Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC4B
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.
雨にも負けず風にも負けず
ame ni mo makezu, kaze ni mo makezu
Be Not Defeated by the Wind, Be Not Defeated by the Rain
Not beaten by the rain, not beaten by the wind.
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 words 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
雨にも負けず風にも負けず begins a portrait of a person: not beaten by rain or wind, strong in body and few in wants, and going east and west and south and north when he is needed. The two lines open a poem that has no punctuation and reads as one sentence, its main verb the last line: such a person is what I want to become. Every line before it describes that person rather than instructing anyone. Hiroaki Sato, one of its translators, writes that the poet meant it as a prayer. We read its last line as a vow as well, a promise of what he would become.
The poet wrote it in katakana, and nearly every printing keeps it so. The design writes the two lines in kanji and hiragana.
宮沢賢治 wrote the poem in a black notebook under the date 11.3, 3 November 1931, nearly two years before his death; it was not published in his lifetime.
Learn More About These Words
We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 雨にも負けず風にも負けず.
