Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC4B
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.
合氣道
aikidō
Aikido
Aikido, which the art's own books read as the way of harmony with ki.
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.
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
合氣道 (aikidō): Ueshiba Morihei's art, whose own books read its name as the way of harmony with ki.
The name is two words. 合気 (aiki) is the joining of ki, and 道 (dō) is the way. It is the suffix by which a Japanese art declares itself a path rather than a set of techniques, as 柔道 and 剣道 do. Most dictionaries define aikido by its descent from the Daitō-ryū and by its pins and throws. The art's own books define it as harmony with ki, the founder's sense of aiki. The two do not conflict: one says what the art is, the other what he meant by calling it that.
Aiki carries three senses, in order of age. The oldest is the deadlock of two matched fighters, which the Edo sword schools taught a swordsman to break. The next is the Meiji technique of seizing an opponent's ki before the swords cross. The youngest is Ueshiba's joining of one's own ki with the ki of the universe. A reader who takes the word for harmony alone has the youngest of them.
Nine of the ten designs write 合氣道 with the older form of the character ki. The Aikikai's own newspaper has carried that form in its title since 1959. The tenth design writes the modern form, 気; they are one word.
合気道 is composed of the kanji 合 (read ai) meaning "join; meet", 気 (read ki) meaning "air, breath, spirit", and 道 (read dō) meaning "the way".
Ueshiba Morihei's art was officially recognized under the name 合気道 in February 1942, on his son's account, when it entered the Dai-Nippon Butokukai after twenty years under other names, among them aiki-jūjutsu, aiki-jutsu and aiki-budō; the son also says some people were calling the art aikido by 1930, and the word aiki itself is older than the art and was not his.
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 合氣道.
