不惜身命 fushaku shinmyō Sparing Neither Body nor Life

不惜身命 (fushaku shinmyō): sparing neither body nor life, devoting oneself wholly to the Buddhist way, and also to other pursuits.

不惜身命 is not sparing even body and life. In Buddhism it is the resolve to practice the way without holding oneself back. One Japanese dictionary says the phrase is also said of things other than the Buddhist way. Another calls it a resolve that does not shrink even from death. Whether you take it for the Buddhist way or for the way of an art is yours.

A haikai anthology printed in 1664 has a verse on the bush warbler. It reads: The warbler: not sparing body or life, the voice of the dharma. In 1965 a Japanese-English Buddhist dictionary gave 不惜身命 in English as Not to hold one's life dear for the cause of the law.

On 23 November 1994, accepting promotion to yokozuna, the sumo wrestler Takanohana said he would hold to 不惜身命 in the way of sumo. An English-language magazine wrote that the phrase was spreading like wildfire throughout the country. In English the phrase has also been written fushaku-shinmyo and fushaku shimmyo.

The four characters are a phrase of the Chinese Buddhist translations from the second century on, and the Japanese dictionaries take them from the Lotus Sutra in Kumārajīva's translation of 406, where the Buddha says the sutra may be preached to one who is diligent, compassionate and does not spare body and life; in Japan the 日本書紀 of 720 already uses them of a man's service to the emperor in war.

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

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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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