Master Saicho’s Visa to Tang Dynasty China

CHINA; Tang dynasty

This piece is a travel document of the Japanese monk Master Saicho from his visit to China during the Tang dynasty (618–907). It consists of two parts: an official entry approval from Mingzhou (present day Ningbo, Zhejiang), and a similar document from Taizhou, Zhejiang. The notification is an important source material for the study of Saicho’s journey as it clearly describes the monk’s retinue and the sutras he brought with him. The artifact was listed as a National Treasure of Japan in 1954.
The feeble regular script of the Taizhou document, however, is evident by the thin calligraphic style employed in clerical script. The broad and unpretentious characters from the entry approval at Mingzhou in contrast provide a sampling of the ordinary calligraphic style used during this time, amid the prevalence of the Tang-style regular script. These calligraphic traces provide segments of insight into the larger historical picture of Chinese calligraphy.