Heo Mok (許穆, 1595-1682), a Neo-Confucian member of the literati, a politician, and an artist of the mid-Joseon Dynasty, was also a noted calligrapher, and these manuscripts are said to contain his finest work. The calligraphy from these manuscripts was used on the East Sea Stele in Cheokju (present-day Samcheok), Gangwon-do. When Heo Mok was appointed as a magistrate of Samcheok, the area had been battered by devastating tsunamis. Heo’s strong desire to assuage the fierce waters led him to compose a poem titled An Ode to the East Sea, and he later erected the stele with the poem carved on it. Heo deeply scrutinized the ancient Chinese style of calligraphy known as “seal script,” from whence he eventually developed his own unique style called “misuche” (眉叟體, roughly translated as “script like an old man’s eyebrows”). His style was characterized by its singular form, sharp strokes, and mutability, all of which are exemplified in these manuscripts. Knowing that the verses would be inscribed on a stele, he took great care to maintain an orderly balance of space, both between the individual letters and between the lines. When writing the letters, he followed the basic arrangement of seal script, but when a letter was used repeatedly, he freely altered the shape to cultivate some variety. Normally, such alteration was not preferred, but Heo had found precedence for it through his own historical research, thereby demonstrating his broad knowledge and aesthetic sense of ancient writings. Still, his unorthodox calligraphy faced harsh criticism from those who viewed it as aberrant to the conventional style of that time. However, it is highly significant that Heo created his own unique style after diligently studying the development of ancient calligraphy. Today, Heo’s distinctive style is revered as one of the most exceptional scripts of the 17th century Joseon Dynasty.