Eri's Choice · VD3B
Eri's Choice is a design that does not keep strictly to one style; it is Master Takase's own artistic choice.
The long slow days of spring
piling up, so far away
the past[1]
osoki hi no
tsumorite tōki
mukashi kana
遅き日の
つもりて遠き
昔かな
buson
蕪村
The long slow days piling up, and how far away the past.
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
In our reading, Yosa Buson's verse is about a spring day so long that it makes the years visible. The slow days pile up like snow, and the past feels very far away. The feeling is longing for the past, and readers have heard in it time that is felt rather than counted. Some hear bitterness in its sounds, and some hear a dream.
In the Japanese, 遅き日 is the long day of late spring, when the sun sets late; it is the season word. つもりて is piling up, said of days as of snow. One of the hands writes 昔, the past, in kana, as むかし.
References:
[1] After Haruo Shirane, Early Modern Japanese Literature (Columbia University Press, 2002), p. 545.
The verse is Buson's, first printed in 1784 in his 蕪村句集 under the headnote 懐旧, longing for the past; the 1992 Kōdansha complete works dates it to 1775 from his own verse-book.
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 遅き日のつもりて遠き昔かな.
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