Fine Japanese Calligraphy

The Art of Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase

白露を こぼさぬ萩の うねりかな shiratsuyu o kobosanu hagi no uneri kana Not spilling the glistening dew, the bush clover, undulating

The white dew it does not spill, the swaying of the bush clover.

by Master Eri Takase
Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase

Born and raised in Osaka, Japan, Eri Takase received the rank of Shihan, master, from two calligraphy societies, the Bokuteki-kai and Bunka-shodō, and won best-of-category awards in all-Japan national competitions. She has created calligraphy for people around the world for more than thirty years, and with your order she will be creating calligraphy for you.

A brushed scroll with Master Takase's brush on its rest, an inkstone and ink stick, a small iron water pot and red seal paste

In a ritual as old as calligraphy itself, Master Takase prepares the ink, meditatively rubbing the ink stick against the stone until it reaches the perfect consistency for the paper. Then, properly loading the brush with ink, she brushes your scroll. And only when the scroll is just right and meets her approval, she signs it and affixes her seal, completing your original scroll.

12 1/4" × 43" (31 × 109 cm) Japanese Scrolls

The scrolls have woven damask borders and special layered Japanese paper (washi), designed to last generations by a scroll maker in Gifu, Japan, with whom we have worked for over two decades.

The roller at the foot of a hanging scrollThe corner where the paper, the gold band and the damask border meet
Gift-Ready

Your scroll arrives boxed, with a printed insert describing the haiku in detail.

Sending it as a gift? Add your message at checkout and we will include it with the insert.

Ships in 1-3 days from Washington State

Your scroll is brushed when you order it and completed within 1 to 3 business days.

Your scroll ships from Master Takase's studio in Washington State. Shipping is calculated at checkout. We ship worldwide.

30-day money-back guarantee

Every order is covered by our 30-day money-back guarantee. If your scroll arrives damaged, or we made an error, we replace it or refund you in full, including shipping.

$220

Explanation

Not spilling the glistening dew,
the bush clover,
undulating

shiratsuyu o
kobosanu hagi no
uneri kana
白露を
こぼさぬ萩の
うねりかな
bashō 芭蕉

白露をこぼさぬ萩のうねりかな (shiratsuyu o kobosanu hagi no uneri kana): the white dew it does not spill, the swaying of the bush clover. 萩, hagi, is bush clover, one of the seven grasses of autumn, its long stems bending in wind; 白露 is the white dew of the same season; うねり is the long undulation of a bough; かな closes on the swaying. The poem turns on one restraint: the clover moves, and the dew still does not fall. Two early books of the verse differ by one particle. The first collection after Matsuo Bashō's death, in 1696, reads 白露も, even the dew. A disciple's book of 1698 reads 白露を, the text the scroll brushes. In 1948 Ebara Taizō, the twentieth century's leading Bashō scholar, argued that を was the poet's own revision. Shiki praised the verse in 1893 as a perfect rendering of the clover's bearing, quoting it with も. Some of the designs write 白露 or 萩 in kana. The English is Timothy L. Jackowski's, made for Takase Studios.

Bashō inscribed the verse on a painting of his own, by the earliest dating in the autumn of 1693 at 杉風's garden retreat 採茶庵 in Fukagawa, though a biography of 1762 sets such an inscription in Iga in 1694.

Learn More About This Haiku

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 白露をこぼさぬ萩のうねりかな.