# Song–Ming Woodblock Book Typography (Songti / Mincho)

> The page and letter of the East Asian book. Song block cutters copied the regular script of Tang masters; from the mid-16th century Ming cutters straightened it into a knife-made letter of thin horizontals, thick verticals and triangular stroke ends. Equal square characters run in right-to-left vertical columns in a ruled frame folded at a central column. As metal type in Shanghai and Nagasaki it became Mincho, Myeongjo and the standard CJK text face. Frame, rules and fold column belong to the woodblock page; type keeps the letter, the square and, in Japan and Taiwan, the vertical column.

- Period: c. 960–present
- Where: East Asia
- Origin: Song-dynasty block printing in Zhejiang (Lin'an, now Hangzhou), Sichuan and Fujian, where cutters copied the regular script of Tang calligraphers; straightened into the Ming style from the mid-16th century (a 1553 edition of Mozi is an early dated example) and standard by the Wanli era; recast as metal type at the American Presbyterian Mission Press in Shanghai, whose William Gamble taught Motoki Shōzō in Nagasaki in 1869, becoming Japanese Mincho and Korean Myeongjo
- Branch: Traditions & vernacular
- Also known as: Songti (宋体, Song typeface), Mingti / Minchōtai (明朝体, Ming typeface), Jiangtizi (匠體字, 'craftsman's characters', a literati jibe at the Ming style), Myeongjo / Batang (명조체 / 바탕체), Chinese thread-bound book (xianzhuang) page
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/song-ming-book-typography/

## Use it with care

Have any Chinese, Japanese or Korean text set and proofread by a fluent reader: Song, Mincho and Myeongjo fonts draw some characters differently for each locale, and pseudo-characters, mirrored glyphs or random hanzi used as texture read as nonsense or worse. Pages of Buddhist sutras and other scripture carry devotional text; do not crop them into decoration.

## How it works

- Fit every character, however simple or complex, into the same square cell, and run the cells in vertical columns read from right to left.
- Cut the brush for the knife: keep the regular-script skeleton but make horizontals thin and verticals thick, end horizontals in a small triangle, and cut dots and sweeps to points.
- Enclose the text block in a single or double ruled frame, divide the columns with fine rules, and let a fixed count of columns and characters per column set the page. Print black ink on pale paper: red appears mainly in owners' seals and, from the 1610s, in commentary and punctuation overprinted from separate blocks by Min Qiji and the Ling family of Wuxing.
- Fold each sheet at a central column that carries the title, chapter and leaf number between fish-tail marks, stitch the folded leaves into dark-blue paper covers, and leave a wide upper margin for readers' head-notes.
- Build hierarchy from size and position, not decoration: set commentary in small characters two columns to a line, and keep one face for the body text, while prefaces are sometimes cut from the writer's own hand and title pages may be lettered in seal script.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Modular grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/modular-grid/) (defining)
- [Column grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/column-grid/) (defining)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (defining)
- [Classical text block](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/classical-text-block/) (defining)
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (characteristic)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (defining)
- [Measured density](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/measured-density/) (characteristic)
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (characteristic)
- [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (occasional)
- [Flat hierarchy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-hierarchy/) (occasional)
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Rotated & vertical setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rotated-and-vertical-setting/) (defining)
- [Transitional serif](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/transitional-serif/) (characteristic)
- [Brush & pen calligraphy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/brush-and-pen-calligraphy/) (characteristic)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (occasional)
- [Tight setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/tight-setting/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (defining)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (defining)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Rectilinear](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rectilinear/) (defining)
- [Angular & zigzag](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/angular-and-zigzag/) (characteristic)

### Surface & texture
- [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (defining)
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (characteristic)
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (defining)
- [Rules & bars](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rules-and-bars/) (defining)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (characteristic)
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (defining)
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Woodblock & linocut](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/woodblock-and-linocut/) (defining)
- [Letterpress](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/letterpress/) (characteristic)
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Authoritative & institutional](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/authoritative-and-institutional/) (defining)
- [Rational & objective](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rational-and-objective/) (characteristic)
- [Calm & contemplative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/calm-and-contemplative/) (characteristic)
- [Spiritual & sacred](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/spiritual-and-sacred/) (occasional)

Avoids: Full polychrome, Gradients, Abundant decoration, Diagonal axis, Broken grid, Experimental & distorted, Ornamented display, Visual tension, Grotesque & neo-grotesque

Palette: #f1e9d6, #16130f, #d6c49c, #5b564e, #b5342b, #2e3d5c

Typefaces: Song block-cut regular script after Ouyang Xun, Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan, Ming-style Songti / Mingti, the straightened 'craftsman's' letter, mature by the Wanli era, Ruanti 'soft-style' regular script (xieke editions), the calligraphic alternative to the Song letter in Qing printing, Juzhen Fangsong imitation-Song type (Ding Fuzhi and Ding Shanzhi, 1915), Tsukiji Mincho and Shūeitai Mincho (DNP Shuei Mincho), Korean Myeongjo / Batang, SimSun and MingLiU (Windows system Song and Ming faces), Source Han Serif / Noto Serif CJK

Known for: Chen Qi's Chen family bookshop (陳宅書籍鋪), Lin'an (Hangzhou), Southern Song: the slender, even regular script later revived as Fangsong; Song regional imprints: Zhejiang editions after Ouyang Xun, Sichuan editions after Yan Zhenqing, Fujian editions after Liu Gongquan; The commercial publishers of Jianyang, Fujian (11th–17th centuries), printing for the retail book market; The 1553 (Jiajing 32) edition of Mozi, an early dated example of the straightened Ming style; Mao Jin's Jiguge (汲古閣), Changshu, late Ming: the Thirteen Classics and Seventeen Histories among more than 600 titles; The Kangxi Dictionary (1716), printed in the Ming style; Joseon woodblocks cut for Confucian academies and clans, mostly scholars' collected works (munjip): 64,226 blocks for 718 titles, inscribed as Confucian Printing Woodblocks in Korea on UNESCO's Memory of the World register in 2015, with the same frame, fold column and fish-tails; Motoki Shōzō's Mincho type, Nagasaki, after William Gamble's 1869 teaching, continued by the Tsukiji Type Foundry

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Influenced by: [Chinese Calligraphy & Seal Carving (Shufa & Zhuanke)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chinese-calligraphy-seal.md) (c. 0–present)
- Led to: [Contemporary Chinese Book Design ('Most Beautiful Books of China')](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chinese-contemporary-book-design.md) (2003–present)
- Alike in its design choices: [Gothic Blackletter & Fraktur Tradition](https://stylogeny.com/styles/blackletter-fraktur.md) (c. 1180–present), 74% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Bulaq (Amiriyya) Naskh Book Printing](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bulaq-naskh-printing.md) (1822–1956), 66% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Nirnaya Sagar Devanagari Typography (Bombay Metal Type)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/nirnaya-sagar-devanagari.md) (1864–present), 63% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Urdu Katib Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/urdu-katib-lithography.md) (1837–present), 63% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Renaissance Book Typography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/renaissance-book.md) (c. 1460–1600), 62% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [German Book Art Movement (Buchkunstbewegung)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/buchkunstbewegung.md) (1895–1933), 61% alike

## Sources

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_(typeface)
- https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/宋体
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fangsong
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Jin
- https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/명조체
- https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/dnp/shueitai/
- Advanced Center for Korean Studies, 'Design of a printing woodblock' (block frame, woodblock centre, fishtails, head notes, rule lines): https://mokpan.ugyo.net/en/overview/design.html
- Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the PRC, 汉文古籍版式描述规范 (The format description for Chinese ancient books), cultural industry standard, 2023: https://zwgk.mct.gov.cn/zfxxgkml/hybz/202309/W020230915558581660492.pdf
- Tsien Tsuen-hsuin, Paper and Printing, Science and Civilisation in China vol. 5 part 1 (Cambridge University Press, 1985)
- Lucille Chia, Printing for Profit: The Commercial Publishers of Jianyang, Fujian (11th–17th Centuries) (Harvard University Asia Center, 2002)
- Joseph P. McDermott, A Social History of the Chinese Book (Hong Kong University Press, 2006)
- Hsu Che-ying (許哲瑛), 古書中的推薦文─以南宋魏了翁雕版書法為中心 (prefaces and colophons cut from the writer's own hand), National Palace Museum Research Quarterly 35:3 (2018): https://www.npm.edu.tw/NewChineseArtDownload.ashx?bid=3914
- Huang Shang (黃裳), 清刻之美 (Qing editions as written-and-cut versus Song-character editions), Dushu 1985 no. 3: https://www.aisixiang.com/data/105695.html
- UBC Library Chinese Rare Books, 尚書古文疏證 (1745, recut 1867): inner title page in seal script, framed half-leaf, single black fish-tail, red collectors' seals: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/chineserare/items/1.0365843
- https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/閔齊伋
- Grolier Club, Min Qiji's Chunqiu Gongyang zhuan (1621), multi-block colour printing for punctuation and notes: https://grolierclub.omeka.net/items/show/2755
- USC Libraries, Chinese Rare Books, two-colour (zhumo taoyin) editions of 1616 and c.1620: https://scalar.usc.edu/works/chinese-rare-books/two-color.28
- Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Hamburg, on Chinese collectors' red seals: https://www.csmc.uni-hamburg.de/publications/aom/mom/15-en.html
- https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中式装帧
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizontal_and_vertical_writing_in_East_Asian_scripts
- Advanced Center for Korean Studies, 'History of Korean printing woodblocks': https://mokpan.ugyo.net/en/overview/history.html
- Korea JoongAng Daily on the Confucian Printing Woodblocks in Korea (UNESCO Memory of the World, 2015): https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/lifestyle/joseon-era-woodblocks-used-to-print-major-literary-collections-are-set-to-return-home/12147759

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Song–Ming Woodblock Book Typography (Songti / Mincho)”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/song-ming-book-typography/