Block · kaisho 楷書 · VB4C
Block or kaisho (楷書) styles are the most common and recognizable styles. Block styles are easily read and are noted for their angular form and their vertical and horizontal lines.
常に思念工夫せよ
tsune ni shinen kufūseyo
Always Be Creative
Always think it through and work it out: the last of the twenty precepts of karate attributed to Funakoshi Gichin.
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.
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.
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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
常に思念工夫せよ asks two things of you, and asks them always. 思念 is thinking hard on a thing. 工夫 is finding a way, and in Zen it is also giving yourself to practice. The words were a rule of sword practice before they were a karate precept: in Takano Sasaburō's kendo manual of 1920, note your own habits in every bout, and whatever you hit on, try it on the floor. We read the precept as that rule widened: at the end of the karate list, it becomes the habit of a life. The sentence is an order, which is what the ending せよ keeps.
The precept is the twentieth and last of the twenty precepts of karate, a list in print by December 1934, which Nakasone Genwa 仲宗根源和, printing it with his commentary in 空手道大観 (1938), says Funakoshi Gichin 船越義珍 established.
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 常に思念工夫せよ.
