Snakes Follow The Way Of Serpents (ja no michi wa hebi)
Those of one kind know one another's ways: the expert knows the trade, the insider knows the hidden world.
蛇の道は蛇
ja no michi wa hebi
12 1/4" W x 43" H Japanese Scroll
by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase
$220
Description
Snakes Follow The Way Of Serpents in Japanese is 蛇の道は蛇 which is read ja no michi wa hebi
蛇の道は蛇 (ja no michi wa hebi): those of one kind know one another's ways. The saying plays on two readings of one character, 蛇 read ja, the great serpent, and 蛇 read hebi, the ordinary snake: the great serpent's path, the small snake knows it. The line has meant both the expert who knows the trade and the insider who knows a hidden world. Set a thief to catch a thief is this proverb when the kind is thieves; for rice cakes, the rice-cake shop, when the kind is bakers. Buchanan's 1965 title, Snakes Follow the Way of Serpents, keeps two English words for one animal.
蛇の道は蛇 goes back more than seven hundred years: it was already a proverb when a monk quoted it in a sermon around 1300, and we followed it from there to the 1965 book that gave this design its English title. Philology of 蛇の道は蛇
About Our Scrolls
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
Master Takase personally brushes your Japanese scroll when you order. Each scroll proudly bears her red seal, 英利, and her signature.
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.
Delivery
The scroll is completed within 1–3 business days and is shipped from Master Takase's studio in Washington State by USPS Priority Mail. It arrives ready to display.
Every order is covered by our 100% money-back guarantee for 30 days. Contact us first and we will confirm the return details. If your item arrives damaged, or we made an error, we replace it or refund you in full, including shipping. Refund policy
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