Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC3B
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.
一期一会
ichigoichie
Each Moment Only Once
A meeting that comes once in a lifetime.
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
Word for word, 一期一会 is one lifetime, one meeting. In the tea room, host and guest give one gathering their whole attention, each knowing the day will not come again. The word has grown past tea to any meeting that happens only once, and the dictionaries carry both senses. Our title, Each Moment Only Once, is our own English for it, and the word itself names a meeting. In English books it is also spelled ichi-go ichi-e or ichi go ichi e.
The four-character word 一期一会 is first known from the preface to Ii Naosuke 井伊直弼's tea manual Chanoyu ichie shū 茶湯一会集, drafted by 1848 and finished in 1858, which says the gathering of host and guests at tea is called by that name and glosses it with the older Edo idiom 一世一度; the thought behind it is a sentence on the guest's conduct in the sixteenth-century tea record of Yamanoue Sōji 山上宗二.
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 一期一会.
