Monogram, also called monogram and signature seal, originated from the Song Dynasty of my country and became popular in the Yuan Dynasty, so it is also called Yuan monogram. Unlike official seals, which require unified formats and unified management, monograms are a kind of private seals. The seal is usually made by writing the user's name in cursive script and changing the pattern appropriately. The emergence of monograms immediately became the favorite of professional literati, semi-professional illiterates, and all avant-garde artists and visual workers, setting off a DIY boom in the market. It was even mentioned in the Yuan Dynasty's "Baile Hua Zachao" that a female worker in the tertiary industry in Dadu was at the forefront of fashion. Even the invitations she wrote to her patrons were stamped with her own monogram. It was said that her monogram was "gentle and moving." ”, everyone regarded her as a talented woman, and it became a good story in most cities for a while, and the business naturally became better and better. Speaking of which, this flower pledge plays a role in personal brand structure...

I'm going too far again. In short, in an era before passwords, anti-counterfeiting stripes and holographic identification codes were invented, monograms were an effective text protection measure.

Monograms have appeared as early as the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, but they have not been popularized until the Yuan Dynasty. This is because many Mongolians and Semu people who served as officials in the Yuan Dynasty were not literate at all. Don't talk about writing and signing. This became a very annoying thing. The emperor was furious because he was ridiculed by the Han people as an uncultured savage, and the officials could only go crazy. At this time, the traitors came out to help again. A Han official suggested to the Mongolian officials that he should carve monograms on ivory or wood instead of writing and signing. The Mongolian officials were so happy that they might have patted his shoulders and rewarded him with some flower cloth on the spot. Foreign candies and other things, and there are praises: "You have a great conscience"...

This is not an illiterate Aona making fun of, there are books and proof. Tao Shenyi of the Ming Dynasty recorded in "Records of Nancun Stopping Farming": "Those who were officials in the Yuan Dynasty were mostly unable to write monograms. They were deeply disobedient to them, so they printed them in ivory or wood engravings according to Han Dynasty." In addition, in the Yuan Dynasty, there were seals carved in Mongolian characters in the form of ancient symbols. They were cut open from the middle and each party held half, which was considered to "hold the letter". It was called a "contract seal", which also belonged to the type of monogram seal.

The monogram was introduced to Japan around the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Merchants in maritime trade (at that time, Japan was declaring a sea ban due to the two conquests of Japan in the Yuan Dynasty). The so-called maritime merchants were actually Maritime smuggling groups) first used monograms in ports such as Nagasaki and Hakata. Later, local merchants also began to use monograms, but the scope was smaller, only for correspondence or trade documents between merchants.

The prosperity of Japanese monograms began in the Warring States Period. There were hundreds of daimyo, and each daimyo had at least dozens of important retainers. The retainers had their own retainers, and the samurai kept in touch with each other and talked about their ideals. , talk about life, or even conspire to rebel, you have to use documents that are both confidential and decent; the daimyo not only need to maintain relationships with the court, but also from time to time intimidate their neighbors, as well as monks, local wealthy families, merchants... Anyway, in a word, monogram is not popular even if it is not popular.

There is not much difference between Japanese monograms and Chinese monograms, but the words taken from Japanese calligraphy are very distinctive, especially those of samurai and daimyo with higher cultural literacy (or strong creative ability) during the Warring States Period. , designed quite a lot of interesting monogram styles.

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