Semi-Cursive · gyōsho 行書 · VS4C
Semi-Cursive or gyōsho (行書) styles are a simplified and softer form of the kaisho styles. Gyōsho styles can be read by most Japanese.
拳禅一如
kenzen ichinyo
The Body and Mind are One
The fist and Zen are one: a karate maxim of the twentieth century, which Shōrinji Kempō reads as meaning that body and mind are 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.
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Your scroll arrives boxed, with a printed insert describing the words in detail.
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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.
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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.
Explanation
拳禅一如 joins the striking arts and Zen in four characters. 拳 is the fist, and in the names of the striking arts it stands for the art itself. 禅 is Zen, and 一如 is an old Buddhist word for one and the same, not two. The English title is a gloss, not a translation: the fist for the body and Zen for the mind, the reading Shorinji Kempo's founder gave in 1975. Read that way, a trained body and a trained mind are the same thing.
拳禅一如 is composed of the kanji 拳 (read ken) meaning "Fist", 禅 (read zen) meaning "Zen", and 一如 (read ichinyo) meaning "oneness".
A karate phrase in print by 1934, and the first of the six features its federation lists for Shorinji Kempo, founded in 1947, whose founder traced the discipline to Bodhidharma; in form it is the sword's 剣禅一如 with a fist for the sword, a phrase in print by 1916 for what the Zen master Takuan had taught the swordsman Yagyū Munenori three centuries before.
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 拳禅一如.
