Block · kaisho 楷書 · VB5C
Block or kaisho (楷書) styles are the most common and recognizable styles. Block styles are easily read and are noted for their angular form and their vertical and horizontal lines.
自他共栄
jita kyōei
Mutual Benefit
Self and others prospering together: the second of judo's two principles, what follows when energy is used well.
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
自他共栄 is you and others prospering together, which follows when people put their energy to its best use. Its long form is help one another, yield to one another, prosper together. In his essay on the mission of judo, Kanō turned it first on quarrels at home, between persons and between groups, and then on Japan's standing abroad. Our English title, Mutual Benefit, is one of the judo world's English forms, and Kanō's turn abroad is a larger claim than it lets on. Whether it is for your training partners or for the wider world is yours.
The phrase is composed of the words 自他 (read jita) meaning "oneself and others" and 共栄 (read kyōei) meaning "mutual prosperity".
The Kodokan Cultural Society, which Kanō Jigorō founded in 1922, carried 自他共栄 in its print that year, and in a signed essay of 1925 Kanō set its long form, 相助・相譲・自他共栄, as the natural result of judo's first principle, 精力最善活用, the best use of energy; the four characters themselves are in a book on ethics of 1906, the oldest dated use the National Diet Library's full-text index gives, before judo took them up.
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 自他共栄.
