Types

Here are five major types of Korean Hanja calligraphy, which are derived from Chinese calligraphy.

• Seal scripts (Korean: 전서; Hanja: 篆書; RR: jeonseo) 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 (초서; 草書; choseo) 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 (해서; 楷書; haeseo) 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 (행서; 行書; haengseo) is a practical style intermediate between block and cursive script. It is legible for most people.


• Official script (예서; 隸書; yeseo) was developed from seal script form. It is angular in appearance and much more legible than cursive or seal script.