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.
一石二鳥
issekinichō
Kill two birds with one stone
One stone, two birds.
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
Two ends by one act, and the four characters are the English proverb itself, kill two birds with one stone, written in kanji, so the compound keeps the whole picture and loses nothing between the languages. In English and in Japanese alike it is a plain word of approval for doing two things with one effort. Japanese had an older word for the thought, 一挙両得 (ikkyo ryōtoku), one move, two gains, which most Meiji dictionaries set in the English proverb's place; the four characters as one word are a Taishō coinage.
A calque of the English proverb to kill two birds with one stone, printed in 1656 in Bishop Bramhall's reply to Hobbes; the English-Japanese dictionary the shogunate printed in 1862 translated it word for word, 石ニテ鳥二羽ヲ殺ス, later dictionaries gave 一石を以て二鳥を殺す, 一挙両得 or both, and the four characters, written once in 1906, became a word in the Taishō, with no named maker.
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 一石二鳥.
