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.
友よ水になれ
tomo yo mizu ni nare
Be Water My Friend
Be water, my friend.
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
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 friendBruce 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.
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
