This t-shirt has the words "Tangut script" written in the script of the Xixia（西夏） Kingdom, which was built nearly a thousand years ago.

The top letter reads "Mi", which is the self-proclaimed name of the Xixia people. The next two characters read "wil" and "ndi", which together mean "character". The Xixia script on this t-shirt is a faithful reproduction of the script in the documents left behind by the Xixia Dynasty.

This t-shirt was designed by Mr. Takeshita Naoyuki, a typeface designer, and supervised by Arakawa Shintaro Ph.D. (Associate Professor, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies), a researcher of the Xixia language and script, in commemoration of the 10th Mojimoji Cafe "Missing friends of the Chinese Characters" held in December 2007.

Supervision: ARAKAWA Shintaro Ph.D. (Associate Professor, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)
Design: TAKESHITA Naoyuki (typeface designer)
Planning and production: Mojimoji Cafe

In the first half of the 11th century, the Tangut people of Tibetan descent established the Xixia Dynasty east of Dunhuang on the Silk Road in northwestern China. At that time, the Xixia people created the Tangut script, consisting of about 6,000 characters, to represent their language. Since it is based on Chinese characters, the characters are composed of parts such as radicals and declensions. However, none of the characters are borrowed directly from Chinese characters, nor are there any hieroglyphs that resemble objects.

The Tangut script continued to be used for some time even after the Xixia Dynasty was destroyed by the Mongols, but somehow it was buried in history. After the WWII, Dr. Tatsuo Nishida and his colleagues at Kyoto University succeeded in deciphering the Xixia language and script.

Words from the supervisor

These characters were carefully refined by Mr. Takeshita by extracting the part "Xia" and "script" from an actual document called "Ban-han-gouji-chu-zhu." These are actually woodblock prints printed in the 12th century, but the style of the brush strokes is even more magnificent than the original. I hope it will give you an idea of Asian writing culture, which is not limited to Chinese characters.

ARAKAWA Shintaro Ph.D.（09/01/2008）

Words from the designer

The original Tangut script is very skillful, and the intricate lines are full of life and power. Underneath the Xixia script is the word "Tangut script" in English.

TAKESHITA Naoyuki（09/04/2008）

From top to bottom: denim, charcoal, olive.

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Updated March 14, 2023
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