Japanese book circles also strongly admire it. Since the Edo period, the Japanese have been familiar with Huang Lian-en's Yuan Yin Zen Master because of the book traces he brought to Zhang Ruitu when he traveled to Japan, which has a great influence on Japanese book circles. Zhang Ruitu is called "Mercury". The Japanese call their calligraphy "consistent in spirit and unique in style".
Dong Qichang: "At the same time, Xing Dong in Linyi, Mi in Shuntian and Dong in Jinjiang are called Xing, Zhang, Mi and Dong, and they are also called' Southeast, North and South Rice'. However, if you have three people, you can't catch it. "
Qing Qin's "On Painting through Printing": "Swiss calligraphy is unique and easy, which is another method besides Zhong and Wang."
Zhong refers to the Three Kingdoms, especially Wang refers to the two kings of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The calligraphy style initiated by Zhong and Wang developed continuously in the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, forming a long-standing calligraphy tradition. According to the mainstream of calligraphy, its aesthetic feature is advocating female beauty.
The charming and gentle calligraphy style established by Zhao Mengfu in Yuan Dynasty pushed the tradition of Zhong and Wang Tiexue to the peak, which had the most direct influence on the Ming Dynasty, and the external form of pursuing "posture rhyme" became popular. As a result, the graceful "Taige style" appeared in the early Ming Dynasty, and the dignified and elegant "style of writing" was formed in the Ming Dynasty.
Ma Zonghuo, a close friend, summed up the calligraphy of Ming Dynasty in Lin Shu Zao Jian:
"Post so, the Ming dynasty human can cursive script, although unknown, there are considerable, the beauty of bamboo slips, even more so in the Tang and Song Dynasties. But it is charming and easy to stick to vulgar pens. Can enter the time, not with the ancient. Second, fine print is not as good as self-vibration. But the pavilion is based on mediocrity, but it is also appropriate to dry your ears with a pen. If you divide the seal script into eight parts, you are not interested in the tablet and have no pen, there will be no one who can be famous. Moreover, his later studies could not be divorced from Zhao Wuji's category, so his achievements were ultimately humble. Occasionally, there are three excellent people who think about themselves and dare to run. "
Xing Dong, Mi Wanzhong and Dong Qichang in Four Jia in Late Ming Dynasty all belong to what Ma Zonghuo said. "Occasionally, three excellent people think of themselves, but dare not run away."
Xing Dong carefully studied the two kings of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, copied several books and confused them, claiming that "a kind of clumsy book only existed in the Jin Dynasty"; Mi Wanzhong is good at cursive writing. As a descendant of Mi Fei, he abides by the family law and is only mellow in Mi Fei fonts. Although he didn't learn from Zhao Mengfu, he didn't break away from the barriers of the two kings.
Dong Qichang declared war on Zhao Mengfu openly, trying to correct Zhao Shuzhi's flattery and sweet words. Dong Qichang used "retro" as an excuse to go from the Tang Dynasty to the Jin Dynasty, sticking to a seemingly traditional position. In fact, the "simple meaning" advocated by Dong Qichang still has great aesthetic transformation significance in the late Ming Dynasty. He replaced the serious creative process with a comfortable and chic self-entertainment process, and advocated "the unity of things and me" and "the integration of subject and object", instead of pursuing all aspects of skill display and form. In the way of "mature youth", he seeks the taste of "clumsiness" in the flow and embellishment, and shows the interest of "natural innocence" in relaxation. Compared with Zhao Shu, his style is more clumsy, relaxed, simple and scattered, but his appearance is still round and beautiful, especially in promoting calligraphy and reviving clocks.
Only Zhang Ruitu attaches importance to learning, abandons old habits and dares to innovate. In the book review and poetry review of Guo Ting Mohan Volume 1, he wrote: "The writing style of Jin people is plain and profound, and the beauty is not in books, but outside learning ... Po Gong (Su Dongpo) said:' Although I am not good at books, Xiao Shu is like me. If you can understand its meaning, you often say that you can't learn. "Leave me for a few years, abandon my old school, never learn, or at least get close to it."
Although he is also called "Late Ming Sijia" with Xing Dong, Mi and Dong Qichang, his book style is quite different from that of Xing Dong, Mi and Dong, but similar to that of Huang Daozhou, Ni, Wang Duo and Fu Shan, and different from that of Zhong and Wang. Although it can't be said that there are more than three Zhang Ruitu, especially Dong Qichang, it is original in terms of books and achievements, and it belongs to "out of the dust".