Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC5J
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.
剣禅一如
kenzen ichinyo
The Sword and Zen Are One
The sword and Zen are one: at its furthest reach, the way of the sword is the same state as Zen's no-thought.
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
剣禅一如 (kenzen ichinyo): the sword and Zen are one, the furthest reach of swordsmanship being the same state as Zen's no-thought.
The 日本国語大辞典 enters the twin form 剣禅一致: the ultimate state of the way of the sword is the same as Zen's state of no-thought. 一如 is a Buddhist word for not differing, being one body. Whether it is for the kendō dōjō or for the practice of any art is yours.
The swordsman Yagyū Munenori wrote that much in the art of war accords with the Buddhist Dharma and has much in common with Zen. Above all, he wrote, both abhor attachment and stopping at each thing. In a note dated 1885, the swordsman Yamaoka Tesshū wrote that his brush had changed its intent because all methods are of one measure. He wrote that the change dated from 1880, when something in the two ways of the sword and Zen came home to him.
Katsu Kaishū said of the sword, Zen and the brush that the source from which each springs is of one and the same measure. In 1927 a teachers' guide to a middle-school reader explained 禪劍一如, the same characters with sword and Zen in the other order. For Zen and the sword alike, it said, the knack by which long training reaches awakening is one. In 1955 the swordsman and Zen master Ōmori Sōgen wrote that he did not know when the phrase began to be said.
A Japanese name of the twentieth century, 剣禅一致 from 1901, 剣禅一味 from 1912 and 剣禅一如 from 1916 in the National Diet Library's full text, for the teaching of the Zen priest 沢庵 to the swordsman 柳生宗矩 in the 1630s, whose letter, the 不動智神妙録, sets the sword beside the Dharma point by point and never uses the four characters.
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 剣禅一如.
