石の上にも三年 ishi no ue ni mo sannen On a stone for three years

On a stone for three years in Japanese is 石の上にも三年 which is read ishi no ue ni mo sannen

石の上にも三年 (ishi no ue ni mo sannen): three years, even on a stone.

石の上にも三年 names only the sitting and leaves the reward to the hearer. にも means even on, and the も grants that the stone is hard. 三年, three years, is less a count than the time it takes to settle into a new place or a new work. The sense is endurance repaid.

松江重頼's haikai handbook 毛吹草, with a preface of 1638, lists the proverb with its second half, 石のうへにも三年ゐればあたゝまる, sit three years even on a stone and it warms; the first dated sentence to quote it is 井原西鶴's of 1694, which calls it a saying of the people and tells merchants and craftsmen not to change the place they have settled.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 石の上にも三年.

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The scrolls are 12 1/4" W × 43" H (31 × 109 cm) with real silk borders and Japanese paper that are layered so the scroll hangs straight and will not warp over time. The scrolls themselves are made by Sankō (株式会社三幸) in Gifu prefecture, which has been making high quality scrolls since 1947, and we have worked with Sankō for over two decades.

Eri Takase was born and raised in Osaka, Japan, and holds the rank of Shihan, the highest rank in Japanese calligraphy, from the Bokuteki-kai and the Bunka-shodo. About Master Takase