友よ水になれ tomo yo mizu ni nare Be Water My Friend

Be Water My Friend in Japanese is 友よ水になれ which is read tomo yo mizu ni nare

友よ水になれ (tomo yo mizu ni nare): be water, my friend.

Bruce Lee's line, the one people want on a wall: empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water, which becomes the cup it is poured into and can flow or can crash. In Japanese the friend is addressed first and the command comes last, become water, the order the language likes and the order the line wants; the Japanese in print has settled on the same order. A person who hangs it may mean the fighter's adaptability, the mind that keeps no fixed shape, or one friend's advice to another, and which is yours.

Empty your mind.
Be formless, Shapeless, like water.
Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.
You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot.
Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend

Bruce Lee

The line is Bruce Lee's, spoken in character in the television series Longstreet in September 1971 and recited by Lee himself on The Pierre Berton Show that December; its Japanese, in these words, is the title of the 2021 translation of his daughter Shannon Lee's Be Water, My Friend.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 友よ水になれ.

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.

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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. Refund policy

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 real silk borders and Japanese paper that are layered so the scroll hangs straight and will not warp over time. The scrolls themselves are made by Sankō (株式会社三幸) in Gifu prefecture, which has been making high quality scrolls since 1947, and we have worked with Sankō 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