Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC6B
Cursive or sōsho (草書) styles are the most simplified styles and Master Takase's favorite. While very beautiful, these styles are often difficult to read even by specialists.
蛇の道は蛇
ja no michi wa hebi
Snakes Follow The Way Of Serpents
Those of one kind know one another's ways: the expert knows the trade, the insider knows the hidden world.
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
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. A 1910 dictionary of proverbs files it under expertise, beside 餅は餅屋, rice cakes from the rice-cake maker, and prints Set a thief to catch a thief among its European parallels. The title, Snakes Follow the Way of Serpents, known in print from the 1920s and carried by Buchanan in 1965, keeps two English words for one animal.
A Japanese proverb of common speech, not a quotation from a known work: the 日本国語大辞典's first example is the proverb collection 毛吹草 of 1638, and nearly the same words stand earlier as a comparison in a monk's saying in the late-Kamakura 一言芳談, a line the dictionary counts as a parallel figure.
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 蛇の道は蛇.
