Cursive script (草書 cǎoshū), also known as the Grass script (an overly literal translation), is a style of Chinese calligraphy. The name originates because the Chinese character for "grass" (草 cǎo) also means loose and sketchy. Cursive script is faster to write than other styles, but also harder to read. It is quite often the case that persons who are capable of reading printed Chinese find themselves completely illiterate when confronted with this particular style of writing.

Cursive script originated in China during the Hàn dynasty through Jìn (晉) Dynasty period, in two phases. First, an early form of cursive developed as a cursory way to write the popular and not yet mature clerical script. Faster ways to write characters developed through four mechanisms: omitting part of a graph, merging strokes together, replacing portions with abbreviated forms (such as one stroke to replace four dots), or modifying stroke styles. This evolution can best be seen on extant bamboo and wooden slats from the period, on which the use of early cursive and immature clerical forms is intermingled. This early form of cursive script is now called zhāngcǎo (章草), and variously also termed ancient cursive, draft cursive or clerical cursive in English, to differentiate it from modern cursive (今草 jīncǎo). Modern cursive evolved from this older cursive in the Wèi Kingdom to Jìn dynasty with influence from the semi-cursive and standard styles.

In the art of calligraphy, there are various styles of cursive script:

• 章草, pinyin zhāngcǎo, Japanese sōsho (草書), an early cursive based on clerical script,
• old style,
• unconnected style, Chinese (S) and Japanese 独草, Chinese (T) 獨草, pinyin dúcǎo, Japanese dokusō, where each character is separate,
• connected style, Chinese (S) 连绵体, Chinese (T) 連綿體, Japanese 連綿体, pinyin liánmiántǐ Japanese renmentai, where each character is connected to the succeeding one, and
• wild cursive, 狂草, pinyin kuángcǎo, Japanese kyōsō, which is even more cursive and illegible.

Many of the simplified Chinese characters are modeled on the cursive forms of the corresponding characters.

Cursive script in Japan

---

Cursive script forms of Chinese characters are the origin of the Japanese script hiragana, which developed from cursive script via a form of writing called man'yōgana. In Japan, cursive script was considered to be suitable for women, whereas the clerical style was considered to be suitable for men.

References

---

• The Art of Japanese Calligraphy, 1973, author Yujiro Nakata, publisher Weatherhill/Heibonsha, ISBN 0834810131.
• Qiú Xīguī (裘錫圭, 2000). Chinese Writing. English translation of his 文字學概論 (1988 PRC edition is in simplified Chinese; 1993 Taiwan edition is in traditional Chinese) by the late Gilbert L. Mattos (Chairman, Dept. of Asian Studies, Seton Hall University) and Jerry Norman (Professor Emeritus, Asian Languages & Literature Dept., Univ. of Washington). Early China Special Monograph Series No. 4. Berkeley: The Society for the Study of Early China and the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley. ISBN 1-55729-071-7.

Shotai | Chinese language | East Asian calligraphy | Chinese calligraphy

Grasschrift | 草書体 | 草书