剛柔流空手道 gōjūryū karatedō Goju-ryu Karate-do

剛柔流空手道 (gōjūryū karatedō).

Hard and soft: 剛 (read gō) is hard and unyielding, 柔 (read jū) soft and supple, and 流 (read ryū) is a school or lineage of an art. The name is Miyagi Chōjun's. The story is that in 1930 a senior pupil at a Tokyo demonstration was asked what his school was called and had no answer, and the Japanese encyclopedia dates the name to 1931; tradition says Miyagi took the pair from a line of the Bubishi, the boxing manual Okinawan karate hands down, the method is hard and soft.

An Okinawan history of 1941 already names Miyagi of the Gōjū-ryū as the authority in the prefecture. 空手道 karatedō is the way of the empty hand.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 剛柔流空手道.

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? Tell us when you order and we will include your message.

Shipping is calculated at checkout from your address; within the United States it is $13 to $22. 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

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