own style, steadfastly. Fonts that are not square are being developed, considering jong-sung, or sound coming after the vowel. Types There are five major types of Korean Hanja calligraphy, which are derived from Chinese calligraphy. Seal scripts () are scripts featuring uniformity of stroke thickness and spacing of vertical, horizontal, and curved lines. It is often use for seals and chops. Cursive or grass script () is known for extreme economy in individual pen strokes. Extreme cursive script is not legible for most people because different characters may resemble each other when written in cursive script. Block script () Each block script character is roughly the same size proportion and fitted into a square space. Chinese characters are frequently written in block script. Semi-cursive script () is a practical style intermediate between block and cursive script. It is legible for most people. Official script () was developed from seal script form. It is angular in appearance and much more legible than cursive or seal script. The "four friends" of tools The "four friends" means paper, brush, ink stick, and ink stone in Korean calligraphy. Those are called Munbangsawoo (文房四友) in Korean. In Korean calligraphy, traditional hanji (韓紙) made of Korean mulberry is used. It is well-suited for absorbing ink and reflecting its colors. For brush, animal hairs of same length are selected and made into straight and a sharply pointed tip. Ink stick is made by soot from burned trees and glue. A good ink stick has extremely fine particles. Finally, ink stone must be made from a firm stone which does not when ground by the ink stick, or jade. In addition to the four tools, calligraphy needs other items: a yeonjeok, a container of water, used for making ink with ink stick, boot tong, a container for holding brushes after being used, munjin, a long and flat paper weigh, and pilse, a bowl for washing the brush. Gallery References External links Newspaper article with visuals on Korean calligraphy Chinese characters Hangul