篆書

This calligraphic excerpt is written in the seal style ( 篆書: tensho in Japanese, zhuàn shū in Chinese), which is used mainly for seals (chops) stamped in red ink on documents or works of painting or calligraphy.

Tensho characters are close to ancient Chinese pictographs. In the simplest of them you can still see a picture, for instance in the character for "child" (8th column from right, 8th character up from bottom). Now this character is written 子, still showing the vertical body and outstretched arms of the child, but with a hook for the head.

Done