糸東流 shitōryū Shito-Ryu

糸東流 (shitōryū): Shito-Ryu, a school of karate.

糸東流 is a name, and its three characters work differently from a word's. 流 is a flow or a current, and in the arts it means a school, a line of teaching handed down. 糸 means thread and 東 means east, but here they are not read as words: the name is made from initials, read shi and tō. What it records is a lineage, the Shuri line and the Naha line of karate joined in one school. Whether you hang it in a Shito-Ryu dojo or give it to someone who trains in the style is yours.

The name joins the first characters of the surnames of Mabuni Kenwa's two Okinawan teachers, Itosu Ankō 糸洲安恒 and Higaonna Kanryō 東恩納寛量, to 流, a school; Mabuni still styled himself a teacher of 剛柔流 in his book of October 1934, and the earliest dated print reported to give 糸東流 as his school is the Dai Nippon Butokukai's register of ranks of April 1941.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 糸東流.

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.

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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