Chapter 789 Kukai Fragments

Author: Erzi Congzhou

"Well... the hemp paper produced in the capital of Shu during the Tang Dynasty was the best in the world. There were nearly a hundred papermaking workshops along the Huanhua River. In addition to being used as royal tribute, princes and nobles wrote poems and painted paintings, and they all spent a lot of money to buy Shu paper from the capital." Zhou Zhi

Said: "Tang

Daishu paper is made of hemp as the main material; it is dyed yellow with drugs to add an antique feel and also prevent insects. It is called "yellow-dyed paper". Then, it is evenly waxed on this basis to make the paper glossy and translucent.

Because of its gorgeous beauty, it is called 'hard yellow'."

"The hard yellow paper is thin and translucent, and can be used to make copies of calligraphy and painting works. In the Tang Dynasty, the famous double hook method began to be used to copy the calligraphy of predecessors, which is inseparable from the contribution of hard yellow Shu paper."

"But because it was too transparent, it was often necessary to use other famous papers at the time when mounting the paper, such as 'Yunlan' created by Duan Chengshi, a famous fantasy novelist in the Tang Dynasty, or 'Kuijichu' which Han Yu once praised highly.

.”

"As an ancient high-tech papermaking industry, during the Tang Dynasty, Shu had already led the country and occupied an irreplaceable central position. The Shu University Ancient Book Restoration Research Institute has collected some paper samples from the Tang Dynasty, so I am familiar with them."

"I see." Wang Limei said with a smile: "Ziuzi is very knowledgeable about ancient paper. Even if you don't know the author, you can already determine the dynasty, which is really amazing."

Li Qiyan smiled and said: "Kung Kai is a monk from an island country. It's not surprising that his elbows have not been studied."

"Kukai was an eminent monk at the turn of the Nara period and the Pinghai period. He was not satisfied with the dharma he had practiced before, so he sent the Tang Dynasty envoy to Chang'an to learn the esoteric sect."

"During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Tianzhu Tantric Buddhism had already declined. Master Fu Kong, an eminent monk from Tianzhu, came all the way to Chang'an and passed the mantle of Tantric Buddhism to Zen Master Huiguo."

"It is said that in the same year that Master Fu Kong passed away, Kukai was born into a wealthy family in Kagawa County, the island country. After arriving in Chang'an, he studied under Huiguo."

"Before Huiguo passed away, he told Kukai that he was the reincarnation of Fu Kong. He was Huiguo's master in his previous life, and Huiguo has become his master in this life."

"In this way, Kukai was able to spread Tantra eastward again and bring it to the island country to flourish."

"Therefore, he occupies a very important position in the history of Buddhism in the island country. His significance for crossing the sea in one boat is no less significant than that of Bodhidharma crossing the river with a reed, for Chinese Buddhism. Later generations of the island country will honor him as the 'Kung Fu Master'"

"In addition to being a great master, he was also a talented 'art monk'. During the Tang Dynasty, he did his best to collect Buddhist cultural relics and even asked friends to help."

"It was his determination and perseverance in learning Buddhism that enabled many Chinese Buddhist cultural relics to be introduced to the island country through Kukai, even though Buddhism was destroyed by Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty. Many of them were listed as national treasures and have been passed down to this day."

"After returning to China, Kukai compiled "Bunjing Mifu Lun", which included many theoretical works on poetry from the Southern and Northern Dynasties of China to the mid-Tang Dynasty, and made great contributions to the spread of Chinese culture and the prosperity of Sinology.

"

"Besides this, Kukai is most famous for his calligraphy."

"Kukai's calligraphy skills are extremely high. He is a master of seal, official, regular, running, cursive and other calligraphy. He directly created a line of calligraphy in the island country."

"Look at Elbow, he was deeply influenced by Chinese Tang Dynasty books. His brushwork combines Yan Zhenqing's skeletal momentum and has the boldness and elegance of the two kings. His skill is very profound."

"The Great Sun Sutra" is a fragment of cursive script, with only about a hundred characters left in total. However, from the more than a hundred characters, it seems that although this man is a monk from an island country, his calligraphy skills can even beat the masters of the Song and Ming Dynasties.

"This is a great master. His calligraphy can be regarded as a model of Tang calligraphy. Except for turning the pen, he has not learned anything, and everything else can be said to be at its peak..."

"Some people call him Xizhi, the King of the Island." Li Lehai said, "What do you think of the elbow?"

"I think it's still a little less agile than the two kings. The characters are like those of the Tang Dynasty, but the writing style is close to the style of some calligraphers of the Song Dynasty." Zhou Zhi stared at the fragment of the scroll: "Of course, except for Mi Fu, all the calligraphers in the Song Dynasty except Mi Fu would turn their pens.

Apart from using it to the extreme and being able to attack from all sides, other calligraphers prefer to use subtraction."

"This one is no exception, so he lacks agility and change compared to the two kings. Of course, even so, he is already better than most of his descendants. I didn't know there were people like this among the islanders."

After saying that, he handed over to Li Qiyan: "Gong Li's collection of Dharma stickers is really amazing..."

Li Qiyan smiled and said: "When Wanqiu comes back, I want to entrust her to take pictures of this scroll. What do you think?"

Zhou Zhi gave Li Qiyan a thumbs up and said with a smile: "Mr. Li is very clever!"

Even if Zhou Zhi didn't know Kukai, he would know he was a famous artist when he saw the words, and he would know it was genuine when he saw the paper.

This is a Dharma book from the Tang Dynasty, the period when the island nation of Nara and Pinghai took over. Just like a post by Zhang Zhi or Huai Su appears on the domestic market, you can imagine how crazy collectors will be.

In the past, An Siyuan and Anzhai Eiichi both had the idea of ​​"Chunhua Pavilion". Now that the fragments of Kukai's "Dainichi Sutra" are published, Anzhai Eiichi will definitely fight for it at all costs, and they will not have time to consider "Chunhua Pavilion".

Posted.

For Ellsworth, the value of Tang Dynasty calligraphy fragments is naturally higher than the value of Song Dynasty double-hook copies. And the most amazing thing is that he is an American. In his eyes, he only has the value of works of art. As for Chinese

Whether they are from an island country or from an island country, they are actually the same.

So one can imagine Ellsworth's attitude towards this fragment.

"Now it's the island people's turn to be worried and anxious." Zhou Zhi nodded with satisfaction: "We will also get involved when the time comes. After all, these two kings of Shangzong have all the good things in the Tang Dynasty's calligraphy, and we should also be interested in them.

That’s right.”

Li Lehai looked at Zhou Zhi with a satisfied smile on his face and was doubtful of the kid's lies.

Zhou Zhi will soon have tens of millions of dollars in cash. If he really wants to snatch it, it's really hard to say who will end up with this post.

At least so far, no calligraphy work worth tens of millions of dollars has been sold in the world auction market.

Li Qiyan also imitated Zhou Zhi's gesture of giving him his hand just now, and also joked to Zhou Zhi: "Then thank you Guidong for carrying my sedan chair."

It was already past noon when the matter was discussed, so Li Qiyan arranged for the guests to have lunch. After the meal, Li Lehai and Li Lexui accompanied Zhou Zhi and Director Wang to visit Li Qiyan's collection.

As one of the top collectors on Hong Kong Island, Li Qiyan has many fine products here. His interests and hobbies focus on three categories - the first is various rubbings and rare ancient books; the second is porcelain; and the third is jade.

The first two are now considered to be at the expert level, but the third is not enough except for those who are relatively recent and can make out some clues.

Li Qiyan's jade articles have been collected into a series starting from ancient Hongshan and Yangshao to the late Qing Dynasty.

Among them, the topaz pig dragon and topaz column-shaped jue of the Hongshan Culture are very precious and the pinnacle of handicrafts in the New Era. At the same time, the jade quality is also of high quality, which is rare in the entire Hongshan period.

The mysterious jade axes and mysterious jade rings of the Yangshao culture directly broke the academic stereotype that "Yangshao does not use jade", and are of extraordinary value.
Chapter completed!