Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC5B
Cursive or sōsho (草書) styles are the most simplified styles and Master Takase's favorite. While very beautiful, these styles are often difficult to read even by specialists.
In loneliness,
there is joy too,
An autumn eve[1]
sabishisa no
ureshiku mo ari
aki no kure
さびしさの
うれしくも有
秋の暮
buson
蕪村
Loneliness, and there is gladness in it too; autumn dusk.
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.
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Ships in 1-3 days from Washington State
Your scroll is brushed when you order it and completed within 1 to 3 business days.
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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
In our reading, Yosa Buson's verse has no image and no scene, only a feeling named and then the hour. We take 秋の暮 as dusk: it is the moment when the loneliness one has dreaded comes and turns out to be welcome. Some readers find that plainness its beauty, and some find it a little too plain.
In the Japanese, the whole verse turns on one small word, も, which means too. The gladness sits inside the loneliness, not in place of it. 秋の暮 means autumn dusk and also the end of autumn, and the dictionaries order the two senses differently. The designs write the word ari with the kanji 有, where the printed editions spell it in kana; the word is the same.
References:
[1] After R. H. Blyth, Haiku, vol. 1 (Hokuseido Press, 1949), p. 229.
The verse is Buson's, known from the 蕪村遺稿, the book of his verse published after his death, in 1801; its 1900 edition opens the run of autumn-dusk verses with it. No witness read here dates its composition.
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 さびしさのうれしくも有秋の暮.
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