Zhong Yao

A calligrapher and politician from the Three Kingdoms Wei period in China. His pen name was Yuanchang. He was from Changshe, Yingchuan (Xuchang County, Henan Province). At the end of the Later Han dynasty, he was appointed as a filial and honest man and became the Yellow Gate Minister, but after entering the Wei dynasty, he was highly valued as a founding hero and was given the official rank of Prime Minister, and was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Dingling and became the Grand Tutor, so he is called Zhong Dafu. He learned calligraphy from Liu Desheng and is said to have mastered the three styles of clerical script, regular script, and running script, and is praised alongside Zhang Zhi of the Later Han dynasty. The original copy has not been handed down, and the clerical script is said to be in "Report on the Respectful Title of a Nobleman" and "The Monument to the Master of Zen." Among the regular scripts that have been highly praised in later generations are the "Senjihyo," "Senkichokuhyo," "Gashohyo," and "Bodenheishajo," which have been collected and passed down as calligraphy works; however, all of them were based on works that had been copied and imitated many times, and some are thought to be forgeries, so they cannot be believed as they are.

[Shigenori Tsutsui]

"'Calligraphy Masterpieces Series 96 Wei Jin Xiao Kai Shu' (1962, Nigensha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、三国魏(ぎ)の書家、政治家。字(あざな)は元常。潁川(えいせん)長社（河南省許昌県）の人。後漢(ごかん)の末に孝廉(こうれん)として登用されて黄門侍郎となったが、魏に入ってのちは建国の功臣として重用され相国(しょうこく)の官位を得、定陵侯に封ぜられて大傅(たいふ)の官に至ったので、鍾大傅とよばれる。書は劉徳昇(りゅうとくしょう)に学び、隷書(れいしょ)・楷書(かいしょ)・行書の三体をよくしたと伝えられ、後漢の張芝(ちょうし)とともに並び称せられる。真跡は伝わらず、隷書は『公卿上尊号奏(こうけいじょうそんごうのそう)』『受禅碑』がその書とされる。後世もっとも高く評価された楷書では『宣示表(せんじひょう)』『薦季直表(せんきちょくひょう)』『賀捷表(がしょうひょう)』『墓田丙舎帖(ぼでんへいしゃじょう)』などが法帖(ほうじょう)に収められて伝わるが、いずれも臨摹(りんも)（臨写・模写）を重ねたものを底本としており、また偽託もあると考えられ、そのままには信じられない。

［筒井茂徳］

『『書跡名品叢刊96　魏晉小楷集』（1962・二玄社）』

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