Jiun · 自運 · VD5B
Jiun (自運) is the calligrapher's word for writing from one's own invention. As a Shihan, Master Takase has a hand of her own, and these designs are that hand: she draws freely on the classic scripts to create exactly the look she wants.
常在戦場
jōzai senjō
Always on the Battlefield
Always on the battlefield: act always with the readiness of one on a battlefield, the precept a samurai house made the head of its code.
Master Takase creates this beautiful scroll when your order is placed, personally preparing the ink and brushing your art, which proudly bears her signature and seal. This is an original work of art.
Description
Always on the Battlefield in Japanese is 常在戦場 which is read jōzai senjō
常在戦場 (jōzai senjō): always on the battlefield. The four characters say always and the battlefield and leave ready for the reader to supply, and a Japanese dictionary gives them as a precept: act always with the readiness of one on a battlefield. In Nagaoka, whose historian called it the one creed of its samurai, it was said of peace and of what peace does to people who forget, and kept by plainness of life and drill. A lord of Nagaoka made it a poem: a warrior is one who keeps a heart that thinks, always and only, I am on the field of battle. A person who hangs it hangs a rule for every day, and chooses which battlefield is theirs.
Master Takase writes the four characters in block, semi-cursive and cursive script. She also writes them in her own font design. On the scroll, and on several of the designs, she writes 戦 in its older form 戰, the form the old books used.
The Japanese phrase jōzai senjō meaning "Always on the Battlefield" is composed of the word 常在 (read jōzai) meaning "always being (in)" and 戦場 (read senjō) meaning "battlefield".
The four characters first stand together in 陳壽's 三國志 (about 290), in the life of the Wu general 朱然, who was watchful all day as if always on the battlefield and drilled his camp even in peace; a samurai family, the 牧野, made them the first article of their house code, by tradition in the sixteenth century, and the phrase became the creed of the domain they founded, 長岡, and, by the books of 1943 and 1944, the lifelong motto of the admiral born there, 山本五十六.
We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 常在戦場.
Delivery
Your scroll is brushed when you order it and completed within 1 to 3 business days. It ships by USPS Priority Mail from Master Takase's studio in Washington State, boxed and ready to hang, with a printed page giving the art's English, romaji and Japanese.
Sending it as a gift? Add your message at checkout and we will include it.
Shipping is calculated at checkout from your address; within the United States it is $13 to $23. We ship worldwide, and any import charges for your country are shown at checkout before you pay.
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. Refund policy
About Our Scrolls
Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase brushes your scroll by hand when you order it. Each scroll bears her red seal, 英利, and her signature.
The scrolls are 12 1/4" W × 43" H (31 × 109 cm), with woven damask borders and layered Japanese paper, designed to last generations. The scrolls themselves are made by a scroll maker in Gifu, Japan, and we have worked with them for over two decades.
Eri Takase was born and raised in Osaka, Japan, and holds the rank of Shihan, the highest rank in Japanese calligraphy, from the Bokuteki-kai and the Bunka-shodo. About Master Takase
