Ink brush
Ink brushes (simplified Chinese: 毛笔; traditional Chinese: 毛筆; pinyin: máo bǐ; Japanese: 筆, romanized: fude; Korean: 붓/筆) are used in Chinese calligraphy as well as Japanese calligraphy and Korean calligraphy which have a root of Chinese calligraphy. They are also used in Chinese painting and other brush painting styles. The brush was invented in China around 300 B.C.[1][2] Together with the inkstone, inkstick and Xuan paper, these four writing implements form the Four Treasures of the Study.
Types
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Brushes differ greatly in terms of size, texture, material, and cost. The brush hair chosen depends on one's needs at the moment; certain kinds of brushes are more suited to certain script styles and individuals than others.
- Handle: usually of bamboo, exotic brushes may instead use such materials as gold, silver, jade, ivory, red sandalwood or spotted bamboo.
- Hair source: normally the brush is made from goat, Siberian weasel (ch: 黄鼠狼 huángshǔláng, yellow-rat-wolf), pig, mouse, buffalo, wolf, or rabbit hair, while exotic ones can be made from tiger, fowl, deer, and even human hair (from a baby's first haircut, said to bring good fortune while taking the imperial examinations).
- Hair texture: soft (ch: 軟毫 ruǎnháo), mixed (ch: 兼毫 jiānháo), or hard (ch: 硬毫 yìngháo) hair.
- Hair size: generally classified as either big (ch: 大楷 dàkǎi, ja: 大筆 oofude), medium (ch: 中楷 zhōngkǎi, ja: 中筆 chufude), or small (ch: 小楷 xiǎokǎi, ja: 小筆 kofude)[3]; most calligraphy is written with a medium-sized brush. The smallest brushes are used for very small pieces and for fashioning designs for seals. While medium size brushes are the most widely used, wielded by a skilled artist a medium brush can produce a variety of thicknesses of line from very thin to fairly thick. The largest brushes are used only for very large pieces.
- Hair length: generally classified by hair length for thickness of handle as either long (ja: 長鋒 chouhou), medium (ja: 中鋒 chuhou), short (ja: 短鋒 tannhou); most calligraphy is written with a medium-length hair brush. The long hair brush are more keep to hold a ink than the short hair brushes as their length. So, it used for continuous long stroke line scripting such as Japanese traditional hiragana style by rennmen( ja: 連綿 ). The hair of long hair brushes are tend to made by hard texture hair to keep their hair form, but there is a not one. Japanese very long and slender hair brushes called menso-burushes（ ja: 面相筆 ） are used for detail painting.[4]
Synthetic hair is not traditionally used. Prices vary greatly depending on the quality of the brush; cheap brushes cost less than one US dollar while expensive brushes can cost more than a thousand dollars. Currently, the finest brushes are made in the town of Shanlian, in the Nanxun District, prefecture-level city of Huzhou, of Zhejiang province.
History
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The earliest intact ink brush was found in 1954 in the tomb of a Chu citizen from the Warring States period (475-221 BCE) located in an archaeological dig site Zuo Gong Shan 15 near Changsha (長沙). The primitive version of an ink brush found had a wooden stalk and a bamboo tube securing the bundle of hair to the stalk. Legend wrongly credits the invention of the ink brush to the later Qin general Meng Tian.[citation needed]
Traces of the writing brush, however, were discovered on the Shang jades, and were suggested to be the grounds of the oracle bone inscriptions.[5]
Fudepen
The Fudepen, also known as a "Brush Pen", is a modern Japanese invention analogous to a Fountain pen. Today, Japanese companies such as Pentel and Sakura Color Products Corporation manufacture pens with tips resembling those of a small ink brush. These brush pens work almost identically to small ink brushes and can be used for most of the same purposes.
See also
References
- ^ Ong, Siew Chey (2005). China condensed: 5000 years of history & culture. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish. p. 161. ISBN 978-981-261-067-6.
- ^ Women of China, Issues 1-6. Foreign Language Press. 1995. p. 1.
- ^ 榊, 莫山 (1981-05-30). 文房四宝 筆の話 (1 ed.). 角川書店. p. 202.
- ^ 堀, 久夫 (2001-03-16). 書筆使いこなしハンドブック (1 ed.). 可成屋. p. 128. ISBN 4-8393-8721-4.
- ^ Cambridge History of Ancient China, 1999:108
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