Semi-Cursive · gyōsho 行書 · VS6C
Semi-Cursive or gyōsho (行書) styles are a simplified and softer form of the kaisho styles. Gyōsho styles can be read by most Japanese.
On the back of the mirror,
A spring unseen,
A flowering plum-tree[1]
hito mo minu
haru ya kagami
no ura no ume
人も見ぬ
春や鏡
のうらの梅
bashō
芭蕉
A spring no one sees; the plum on the back of the mirror.
by Master 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.
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.
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.
Explanation
人も見ぬ春 is a spring that not even people see; 鏡のうら is the back of a mirror, where a bronze mirror carried its cast design, plum among the commonest; 梅 is the plum, the first flower of the year. It is a New Year's verse by Matsuo Bashō, and its main reading since the Edo commentaries is this: the plum no one turns the mirror over to see is the good that goes unseen, a person's virtue that no one knows.
References:
[1] After R. H. Blyth, Haiku, vol. 4 (Hokuseido Press, 1952), Preface, p. xvi.
The verse is Bashō's New Year verse for 1692, printed that summer, in his lifetime, at the head of the spring verses of the Kyoto anthology 己が光 (Onoga hikari).
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 人も見ぬ春や鏡のうらの梅.
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