Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC5J
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.
明鏡止水
meikyō shisui
A Clear Mirror, Still Water
A mind clear and still, with nothing weighing on it, like a spotless mirror and still water.
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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Your scroll arrives boxed, with a printed insert describing the words in detail.
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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.
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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
明鏡止水 (meikyō shisui): a mind with nothing weighing on it, clear and still, like a clear mirror and still water.
The 日本国語大辞典 gives the same picture: a mirror with no clouding and quiet water, a clear and still state of mind. Whether you take it as a calm to keep or as a mind clear enough to answer what comes is yours.
In a book printed in 1705, the Kyoto scholar Itō Jinsai set the phrase aside. Mencius, he wrote, likened the mind to flowing water and to sprouts, never to a clear mirror and still water. A living thing may be compared to a living thing, he went on, but may not be likened to a dead one.
A treatise on the martial arts printed in 1729 says the mind is like a clear mirror and still water. When the slightest intention lies across the mind, it goes on, the mind's clear working is blocked and cannot move freely. The mirror here is a mind ready to answer an opponent, with no plan in the way.
In 1897 an editor published a book of Katsu Kaishū's talk, which he says he rewrote or altered piece by piece. As the editor gives the words, the clear mirror and still water was the secret of the swordsmanship Katsu learned young. Katsu applied the same secret, the book says, to diplomacy.
A phrase from the Chinese tradition: the Zhuangzi has a still water people use as a mirror and a bright mirror that dust does not settle on, the Huainanzi sets the two in one sentence, the Song philosopher 程頤 likened the sage's mind to a mirror and to still water, and 朱熹, crediting 程頤, is the first writer in the texts read for this history to write the four characters as one phrase; in Japan it is in print by 1685.
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 明鏡止水.
