Jiun · 自運 · VD6B
Jiun (自運) is the calligrapher's word for writing from one's own invention. As a Shihan, Master Takase has a hand of her own, and these designs are that hand: she draws freely on the classic scripts to create exactly the look she wants.
人間万事塞翁が馬
ningen banji saiō ga uma
All is Saiō's Horse
Everything in this world is the old man's horse.
Master Takase creates this beautiful scroll when your order is placed, personally preparing the ink and brushing your art, which proudly bears her signature and seal. This is an original work of art.
Description
All is Saiō's Horse in Japanese is 人間万事塞翁が馬 which is read ningen banji saiō ga uma
人間万事塞翁が馬 (ningen banji saiō ga uma): everything in this world is the old man's horse.
Good luck and bad turn into each other without warning, so neither is to be rejoiced at or grieved over yet. The story is a Han parable in the 淮南子: an old man by the frontier fort loses his horse, gets it back with another, sees his son break a leg on the new one, and sees that leg keep the son out of the war, declining to react at each turn.
人間 is read ningen, as every Edo witness has it; jinkan is a learned modern choice.
The seven characters are the seventh line of a poem by the Yuan Zen monk 晦機元熙 (Huiji Yuanxi), about 1300, 寄徑山虛谷陵和尚, and a Japanese dictionary of 1444, the 下学集, already names him as its poet. A proverb book of 1701 gave the couplet to Su Dongpo, and proverb books went on doing so into the 1930s, though a Confucian scholar's essay, printed in 1763, had set the monk back. Behind the line stands a much older Chinese parable, the 淮南子's second-century-BC chapter 人間訓, which the monk's couplet distills rather than retells.
We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 人間万事塞翁が馬.
Delivery
Your scroll is brushed when you order it and completed within 1 to 3 business days. It ships by USPS Priority Mail from Master Takase's studio in Washington State, boxed and ready to hang, with a printed page giving the art's English, romaji and Japanese.
Sending it as a gift? Add your message at checkout and we will include it.
Shipping is calculated at checkout from your address; within the United States it is $13 to $23. We ship worldwide, and any import charges for your country are shown at checkout before you pay.
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. Refund policy
About Our Scrolls
Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase brushes your scroll by hand when you order it. Each scroll bears her red seal, 英利, and her signature.
The scrolls are 12 1/4" W × 43" H (31 × 109 cm), with woven damask borders and layered Japanese paper, designed to last generations. The scrolls themselves are made by a scroll maker in Gifu, Japan, and we have worked with them 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
