Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC5B
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.
友よ水になれ
tomo yo mizu ni nare
Be Water My Friend
Be water, my friend.
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.
Gift-Ready
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.
30-day money-back guarantee
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
Bruce Lee's line: 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, which is how Japanese orders a call and a command, and as we read it the right order for this line, the friend addressed before anything is asked; the Japanese in print has settled on the same order.
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.
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 友よ水になれ.
