Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC5J
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.
無念無想
munen musō
No Thought, No Imagining
No thought, no imagining: a Buddhist term for leaving all thought and imagining behind and entering the state where there is no self.
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
無念無想 (munen musō) is word for word no thought, no image. 無念 is without the passing thought, 無想 without the image the mind holds, so the phrase says the same thing twice.
In the martial arts, a manual of 1893, the 武道教範, has a chapter headed 無念無想. Musashi's Book of Five Rings names a strike with it, and its editions write the strike two ways, 無念無想 and 無念無相.
An 1895 collection prints two vernacular sermons that pull different ways. In one, which its editor gives to Musō Soseki, one without thought and without image is at once a buddha; in the other, Bassui Tokushō warns that some take being without thought and without image for awakening.
The dictionaries give the phrase a second sense, having no settled thought, or thoughtless. The Buddhist sense leads in both, and it is the sense the scroll is brushed for.
The four characters stand as a phrase in Chinese Buddhist translations of the third century; in Japan they are in Zen sermons ascribed to fourteenth-century masters, and the first instance the Nihon Kokugo Daijiten gives for its Buddhist sense is a novel of 1711.
We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 無念無想.
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
