On the Five Elements in Calligraphy and the Improvement of Calligraphy Art
Huang Li and Liu Yongxing
As a precious traditional culture in China, calligraphy has profound historical influence and artistic charm. The art of calligraphy itself is a condensation and externalization of China's excellent traditional culture. Therefore, using the "kinetic energy" of the five elements in calligraphy creation will be very helpful in improving the artistic taste of calligraphy. The author only conducts a preliminary discussion on this aspect.
Basic interpretation of the Five Elements
Yin-Yang and the Five Elements are the basic theories of traditional Chinese philosophy, which have had a profound and widespread influence in the long-term historical development. The so-called "Five Elements" refer to the five kinds of things, their mutual relationships and the laws of movement. "Five" refers to five things, including wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. "Xing" refers to the related movement of the five of them. When ancient sages and sages studied the laws of the development of things, they often summarized the laws of movement and development of very complex things through simple representative words or symbols. Therefore, the Five Elements is a summary and expression of a theory with philosophical significance. These five words represent neither a behavior nor simply five substances. Because, if we follow the first two analyses, it cannot be used to explain the world of movement and development. Only by correctly understanding the connotation of the five elements and the laws of their movement and change can we also correctly understand the laws of movement of things and achieve good development, including, of course, the improvement of artistic level.
Let’s briefly analyze this aspect:
The specific meaning of the five elements: Wood: represents the function and source of life in life; Fire: represents heat energy; Earth : Represents the earth itself; Gold: Everything that is solid and solid is gold; Water: Represents fluidity and the role of endless circulation.
These five things have almost corresponding relationships with various things, such as the following sets of corresponding relationships:
Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water
Heaven and the Five Elements: Direction: Southeast, Middle, Northwest
Climate: Wind, heat, dampness, dryness and cold
Earth and the Five Elements: Grains: Wheat, millet, millet, rice and beans
Five flavors : sour, bitter, sweet, pungent and salty
People and the five elements: Five internal organs: Liver, heart, spleen, lungs and kidneys
Five bodies: tendons, veins, meat, skin, fur and bones
There are many similar relationships. . These five things are interrelated and interact with each other, that is, there is an obvious phenomenon of generation and restraint between them. Let’s first look at the rules of their mutual generation: wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates water, and water generates wood. Let’s look at the rules of mutual restraint: wood conquers earth, earth conquers water, water conquers fire, fire conquers metal, and metal conquers wood. It is under this situation that they are constantly moving and changing, or in other words, they form a wonderful cyclic movement system through mutual generation and mutual restraint. Only by correctly understanding and understanding the laws of motion can we keep things moving and developing.
The Five Elements in Calligraphy
Calligraphy is mainly composed of five elements: the strokes of characters, the form of fonts, the ink technique of writing, the brushwork of writing and the composition of calligraphy. It is very strange that there are things in the art of calligraphy that are related and corresponding to the five elements. Moreover, it is precisely because of the different degrees of understanding and understanding of calligraphy authors and calligraphers that the artistic level of calligraphy works varies. The difference between superior and inferior. Let's do a rough analysis of this aspect:
The five elements of strokes.
A word may seem very complicated at first glance. However, after careful analysis, it can be It can be seen that there are mainly five types of strokes in Chinese characters, namely: horizontal, vertical, dot, left and right. If we analyze them again, they have many similarities with the traditional "Five Elements". The horizontal strokes in the strokes are similar to the characteristics of water in the "Five Elements", representing smooth flow and playing a stabilizing role in a character; the vertical strokes have the characteristics of wood, upright, vigorous and upward; the dots seem to be earth, because It plays a role in echoing connections and transmitting information among characters; belonging to gold, it represents nobility and magnificence, showing a kind of spirit; restraining belongs to fire, and has the characteristics of agility and publicity. Any good character has these strokes scientific and reasonable combination.
The five elements of fonts
From the perspective of fonts, Chinese characters have formed five main fonts since ancient times: Zhen Cao Li Zhuan Xing. If analyzed according to the five elements, Zhen type belongs to earth, Because it integrates the characteristics of various other fonts and is the foundation and basis of other calligraphy styles. It has strict standards; while cursive script is definitely gold, because cursive script has almost abstract lines and is full of individuality. It is expressive and has a kind of rhythmic beauty; the official script is round and round, with firmness in softness, and belongs to water; the seal script is thick and steady, with the characteristics of ancient primitiveness, and belongs to wood; the running script has a beating Yin Yang and fluctuation, and the momentum is flowing. The charm is definitely fire.
The Five Elements of Ink
Since ancient times, there has been a saying that "ink is divided into five colors", and there are several ways to say these "five colors", one is called: burnt, thick, heavy, light and clear; The species is called: Thick, Light, Dry, Wet and Black. It is also called Thick, Light, Dry, Wet and Dry. We only take the third statement as an example. The thick color here belongs to earth and is the basic color of ink. It has diversity and originality. The rest The four colors are all based on this; the light color shows a kind of vitality, a kind of vitality, and belongs to wood; while the dry color is dry, and of course it belongs to fire; the wet color shows moisture, has a kind of wettability, and belongs to water; the dry color , ethereal, appears tough and upright, and belongs to metal. Of course, this is only a rough analysis, what is revealed is the correlation between the five elements of yin and yang and the five colors of ink.
The Five Elements of Calligraphy
Writing brushwork is an important process in calligraphy creation, and there are many methods of brushstrokes, among which the most important ones are roughly five, namely: shunfeng, counterattack, center, Side front and turning front. From the perspective of the five elements, these five fronts also have a very close relationship with the five elements. Using the word shunfeng, it is sharp and sharp, showing a kind of bright and strong, which is naturally metal; reverse front, implicit Smooth and slow flowing, it belongs to water; written with the center, it is straight and straight, with a masculine spirit, and belongs to wood; written with the side, it is strong and powerful, tiger and tiger make wind, and belongs to fire; Zhuanfeng, also called Dunfeng, The written words are thicker and more steady, and they belong to earth.
The Five Elements of Format
Generally speaking, when creating calligraphy, after determining what content to write and what font to use, you must also consider what format to use before writing. , because this format is an important part of the art of calligraphy and an effective carrier for better expression of the art of calligraphy. The formats of calligraphy works are diverse, the main ones are nave, couplet, banner, long scroll, and fan. These five formats are also closely related to the Five Elements. The nave usually contains a book, a few words or a poem, and is usually hung in the center of a house or room, in the middle position. and importance, so it should belong to earth; couplets generally consist of two banners forming a pair, divided into upper and lower couplets. This is a traditional calligraphy form that is generally accepted by the public. It is solemn, enthusiastic and belongs to fire. ; The form of banners, which give people a straight and upright feeling, should belong to wood; long scrolls (including banners) often occupy relatively spacious places, giving people a sense of vastness and flow, and should belong to water; and fans, Small and smart, it often concentrates the essence of calligraphy in one place, making the work more delicate and smart. This form belongs to gold.
Generally speaking, if paper is compared to the earth, then human thinking should be the sky, and the ink left on the paper is a specific reflection of the yin and yang and the five elements. At the same time, the sky is yang, the earth is yin, and the five elements move regularly among them. Whoever understands or masters this law can improve his understanding of the art of calligraphy. Huai Su's "Autobiographic Notes" written by Kuang Cao, "When you are crazy, you will underestimate the world, but when you are drunk, you will see the truth." Therefore, the words are swayed freely, flowing like clouds and flowing water, elegant and ethereal. If you look closely, you will see that it is more white than black as a whole. The characters are like clouds in the sky, and they do have an ethereal and mysterious atmosphere.
Looking at Kang Youwei's calligraphy again, his calligraphy integrates Beibei, Lifa and Xingyi, so the calligraphy presents a vigorous, vigorous, heavy and simple style. If you study it carefully, the characters contain the calmness of earth, the thickness of water, and the unrestrainedness of fire. It gives people an otherworldly feeling. From this point of view, the relationship between calligraphy and Yin Yang and the Five Elements is indeed very mysterious.
The role of the five elements in improving calligraphy
As the traditional culture of the Chinese nation, the art of calligraphy has a long history, is extensive and profound. If we want to promote and develop the art of calligraphy in the new era, we should work hard Only by inheriting the fine traditional culture of the Chinese nation can we innovate on the basis of inheritance and promote it on the basis of innovation. This is also the purpose of studying and understanding the relationship between the art of calligraphy and the five elements. So, the five elements in calligraphy are very important to calligraphy. What effects does the improvement of art have? We think there are at least the following points:
First of all, it helps to understand the profound connotation of Chinese calligraphy art. In the eyes of ordinary people, calligraphy is just about writing better words. Just saying that so-and-so’s calligraphy is good means so-and-so’s handwriting is good. In fact, the problem is not that simple. A skilled calligrapher is not only good at handwriting, but also has an ideological, moral, and People with high cultivation, realm and knowledge. In their eyes, every calligraphy work has a soul, a thought, a moral character, and is a cultural carrier that can convey a benign message. And through the The study of yin and yang and the five elements in calligraphy can give people a deeper understanding of the spiritual core of Chinese calligraphy and the laws of its development. When it comes to calligraphy, our country has been pursuing charm, speaking of rules, and emphasizing structure since ancient times. Therefore, today, we When researching and creating calligraphy, you must have a high degree of awareness, so that you can embark on the correct path of exploration from the beginning.
In ancient my country, the art of calligraphy paid attention to the beauty of masculinity and femininity. It was believed that the main characteristics of the masculine beauty of calligraphy are "extraordinary and bold, unrestrained and vigorous", majestic in momentum, and flowing like a rainbow; structurally It is wide open and wide closed, with horizontal clouds and broken ridges; the writing style is vertical and horizontal, fierce on the inside and strong on the outside. He also admired Yan Lugong's "Manuscript for Nephew Sacrifice", which is full of energy, upright and vigorous, and has a masculine beauty. The feminine beauty of calligraphy is soft on the inside and beautiful on the outside. There is no fierceness, no roughness, and it tends to be harmonious and calm, long and long. He also believes that the Tang Dynasty's small regular script "Ling Fei Jing" has a soft and clear brushwork, free and flowing structure, beautiful but not flattering, elegant but not vulgar, showing a kind of feminine beauty. In fact, if we carefully study these traditional theories and the art of calligraphy classics, we can say that they all contain or use and draw lessons from the laws of yin and yang and the five elements.
Secondly, it helps to improve the author's innovative ability in calligraphy art.
Generally speaking, theories are generated during the movement of things. Therefore, the five elements theory of calligraphy is the inner and fundamental law of the art of calligraphy. Studying the Five Elements Theory in calligraphy creation is undoubtedly a new and meaningful topic for calligraphers. It not only enriches the traditional calligraphy theory, but also brings calligraphy closer to China's ancient traditional culture and ancient philosophy. combined. Specifically, the five elements of strokes enable calligraphers to grasp the essence of calligraphy practice; the five elements of fonts enable people to essentially deepen their understanding of the rules, characteristics and functions of characters when learning various fonts; and The five elements of brushwork can enable people to more closely combine their ideas and pens when creating calligraphy, so that they can use their ideas to lead the pen, use their pens to create momentum, and use their momentum to convey the spirit: Strengthening the study of format can enable calligraphers to be able to write earlier To grasp calligraphy creation as a whole, and thus enter a more scientific state of creation. It is also the in-depth study and unremitting exploration of the profound laws of calligraphy art that can bring new development to our calligraphy art. Most accomplished calligraphers are kind-hearted and knowledgeable. They often have a deeper understanding and understanding of calligraphy. The so-called Tao of calligraphy is the way of enlightenment. Only with Taoism in the heart can calligraphy become an art that combines form and spirit and conveys spirit through calligraphy. Only by deeply understanding the inherent laws of yin and yang and the five elements in the art of calligraphy can the author's ability to create calligraphy be continuously improved.
Third, it helps to improve the cultural taste of calligraphy art.
The level of calligraphy art taste is determined by many factors. There are at least three factors that determine the quality of calligraphy art: one is the author's own creative ability and level; one is people's correct understanding and evaluation of calligraphy art; and the other is scientific calligraphy theory.
Among these three items, the role of calligraphy theory is very important, because without scientific calligraphy theory, there will be no correct calligraphy concepts and understanding and evaluation of the art of calligraphy. The discussion of the Five Elements Theory of calligraphy is precisely based on a The new angle strengthens the understanding of the art of calligraphy, which is an improvement in the understanding of the art and a new creative guidance for the practice of calligraphy art. According to the theory of the five elements of calligraphy, the black and white of calligraphy are yin and yang, and , since everyone in the world