Jiun · 自運 · VD3B
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.
殺人剣
satsujinken
Life Taking Sword
The sword that kills, a sword used to take life.
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
Life Taking Sword in Japanese is 殺人剣 which is read satsujinken
殺人剣 (satsujinken): the sword that kills, a sword used to take life.
殺人剣 is the killing half of a Zen pair whose other half, 活人剣, is the sword that gives life. In the pair the killing is not a villain's. A Zen teacher holds both swords, and this is the hand that takes from a student, as the other gives. In the sword schools it is the stroke that ends the other's answer. For Yagyū Munenori it is the ruler's sword that kills one evil so that ten thousand may live. Which of these it means is yours to choose. The scroll brushes 殺人剣 with 剣, as the modern dictionaries head it; the Zen books mostly write this half 殺人刀, with 刀, the single-edged blade.
Its other half, katsujinken, is offered on its own.
satsujinken is composed of the kanji 殺人 (read satsujin) meaning "killing a person" and 剣 ken.
Note that the Japanese word satsujin is often translated as murder but this is not strictly correct as satsujin only means "kill a person" which includes murder but it also may mean killing someone evil or killing someone in defense of oneself, one's family or one's country - so it does not have the strictly negative meaning that the word "murder" has.
The first half of a Chan saying already a proverb in the 景徳伝灯録 of 1004; the saying came to Japan with Zen in the thirteenth century, and the Japanese Zen master Kōhō Kennichi wrote this half with 劍, as the scroll does, in his sermons from 1281.
We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 殺人剣.
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
