The Eight Principles of Yong are used by calligraphers to practice how to write the eight most common strokes in regular script, using the fact that they are all present in the character 永; yǒng; 'forever', 'permanence'. It was believed that the frequent practice of these principles as such when beginning one's study could ensure beauty in the Chinese calligrapher's writing.

The Eight Principles are influenced by the Eastern Jin-era Seven Powers (七勢) by Lady Wei Shuo. Publications on the principles include:

  • The Tang-era Praise to the Eight Principles of "Yong" (永字八法頌) by Liu Zongyuan[1]
  • The Tang-era Praise to the Eight Principles of "Yong" (永字八法頌) by Yan Zhenqing[2]
  • The Yuan-era Eight Ways to Explain "Yong" (永字八法解) by Li Puguang,[3] which provides two-character metaphorical names

Table

Yongzi principles (stroke components) by stroke order
Principle[4] Pinyin
abbr. 		Name Additional description
Tang-era[1][2] Li[3] Modern Chinese Vietnamese
1
㇔
 D 側; 侧; cè; 'side' 怪石; guàishí; 'dot' 點; 点; diǎn; 'dot' chấm Tiny dash, speck
2
㇐
 H 勒; lè; 'bridle' 玉案; yù'àn; 'jade table' 橫; 横; héng; 'horizontal' sổ ngang Rightward
3
㇑
 S
  • 弩; nǔ; 'crossbow'
  • 努; nǔ; 'strive'
 鐵柱; 铁柱; tiězhù; 'iron pillar'
  • 豎、竪; 竖; shù; 'erect'
  • 鐵杵; 铁杵; tiěchǔ; 'iron staff'[citation needed]
 sổ dọc Downward
4
㇚
 G 趯; tì; 'jump' 蟹爪; xièzhuǎ; 'crab's pincer' 鉤、鈎; 钩; gōu; 'hook' móc Appended to others, suddenly going down, or left only
5
㇀
 T 策; cè; 'horsewhip' 虎牙; hǔyá; 'tiger's tooth'
hất Flick up and rightwards
6
㇁
 W 掠; lüè; 'skim' 犀角; xījiǎo; 'rhinoceros's horn' 彎; 弯; wān; 'curve' cong Tapering thinning curve, usually concave left (convex outward right) with fast speed as if skimming
7
㇒
 P 啄; zhuó; 'to peck' 鳥啄; 鸟啄; niǎozhuó; 'bird's pecking'
phẩy Falling leftwards with light curve
8
㇏
 N 磔; zhé; 'dismember' 金刀; jīndāo; 'golden knife'
mác Falling rightwards, fattening at bottom, where endpoint is "sharp as a knife"

CJK strokes

Main article: Stroke (CJK character)

In addition to these eight common strokes in 永, there are at least two dozen strokes of combinations which enter in the composition of CJK strokes and by inclusion the CJK characters themselves. Most strokes are encoded in Unicode as symbols, to be used in ideographic description sequences (IDS). The standard characters names assigned in the UCS for these CJK strokes are based on initials of the modern Chinese names (romanized with Pinyin) of component principles with which they are recognized and drawn.[4]

  • The principles, as shown in the Vietnamese book Nhật dụng thường đàm 日用常談 (1851), with their individual strokes
    The principles, as shown in the Vietnamese book Nhật dụng thường đàm 日用常談 (1851), with their individual strokes
  • A section in Ngũ vân lâu tăng đính tứ thể thư pháp 五雲摟增訂四體書法 (1848), explaining the concept of the Eight Principles of Yong
    A section in Ngũ vân lâu tăng đính tứ thể thư pháp 五雲摟增訂四體書法 (1848), explaining the concept of the Eight Principles of Yong
  • The Eight Principles of Yong depicted the calligraphy book, Tứ thể bút thức 四體筆式 (1869)
    The Eight Principles of Yong depicted the calligraphy book, Tứ thể bút thức 四體筆式 (1869)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Liu, Zongyuan. 永字八法颁 Yǒngzìbāfǎ sòng [Praise to the Eight Principles of "Yong"]. 全唐文 (in Chinese). Vol. 0583.
  2. ^ a b Yan, Zhenqing. 永字八法颂 Yǒngzìbāfǎ sòng [Praise to the Eight Principles of "Yong"]. 全唐文 (in Chinese). Vol. 0338.
  3. ^ a b Li, Puguang. 永字八法解 Yǒngzìbāfǎ jiě [Eight Ways to Explain "Yong"] (in Chinese).
  4. ^ a b "CJK Strokes" (PDF). The Unicode Standard.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Principles_of_Yong
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