Semi-Cursive · gyōsho 行書 · VS5J
Semi-Cursive or gyōsho (行書) styles are a simplified and softer form of the kaisho styles. Gyōsho styles can be read by most Japanese.
比翼連理
hiyoku renri
Wing to Wing, Branch to Branch
A devoted couple, and the deep pledge between them.
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.
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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.
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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
In today's dictionaries, 比翼連理 is a figure for a husband and wife, or a man and a woman, who are close. It also stands for the deep pledge between them. The four characters say paired wings, joined grain. 比翼 is a legendary bird that does not fly unless paired, and 連理 is two trees whose wood has grown into one.
In a tale from the Muromachi or early Edo period, Urashima Tarō's bride asks him for the pledge of husband and wife, and he agrees. In their talk they say, in heaven let us be the wing-paired bird, on earth the branch of one grain. A manual for the newly married, from 1940, explains 比翼連理 as husband and wife, once strangers, ending up as one.
The four characters are a short form of a couplet in Bai Juyi 白居易's 長恨歌 of 806, 在天願作比翼鳥 在地願爲連理枝, which set two older images side by side: the wing-paired bird of the Chinese 爾雅, and the tree of joined grain, an omen of good rule before it was a love word. In Japanese they stand together in 三善清行's 善家秘記 of the early tenth century, as the 扶桑略記 quotes it; the 日国's earliest example is the 吾妻鏡's entry for 1202.
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 比翼連理.
