Perhaps by coincidence, although the writing brush appeared more than two thousand years ago, it was Meng Tian, the general who wielded a knife and chopped the generals in the Qin Dynasty, who really made the writing brush play a role in calligraphy and painting. The pen he made is not complicated today, that is, the rabbit hair is degreased, trimmed into a cone shape, and then planted on a bamboo pen tube to make a soft, elastic and absorbent brush. The general used his sword-holding hand and homemade brush to write while flying.
"Calligraphy and fencing are of the same origin" mentioned by later generations mainly means that calligraphy and fencing have similar internal relations in techniques, aesthetic modeling, spiritual temperament and so on, and there are many points of integration and mutual learning. Zhang Xu, a famous calligrapher in Tang Dynasty, is famous for his regular script and cursive script. His cursive script is unique, even more bold, and he is called "Crazy Grass". Zhang Xu's Wild Grass is second to none in the world.
Zhang Xu's Weeds benefited from fencing. He and Gong Sundaniang are contemporaries. Seeing her sword dance, Zhang Xu was not only stunned, but also realized the true meaning of cursive script. Zhang Xu said that the rotation, jumping and retracting of Gong Sundaniang's sword dance inspired his cursive brushwork and trend; The heroic momentum of fencing made him realize what is the artistic charm with visual impact. It can be said that Zhang Xu skillfully integrated the "form" and "spirit" of Gong Sundaniang's sword dance into his own calligraphy works, forming a unique artistic feature, which made it rise to a new height. At that time, when a poet wrote "Wild Grass", there was a poem describing the state of Zhang Xu: "Take off your hat according to the Hu bed, and call it three or five times. Xing Lai sprinkled the plain wall and waved his pen like a meteor. " His manners and manners are a bit like those of a martial arts master. It is not surprising that Zhang learned the essentials of calligraphy from fencing.