Eri's Choice · VD5J
Eri's Choice is a design that does not keep strictly to one style; it is Master Takase's own artistic choice.
和を以て貴しと為す
wa o motte tōtoshi to nasu
Harmony Is to Be Prized
The Japanese saying that harmony is to be prized: hold it precious that people are on good terms, caring for one another and working together.
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
和を以て貴しと為す (wa o motte tōtoshi to nasu): harmony is to be prized. Hold it precious that people are on good terms with one another and work together.
和 is harmony: getting along, caring for one another and working together. 以て … と為す is to take … as …, and 貴し is precious: take harmony as the precious thing.
The article the line opens goes on: when those above are in harmony and those below are friendly, and they agree in discussing affairs, things come right of themselves. The code's last article says a matter of weight is to be discussed with many, not decided by one person alone.
In English, W. G. Aston's translation of 1896 gave Harmony is to be valued, and most English books since have kept his words or changed one of them. Donald Keene, in 1993, wrote Harmony is to be prized.
The opening line of the Seventeen-Article Constitution, which the Nihon shoki (720) sets in 604 as the work of the crown prince later called Shōtoku Taishi; its four characters 以和爲貴 are the wording of the Chinese Book of Rites (禮記, 儒行), and the Analects (論語) has the same thought with one character changed; the chronicle's manuscripts read 和 as a native word, yawaragi or yawaraka naru, and the reading wa is in a commentary of 1670 and in the printed maxim of the 1910s.
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 和を以て貴しと為す.
