软笔书法

Literally 'soft-pen calligraphy' — Chinese calligraphy done with the traditional flexible-tipped brush (毛笔), as opposed to 硬笔 (hard-pen). The 'soft/hard' distinction is a modern teaching term: the classical word for brush calligraphy is simply 书法. Requires the 文房四宝 — brush, ink stick, paper, inkstone (笔墨纸砚).

usage

软笔 is used almost exclusively in contrast to 硬笔 — you'll see 软笔书法课 (brush-calligraphy class) on a school schedule, but nobody says 软笔 in isolation.