三千の 俳句を閲し 柿二つ sanzen no haiku wo kemishi kaki futatsu shiki 子規 Three thousand, Haiku to examine, Two persimmons

Three thousand,
Haiku to examine,
Two persimmons

三千の俳句を閲し柿二つ (sanzen no haiku wo kemishi kaki futatsu): three thousand haiku looked through, and two persimmons. 閲し is 閲する, to look through, the selector's verb; Shiki read the verses sent to the newspaper 日本 by the box, and 柿, the persimmon, is the fruit that returns through his poems. The verse carries a headnote of Shiki's own: 或日夜にかけて俳句凾の底を叩きて, one day, on into the night, striking the bottom of the haiku box. That is the whole story: the box emptied, and at the end of it the reward a sick man allows himself. Kyoshi later gave the night a fever in his novel 柿二つ, though his own later tellings leave it out; the retellings that follow the novel keep it. The verse does not need it. Watson's English keeps the headnote as its title; Blyth's puts the count first and the persimmons last with nothing between them but the verb.

Writes Timothy L. Jackowski, Takase Studio translator, "This is the only art that I have in my office. Eri created this for me as a gift - which makes it even more special. While I do love persimmons, in my case, my persimmon is a five-mile run ... or ten. Each person is motivated differently - what gets you through the day? What is your persimmon?"

The verse is from the autumn of 1897, the year under which Shiki's manuscript sets it; it was first printed in 1909, in the 子規句集 that 虚子 and 碧梧桐 selected from his manuscripts.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 三千の俳句を閲し柿二つ.

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The scrolls are 12 1/4" W × 43" H (31 × 109 cm) with real silk borders and Japanese paper that are layered so the scroll hangs straight and will not warp over time. The scrolls themselves are made by Sankō (株式会社三幸) in Gifu prefecture, which has been making high quality scrolls since 1947, and we have worked with Sankō for over two decades.

Eri Takase was born and raised in Osaka, Japan, and holds the rank of Shihan, the highest rank in Japanese calligraphy, from the Bokuteki-kai and the Bunka-shodo. About Master Takase