Preface to a Critical Discussion of the Calligraphy of the Various Worthies of Our Country東國諸賢書訣評論序
夫書契之興。尙矣。自蒼頡制字以代結繩。然後鳥跡蝌蚪篆籒隷書之法作焉。寢及後代。踵事增華。於是眞行草飛白之制。各體互興。若秋菊春蘭俱不可廢。且古之聞人韻士之工於書者。不可勝算。有攻一體者。有兼之者。遠至于晉。以王羲之爲第一。前則梁武帝評其體曰。龍跳天門。虎臥鳳閣。後有唐文皇贊之曰。煙霏露結。鳳翥龍蟠。心慕手追。此人而已。向所謂古之聞人不爲不多。而獨擧逸少者。蓋我國之第一人者。有與逸少無異者。故先擧其偶者耳。第一者其誰。金生是已。此迺神筆也。何以言之。世傳嘗有人忽至金生前。請寫帝釋經。寫畢。問所從來。其人曰。我帝釋使者也。命我請書故來耳。因忽不見。又書安養寺額。隔數年。其釘額之屋南傾側。卽請書屋北。然後其屋還平。又寫靑龍寺額。常有雲霧籠焉。又學士洪灌齎其書入宋。其朝諸賢見之。嘆曰。不意今日見王右軍眞蹟。灌答曰。不是右軍書。迺我國金生書。屢言之終不信焉。則金生之書。與右軍無異明矣。然則當以金生處神品之第一。
The coming into being of writing is ancient. After Cangjie (蒼頡) made characters to take the place of knotted cords, there arose the methods of bird-track script and tadpole script, of seal script, of Zhou script (籒文), and of clerical script. Little by little, as later ages came, men carried on the work of those before them and added ornament to it; and so the styles of standard script, running script, cursive script, and flying-white (飛白) rose up by turns, each in its own kind, until, like autumn chrysanthemums and spring orchids, not one of them could be cast aside.
Again, the famed men and the men of elegant taste in old times who were skilled in writing are beyond all counting. Some delved into one style alone; some joined several styles together. Going far back, to the Jin (晉) dynasty, Wang Xizhi (王羲之) is held the foremost. Earlier, Emperor Wu of Liang appraised his style and said, 「A dragon leaping up at the gate of heaven, a tiger lying in a phoenix tower」; and later Emperor Wen of Tang praised him, saying, 「It is as though smoke were drifting and dew were gathering, as though phoenixes soared and dragons coiled. The one man to be longed for with the heart and pursued with the hand is he alone.」
Though the famed men of old spoken of above are not few, I have named Wang Xizhi alone because, among the foremost of our own country, there is one no different from Wang Xizhi, and so I have first named the man who is to be his match — that is all.
Who is that foremost man? Kim Saeng (金生) is the very one. His is a brush of divine wonder. How do I come to say so?
It is handed down in the world that once a certain man came suddenly before Kim Saeng and asked him to write out the Sutra of Indra (帝釋經). When the writing was done and Kim Saeng asked where he had come from, the man said, 「I am a messenger of Indra. He bade me ask for your writing, and so I came — that is all」, and all at once he was not to be seen.
Again, he wrote the signboard of Anyangsa (安養寺); and some years later the hall on which that board was fixed leaned toward the south. He was asked at once to write on the north side of the hall, and after that the hall stood upright again. Again, he wrote the signboard of Cheongnyongsa (靑龍寺), and cloud and mist were forever gathered about it.
Again, the academician Hong Gwan (洪灌) took that writing with him into the Song; and the worthies of their court, seeing it, marveled and said, 「Beyond all expectation we look today upon the true writing of Wang Xizhi.」 Hong Gwan answered, 「This is not the writing of Wang Xizhi but the writing of Kim Saeng of our country」; yet though he said it many times over, they would not in the end believe him. Thus it is plain that Kim Saeng's writing is no different from Wang Xizhi's. Therefore Kim Saeng must rightly be placed first in the Divine Class (神品).
Interlinear notes 2
幷贊○晉陽公令述
The encomia are included with it. ○ The Duke of Jinyang (晉陽公) had it composed.
The base text also writes Wang Xizhi (王羲之) as Yishao (逸少, his courtesy name), Wang Youjun (王右軍, his office title), and Youjun; since these are one man, they have all been gathered under 「Wang Xizhi」. — Translator
王師坦然書。於行尤所長。每一披閱。精彩爛發。如芙蓉之出池中。含骨鯁。掩以瓊肌。如巧工之施材。穩當相銜。亦無彫鑿之痕矣。此豈學而得之。必受之天者歟。然則當以坦然居神品之第二。
The writing of Tanyeon (坦然), Preceptor of the Realm, is finer still in the running script. Each time it is unrolled and looked upon, its brilliance opens out in splendor, as a lotus rising up from the midst of a pond. It holds a firm skeleton within and is covered over with flesh like a gem; it is fitted together, each part meeting the next, as a skilled carpenter fits his timber, and there is no mark of chiseling or hewing upon it either. How could this have been got by learning? Surely it was received from Heaven. Therefore Tanyeon must rightly be placed second in the Divine Class.
晉陽公崔書。於眞行草。無所不兼。草則如迅鶻飛空。輕風卷霧。眞行則如陣馬齊首。步驟閑舒。無不中規。然中有奔逸薾雲之氣。少放則自亦不能遽遏也。公嘗書大觀殿額。時奇相國亦能書額。見公所書。愕然自服。信可謂神品矣。但聞公於某品。皆不欲居。令漏脫之。此謙德也。美則美矣。然此非私意。迺一國之公望也。若以謂吾今當國。人或面諛。則其中亦有正直之士。豈皆取一時之媚。傳爲萬世之所謗耶。決不然矣。今雖不爾。後世之評者。亦如今議。公雖欲避之。得乎。請處之神品之第三。
In the writing of the Duke of Jinyang, of the Choe family, there is not one of the standard, running, and cursive scripts that he does not join in himself. His cursive is as a swift falcon flying the sky, as a light wind sweeping away the mist; his standard and running scripts are as horses drawn up in formation, heads abreast, their walking and their galloping unhurried and at ease, in nothing out of accord with the rule. Yet within it there is a force that breaks away and pierces the clouds, so that at the least loosening he himself cannot check it at once. The Duke once wrote the signboard of Daegwanjeon (大觀殿); and Minister Gi, who in those days also wrote signboards well, was startled out of himself at the sight of what the Duke had written and owned himself beaten. Truly it may be called the Divine Class.
Only, I hear that the Duke wished not to be placed in any class at all and had himself left out; this is the virtue of modesty. Beautiful it is indeed, beautiful. Yet this is no private wish of mine but the common desire of the whole country. Should he think, 「I now hold the charge of the state, and men may be flattering me to my face」 — among them too there are upright and honest scholars. How should they all take up the flattery of a moment and hand down a thing to be reviled for ten thousand ages? It is by no means so. Even if it were not so now, those who appraise in later ages will judge as we judge today; and so, though the Duke would avoid this, can it be done? I beg leave to place him third in the Divine Class.
柳員外伸書。大抵好合行草二體書之。昔王子敬好爲此體。人謂之非草非行。亦謂之行草。伸之於子敬。雖所書之體不同。亦其遺法也。其體純尙筋骨。以壯士拔釖將赴敵場比之。可也。以驥馬瘦立。益露駿骨況之。亦可也。此亦通神。非一生所習。當居神品之第四。
The writing of Yu Sin (柳伸), Supernumerary Officer, on the whole loved to join the two styles, running and cursive, together. Long ago Wang Zijing (王子敬) delighted in writing this style, and men, saying it was neither cursive nor running, called it running-cursive. Yu Sin, set beside Zijing, does not write quite the same style, yet he too carried on the method Zijing left behind.
That style of his honors sinew and bone above all; it may well be likened to a strong man drawing his sword and going out to the field of battle, and it may as well be likened to a fine steed standing lean, its splendid frame the more revealed. This too has reached through to the divine, and is not a thing to be got by a lifetime of practice. He must rightly be placed fourth in the Divine Class.
君主則太祖仁宗明宗皆工書。然至尊非評品所到。皆略之。其餘士大夫桑門逸士之工書者。有若學士洪灌，宰相文公裕，宗室僧統冲㬢，首座道休，侍郞朴孝文，宰相柳公權，邵城侯金居實，宰相奇洪壽，學士張自牧，山人悟生了然等。亦可以妙品絶品次序焉。然以予有未見其書者。故今不得優劣之。迨摠集而觀。然後備論。不爾。俟後之達識有以明白甄別耳。
Among the kings, Taejo, Injong, and Myeongjong were all skilled in writing. But those of the most exalted station are not for the setting of classes, and so all of them are left out.
Besides these, among officials and monks and scholars living hidden away who were skilled in writing, there are the academician Hong Gwan; the minister Mun Gongyu (文公裕); Chunghui (冲㬢), Monastic Overseer of the royal clan; Dohyu (道休), Chief Seat; the vice minister Bak Hyomun (朴孝文); the minister Yu Gonggwon (柳公權); Kim Geosil (金居實), Marquis of Soseong; the minister Gi Hongsu (奇洪壽); the academician Jang Jamok (張自牧); and the mountain-dwellers Osaeng (悟生) and Yoyeon (了然). These too might be set in order in the Wondrous Class and the Consummate Class.
But there are some whose writing I have not seen, and so I cannot now tell which is the better and which the worse. Only when I have gathered them all and looked at them will I discuss them in full. Failing that, I shall simply wait for one of clear discernment in days to come to sort them out plainly.
Interlinear notes 1
神品四賢各贊
An encomium was composed for each of the four worthies placed in the Divine Class.