Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC4B
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.
空手に先手無し
karate ni sente nashi
There is No First Attack in Karate
In karate there is no first move.
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.
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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
空手に先手無し is a rule, and Funakoshi's own books read it two ways: never raise a hand without cause, and the block that comes before the counter. 先手 is the first move, a word the board games share with the fight. His manual gives the second by the hands: in kata and in sparring, the front hand guards and the rear hand strikes. Our English title, There is No First Attack in Karate, is the English wording of E. J. Harrison's karate manual, of John Stevens and of a list on the web today. The precept stands on Funakoshi's memorial at a Zen temple in Kamakura, brushed by its abbot. We read the precept as a rule about the spirit one brings to a fight rather than the order of the blows.
Some designs write the last word 無し in kanji and some write なし in kana; it is the same word.
The precept heads a section of Funakoshi Gichin 船越義珍's first book in 1922 and is the second of the twenty precepts of karate, a list in print by December 1934, which Nakasone Genwa 仲宗根源和, printing it with his commentary in 空手道大観 (1938), says Funakoshi established.
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 空手に先手無し.
