Fine Japanese Calligraphy

The Art of Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase

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今を生きる ima wo ikiru Live the Moment

Live the moment: the Japanese title of Dead Poets Society, and Horace's carpe diem in five characters.

Live the Moment (今を生きる) in Block style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase
Live the Moment 今を生きる ima wo ikiru Vertical Block VB3C
Live the Moment (今を生きる) in Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase
Live the Moment 今を生きる ima wo ikiru Vertical Cursive VC4B
Live the Moment (今を生きる) in Design style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase
Live the Moment 今を生きる ima wo ikiru Vertical Design VD4B
Live the Moment (今を生きる) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase
Live the Moment 今を生きる ima wo ikiru Vertical Semi-Cursive VS3C
Live the Moment (今を生きる) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase
Live the Moment 今を生きる ima wo ikiru Vertical Semi-Cursive VS3D
Live the Moment (今を生きる) in Block style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase
Live the Moment 今を生きる ima wo ikiru Horizontal Block HB4A
Live the Moment (今を生きる) in Block style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase
Live the Moment 今を生きる ima wo ikiru Horizontal Block HB4B
Live the Moment (今を生きる) in Block style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase
Live the Moment 今を生きる ima wo ikiru Horizontal Block HB4C
Live the Moment (今を生きる) in Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase
Live the Moment 今を生きる ima wo ikiru Horizontal Cursive HC3A
Live the Moment (今を生きる) in Design style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase
Live the Moment 今を生きる ima wo ikiru Horizontal Design HD3A
Live the Moment (今を生きる) in Design style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase
Live the Moment 今を生きる ima wo ikiru Horizontal Design HD4A
Live the Moment (今を生きる) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase
Live the Moment 今を生きる ima wo ikiru Horizontal Semi-Cursive HS4A
Live the Moment (今を生きる) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase
Live the Moment 今を生きる ima wo ikiru Horizontal Semi-Cursive HS4B
More about 今を生きる

Not to live in the present but to live it. The now is the thing lived, not the time one lives in, and the particle を is what makes it so. It is carpe diem in plain modern Japanese, seize the day. It also says to live wholly in the present. A person who chooses it for a fresh start has the first. A person who chooses it for attention to the present has the second. The phrase holds both, and which is yours.

It is the phrase for a fresh start.

The phrase was in Japanese print by 1914, when the critic Sōma Gyofū wrote of how to live the now, and in 1990 it was the title under which Japan saw the film Dead Poets Society, a title rendering Horace's carpe diem, which the film's teacher glosses as "seize the day."

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 今を生きる.

About the Designs

Each design is Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase's hand-brushed calligraphy of the word or phrase on this page, delivered as a PDF you can print. Every PDF includes the line art, so a tattoo artist or a craftsperson can work from the outline as well as the brushed image.

Licensing

Your purchase includes a personal-use license: use the design as a tattoo reference, frame it, engrave it, print it for yourself, or make it into a gift. For more information see Licensing, which also covers commercial-use options that may be purchased separately.

Delivery

Your PDF is available for download the moment your order completes, and a copy is attached to your emailed receipt.

If you need your design again later, ask us for it and we will send it.

Live the Moment as a hand-brushed scroll

Master Takase personally brushes your scroll when you order, and it bears her red seal and her signature. The scroll has real silk borders and layered Japanese paper, so it hangs straight, and it arrives ready to display.