What exactly does くずし字 refer to?


I have been practicing and interested in calligraphy for a while. Recently I
was looking in general for books on the subject and I often encountered this
word: くずし字 (for example in books titles etc).

Now, I have more or less an idea but I can't really find a clear definition. A
dictionary I checked simply redirects to 草書体, and Midori more or less the
same. But is it actually really just a synonymous of "cursive"? I wonder if
that isn't somehow a simplification. Looking at books and topics where this
word comes out I have a feeling it might have a different or anyway more
general meaning than that. Of course maybe I'm just wrong.

I found something related
[here](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1291688792)
but I'm not sure is the answer I'm looking for. Anyone knows more about this
here?

Thanks as usual.

Ps. Does the くずし have any relation to the verb 崩す, as in "breaking down" a
character, or is it totally unrelated to such meaning? (Apparently according
to Midori dictionary it can also be written as 崩し字 indeed).




くずし is obviously from 崩し.

My understanding is that 行書/草書 refers to only (semi-)cursive _kanji_. It's
used for Chinese documents written in cursive styles.

According to [this
article](http://book.geocities.jp/teikinnourai/honnbunnkuzusiji.html) and
others, くずし字 usually refers to cursive _Japanese_ sentences which are found
typically in documents in the Edo period and contain both 行書/草書 kanji and
cursive kana (including 変体仮名).

So there is no such thing as 草書体のひらがな, but くずし字のひらがな exist.




くずし is obviously from 崩し.

My understanding is that 行書/草書 refers to only (semi-)cursive _kanji_. It's
used for Chinese documents written in cursive styles.

According to [this
article](http://book.geocities.jp/teikinnourai/honnbunnkuzusiji.html) and
others, くずし字 usually refers to cursive _Japanese_ sentences which are found
typically in documents in the Edo period and contain both 行書/草書 kanji and
cursive kana (including 変体仮名).

So there is no such thing as 草書体のひらがな, but くずし字のひらがな exist.

