History and introduce of Oracle Bone-Script

  Before Chinese Character dive into the vast world of core calligraphy styles in a strict sense, let me introduce you to the grandfather of all scripts: oracle bone and tortoise shell script (亀甲獣骨文字, kikkou juukotsu moji). 

  In short, oracle bone inscriptions are called koukotsubun (甲骨文) in Japanese, which translates to “text (文, bun) on shells (甲, kou) and bones (骨, kotsu)”. In Chinese it is also known as qi wen, i.e “engraved text” (刻, to engrave, 文, text), although there were bones found with characters written with a brush, and not carved afterwards.

  Koukotsubun was discovered by accident in 1899 by Wang Yirong (王懿榮), an official from Beijing, who fell ill. A doctor prescribed him a medicine of which one of the ingredients was “dragon bone” (龍骨in Chinese: long gu). The piece of bone he had purchased from a traditional pharmacy was covered in ancient carvings resembling Chinese characters. Being a man of science it intrigued him and eventually led to a great discovery in a small village just outside Anyang (安陽), Henan Province (河南省).