling.

Learning traditional calligraphy in all of its various styles of calligraphy would be a lifelong commitment of unending learning for anyone.

Writing in Hanja characters in traditional calligraphy is steeped in meticulous ways and traditions. The viewing experience is mostly a visual art form of the brush work of the written characters.

From early on, Korea always produced the highest quality Meok the ink stone and Dak papers made from the mulberry trees of Korea.

Historical records kept in neighboring kingdoms mention importing large numbers of meok the ink stones and Korean Dak papers even from the Silla dynasty era (57 BCE – 935 CE).

Korean paper which was originally called "Gyelimji," came to be known as "Goryeoji" during the Goryeo period, then "Joseonji" during the Joseon era, before being called "Hanji" in modern times.

During the Goryeo period when international trade was quite active across the West Sea, Goryeoji papers and Meok the ink stones were in high demand in the Mongol Yuan dynasty on the other side of the water.

Black ink from the Meok for calligraphy and for woodblock printing, comes from the ink stones, that are made from burnt pine tree roots, which exist almost in unlimited supply in Korean mountains.

When the world's oldest woodblock printed paper was found inside the Sakyamuni Pagoda time capsule during a renovation in 1966, researchers investigated the Dak paper, which the Pure Light Dharani Sutra was printed on. The paper was from the Silla period, made from Dak trees, common in ancient Silla territory.

The Pure Light Dharani Sutra was printed some 1,300 years ago, sometime between 704 and 751, when the Sakyamuni Pagoda of Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Korea, was built.

The amazing longevity of the printed carbon, the meok and the paper it's printed on, is one of the enduring attractions of traditional calligraphy.

Western calligraphy has a relatively shorter history compared to Korea as the wide use of the tradition of writing on papers in Europe didn't begin until the 14th century.

Then, calligraphy as a profession in Europe of copying bibles and books, took a major hit in the 15th century when the introduction of moveable metal types arrived in Germany in 1450.

While Goryeo published printed books with movable metal printing types in the early 13th century, aside from government and Buddhist temples printing of books, calligraphy using brush on Goryeoji papers proliferated as a genre of artistic expression beyond aesthetics of writing meaningful Hanja characters.

For example, a traditional calligraphy cursive script called "Choseo" cursive scripts look nothing like the original Hanja characters.

"The Choseo cursive script is called the flowers of Hanja characters. It has infinite variations and the calligraphy best reflects a person's thoughts," said the late Mr. Kim Tae-gyun, the former head of the Byeongsanseowon Confucian Academy, at his home in Yeongju, North Gyeongsang province.

Mr. Kim, who said he started calligraphy from an early age by learning from elders in his village in Andong, became one of the pre-eminent authorities in the Korean calligraphy scene during his life-long career in calligraphy which he taught at universities. Mr. Kim passed away on July 19, 2022 according to his wife Mrs. Rhie Myin-zha, a retired professor. He was 88.

Kim Tae-gyun, the teacher and a prominent national calligraphy contest judge during his six-decade career in calligraphy, was always very modest and a man of very few words, who lived a quiet and secluded life in Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province.

When yours truly met him for an interview and to document his calligraphy brush work, Kim said several times, "I can't for the life of me, believe that you drove four hours to see me."

I felt privileged to be documenting one of the pre-eminent calligraphers of our time working with his effortless brush strokes.

The ever humble Kim said during an interview "I have not produced a piece which I'm completely satisfied with, yet."

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