Cultural history of Korean calligraphy

In Korea, as in China and Japan, calligraphy has always been regarded as an art form. Korean calligraphy originated from the writing form of Chinese characters, and each Chinese character is an imaginary square composed of lines with different shapes, all to express a unique meaning. Koreans began to write in Chinese characters around the second or third century AD, although their own languages belong to a completely different system. Even after the creation of Korean alphabet Chinese characters in 1446, Chinese characters were still used as official characters until the end of 19. Traditional Korean calligraphy uses Chinese characters instead of Korean characters.

Under the influence of China culture, calligraphy has always been closely related to painting in South Korea. Some people think that painting is influenced by calligraphy from the perspective of strong and harmonious brushwork arrangement. People often hang calligraphy works on the wall like paintings, and appreciate every uniqueness, the charm of its brushwork, the skill, backbone and charm of its overall layout, and so on. A good word is not formed by symmetrical arrangement of some strokes, but like a beautifully choreographed dance and coordinated movements-passion, movement, instantaneous pause and alternating active brushwork, forming a balanced whole.

Technically speaking, the art of calligraphy depends on how the writer uses skills and imagination to show charm in strokes. These strokes with different expressions form a beautiful structure. After writing, you can't add pens or fill colors. The most important thing is to pay attention to the spatial symmetry between strokes, which needs years of practice and training to achieve. However, in understanding the basic nature of calligraphy art, proficiency in writing and aesthetic cultivation are not the only basic elements. In the past, in the upper class of South Korea, learning calligraphy was considered as a necessary process for cultivated people to cultivate their sentiments. The practical function of calligraphy as a means of writing or communication is often not as important as the philosophical significance of writing quality.

Like all other brilliant arts in ancient Korea, the basic inspiration of calligraphy comes from nature. Every stroke and every point of a word symbolizes the form of a natural object. Korean calligraphers, like those in ancient China, realized that just like every branch of a living tree has life, every stroke of a good word must be alive when writing. This is the essential difference between Chinese characters in calligraphy and printed characters. Ideographic Chinese characters have an abstract and visual feature, which further strengthens the visual appeal of calligraphy, because it allows calligraphers who have reached the perfect artistic level to express their thoughts almost infinitely, just like great painters in painting.

China literature is taught in colleges and national institutions of higher learning. Calligraphy has a long history. In many centuries, countless nobles and artists have made outstanding efforts to promote the art of calligraphy. Unfortunately, after many foreign invasions and internal disputes, few ancient calligraphy works have been preserved so far. In particular, the seven-year war between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the Japanese army at the end of 16 caused many deaths and seriously damaged historical stone tablets and cultural relics all over the Korean peninsula. So there are less than 20 surviving calligraphy works belonging to the pre-war era.