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.
色即是空
shikisoku zekū
Form is Emptiness
Form is emptiness.
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
Form is emptiness: everything that has a form has no fixed nature of its own, and, in the half of the line left unsaid here, emptiness is nowhere but in form. The four characters are the first half of a pair from the Heart Sutra, the line chanted in Zen, Shingon and Tendai temples, and the pair is a statement about how the world exists, not a verdict on it; a Noh play turns it into an affirmation, because form is emptiness just as it is, the willow is green. 色 is form, matter, not color; 空 is emptiness, not nothingness. All is vanity, a dictionary's third gloss for the line, is the Preacher's verdict that everything is fleeting, and the two lines share only a character, and only in Japanese. The words carry the first half alone, as the tradition writes it; the second half is yours to know.
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 色即是空.
