Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC6B
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.
Plum blossoms everywhere,
I should go south,
I should go north
ume ochikochi
minami subeku
kita subeku
梅遠近
南すべく
北すべく
buson
蕪村
Plum blossoms here and there; south would do, and north would do.
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.
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Your scroll arrives boxed, with a printed insert describing the haiku in detail.
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Explanation
Yosa Buson's verse puts plum in bloom far and near: south would be good, and north would be good, so any road will do. The sentence stops in the air, and the rest is left unsaid. Readers have filled it in the same way: either way, as the heart pleases.
In the Japanese, 遠近, ochikochi, means here and there, far and near. 南すべく and 北すべく are to go south and to go north, each with べく, would do. Nothing follows them, so the verse ends on an open choice.
The English is Timothy L. Jackowski's, made for Takase Studios.
One also sees the pronunciation minnami which would make the second line seven syllables.
The verse is Buson's: he wrote it out under the headnote 野徑梅, plum along the field paths, in a letter to his pupil 霞夫 that a 1925 edition dates provisionally to 1777, and it was first printed in his 蕪村句集 of 1784.
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 梅遠近南すべく北すべく.
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Buson - From far and near, Hearing the sounds of waterfalls, Young leavesをちこちに滝の音聞く若葉哉 ochikochi ni taki no oto kiku wakaba kana
Buson - In loneliness, there is joy too, An autumn eveさびしさのうれしくも有秋の暮 sabishisa no ureshiku mo ari aki no kure
Buson - A flash of lightning, The sound of dew, Dripping down the bamboos稲妻にこぼるる音や竹の露 inazuma ni koboruru oto ya take no tsuyu
