隻手の音声 sekishu no onjō The Sound of One Hand Clapping

The Sound of One Hand Clapping in Japanese is 隻手の音声 which is read sekishu no onjō

隻手の音声 (sekishu no onjō): the sound of one hand.

What is the sound of one hand? The koan is Hakuin's, the Zen master who made it for people who could not read the sutras, and he set it himself: two hands struck together make a sharp sound; one hand raised has neither sound nor scent. It is a question put to a student and meant to be sat with, not answered. The one hand is raised, not clapped; clapping is the English title's word, from J. D. Salinger's epigraph, the form English knows, and the four characters say only the sound of one hand. 音声, a sutra word, is read onjō here. A scroll of it hangs a question, and the sitting with it is yours.

Hakuin Ekaku says, in his own tract of 1753, that he began setting the question five or six years earlier, after forty-five years of the older 無字 koan had brought only some dozens of students through; the sound-of-one-hand question is his own device, replacing the older koan rather than translating or adapting an earlier text.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 隻手の音声.

Your scroll is brushed when you order it and completed within 1 to 3 business days. It ships by USPS Priority Mail from Master Takase's studio in Washington State, boxed and ready to hang, with a printed page giving the art's English, romaji and Japanese.

Sending it as a gift? Tell us when you order and we will include your message.

Shipping is calculated at checkout from your address; within the United States it is $13 to $22. We ship worldwide, and any import charges for your country are shown at checkout before you pay.

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. Refund policy

Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase brushes your scroll by hand when you order it. Each scroll 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.

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