異体同心 itaidōshin Different Bodies One Mind

異体同心 (itaidōshin): two people who remain two and think as one.

異体 is different bodies, separate persons, and 同心 is one mind; the phrase is built on the contrast, and it says the two stay two. Its mirror image, 同体異心, one body and different minds, is the state in which nothing gets done, and the two were set against each other by Nichiren, who made the phrase Japanese in a letter to a congregation under persecution: a few people of one mind accomplish what a multitude of divided minds cannot.

Before him the four characters described comrades, colleagues and sworn friends. Said of a couple, its modern sense, which the dictionaries carry, it wishes them alignment rather than fusion: 一心同体 and 偕老同穴 make a couple one, and this phrase keeps both people in it.

English-speaking practitioners know it as many in body, one in mind; different bodies, one mind keeps the different the phrase is built on.

異体同心 is composed of the kanji 異 (read i) meaning "uncommon; different; queerness", 体 (read tai) meaning "body; substance; object", 同 (read dō) meaning "same; agree; equal", and 心 (read shin) meaning "heart; mind; spirit".

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 異体同心.

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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