Idiom Explanation:
Write into wood three centimeters, it refers to the strength and power of calligraphy. It is now used to describe the thoroughness of insight and profound arguments.
Pronunciation:
入木三分
rù mù sān fèn
origin:
唐朝·张怀瓘《书断·王羲之》：“卫夫人见，语太常王策曰：‘此儿必见用笔诀，近见其书，便有老成之智。’流涕曰：’此子必蔽吾名！’晋帝时，祭北郊，更祝版，工人削之，入木三分。”
story:
Wang Xizhi was a famous great calligrapher in Chinese history, with the word Yishao, who was a native of Ji (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province) in the Jin Dynasty. He was the son of Wang Kuang, who excelled in calligraphy at the age of seven. Because he had been the right general, he was also called Wang Youjun.
Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy can be considered the best in the ancient and modern worlds, and his words are strong in their beauty and soft in their strength. Therefore, many people who study calligraphy use his characters as a model. The fact that he wrote so well is certainly related to his natural talent, but most importantly, it is due to his hard practice.
He always thought about the structure of the script, the frame and momentum of the words, and kept scratching with his fingers on his lapel in order to get the words right, whether he was resting or walking. So over time, even his clothes were scratched. He used to practice writing at the pond, and every time he finished writing, he washed his pen and ink in the pond. Over time, the water of the pond was actually dyed black! It is easy to see the depth of Wang Xizhi’s effort in practicing calligraphy.
Early one morning, Wang Xizhi and his son Wang Xianzhi took a flat boat to tour the landscape of Shaoxing, and when the boat arrived near the village of Xianxiu, they saw a flock of white geese on the shore, swaying and dawdling. Wang Xizhi was so fascinated that he felt a love for the white geese and wanted to buy them to take home. Wang Xizhi asked the nearby Taoist priest, hoping that the Taoist priest could sell this flock of geese to him. The Taoist priest at the temple had long admired his calligraphy and said, “If you want it, please write a copy of the Huangting Sutra, the Taoist scripture of health and cultivation, on my behalf in exchange!” Wang Xizhi was so eager for the geese that he wrote the “Huangting Sutra” for the temple, and the Taoist priest gave him all those geese.
On another occasion, the emperor wanted to go to the northern suburbs for worship, and asked Wang Xizhi to write the benediction on a wooden board, and then sent workers to carve it. The workers were very surprised when the carving was done. Wang Xizhi wrote the words, and the strength of his brush penetrated into the wood by more than a third. He said with admiration, “The words of the right general are really into the wood!” This is the origin of the idiom “three points into the wood”.
Similar Idioms:
- 力透纸背
- 铁画银钩
