Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC3B
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.
平常心 heijōshin Presence of Mind
The ordinary mind: three characters from a Zen koan, and later the dojo's word for composure, the mind that stays constant under attack.
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
In a dojo it is the mind that holds steady when attacked: the composure a person keeps or loses. Presence of mind is the dictionary's gloss of that sense. Under it is the older sense, the Zen one. There the ordinary mind is the Way itself, the mind before calm and agitation were ever a pair, and it needs no cultivation. The dictionaries give that sense its own reading, byōjōshin, and in a koan it is a master's answer to the question of what the Way is. It is one word in two registers, with the sword in between.
A Zen history of 1004 records the Tang master Mazu teaching that the ordinary mind is the Way. His heir Nanquan gave the same five characters, 平常心是道, to Zhaozhou, a novice by that history's account, when he asked what the Way was. That exchange is the nineteenth case of the Gateless Barrier. It came to the sword when Yagyū Munenori, the shogun's fencing master, quoted the koan. He turned it into plain Japanese for the archer and the swordsman. Do everything with the ordinary mind, and everything goes without difficulty.
The Japanese word 平常心 meaning "Presence of Mind" is composed of the kanji 平 (read hei) meaning "peaceful; even", 常 (read jō) meaning "normal, ordinary" and 心 (read shin) meaning "mind, heart, spirit".
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 平常心.
