Lately electronic libraries have become very popular among Internet-users. Firstly, due to the IT development, with Internet introducing, with rising of literacy rate. 

The first book on Japanese calligraphy from the significant Momoyama and Edo periods (1568–1868), 77 Dances examines the art of writing at a time when it was undergoing a remarkable flowering, as illustrated by over one hundred sumptuous illustrations. Everything from complex Zen conundrums to gossamer haiku poems were written with verve, energy, and creativity that display how deeply the fascination for calligraphy had penetrated into the social fabric of Japan. Examining the varied groups of calligraphers creating works for diverse audiences will show how these artistic worlds both maintained their own independence and interacted to create a rich brocade of calligraphic techniques and styles. The book begins with basic information on calligraphy, followed by six main sections, each representing a major facet of the art, with an introductory essay followed by detailed analyses of the seventy-seven featured works. The essays include: The revival of Japanese courtly aesthetics in writing out waka poems on highly decorated paper The use of Chinese writing styles and script forms Scholars who took up the brush to compose poems in Chinese expressing their Confucian ideals Calligraphy by major literati poets and painters The development of haiku as practiced by master poet-painters The work of famous Zen masters such as Hakuin and Ryokan.

For 1,300 years, Chinese calligraphy was based on the elegant art of Wang Xizhi (A.D. 303-361). But the seventeenth-century emergence of a style modeled on the rough, broken epigraphs of ancient bronzes and stone artifacts brought a revolution in calligraphic taste. By the eighteenth century, this led to the formation of the stele school of calligraphy, which continues to shape Chinese calligraphy today.
A dominant force in this school was the eminent calligrapher and art theorist Fu Shan (1607-1685). Because his work spans the late Ming-early Qing divide, it is an ideal prism through which to view the transformation in calligraphy.
Rather than seek a single explanation for the change in calligraphic taste, the author demonstrates and analyzes the heterogeneity of the cultural, social, and political processes behind it. Among other subjects, the book covers the late Ming interaction between high and low culture; the role of publishing; the Ming loyalist response to the Qing; and early Qing changes in intellectual discourse. In addition to the usual approach of art historians, it adopts the theoretical perspectives of such fields as material culture, print culture, and social and intellectual history.

The current book includes the Professor’s commentaries, his works and the works of his students and apprentices. Many of them got ahead in their design and calligraphic careers. The book is in English.