Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC2B
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.
糸東流
shitōryū
Shito-Ryu
Shito-Ryu, a school of karate whose name joins the Shuri and Naha lines in one.
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
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.
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; in 1934 his publisher's magazine reported it settled that he would take it, while his own book of October that year still styled him a teacher of 剛柔流.
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 糸東流.
