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.
精神一到
seishin ittō
A Concentrated Mind Achieves Anything
Concentration of mind on a task. The four characters open a saying: nothing is beyond a mind concentrated on a thing.
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
精神一到 (seishin ittō): concentration of mind on a task.
The four characters open a saying the dictionaries enter whole, 精神一到何事か成らざらん, seishin ittō nanigoto ka narazaran. Meet a thing with your mind concentrated, they say, and nothing, however difficult, is beyond you. In the saying, one dictionary of sayings reads 一到 as going as far as you can and giving your all. Japanese books set the saying beside the English Where there is a will, there is a way. Whether it is for a promotion or for a long course of study is yours.
In 1800 two Edo booksellers printed the line, with its source, in a small book of sayings to carry for calligraphy done before guests. In 1880 a councillor wrote the eight characters on a flag for the head of a road works. The man directed his workmen with the flag in hand until the road was done.
In a novel published in parts in 1885 and 1886, a student's lodging has a half-sheet scroll of the eight characters in its alcove. Its signature gives a name, but the narrator says nobody knows whose hand wrote it.
Chinese: the second half of a saying of Zhu Xi 朱熹 to his students on study, recorded by Yang Xiang 楊驤 (heard 1189 and 1194) in the 朱子語類, chapter 8 (compiled 1270); in Japan from the 1668 Kyoto print and Kaibara Ekiken's 初學知要 (1698), a maxim of the Meiji ethics textbooks, and Hakuhō's word at his promotion to yokozuna (2007).
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 精神一到.
