Font Design · VD5J
Font Designs are Master Takase's unique designs. Often she will use her own style or a combination of fonts and, without a classification limit, create exactly the look she wants.
風林火山
fūrinkazan
Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain
The line from Sun Tzu that Takeda Shingen used on his banner, as Japanese reads it: swift as wind, quiet as forest, raiding like fire, unmoving as a mountain.
Master Takase creates this beautiful scroll when your order is placed. Personally preparing the ink and brushing your art that proudly bears her signature and seal. This is an original work of art.
Description
風林火山 (fūrinkazan): Sun Tzu's line on Takeda Shingen's banner, as Japanese reads it: swift as wind, quiet as forest, raiding like fire, unmoving as a mountain.
The four characters are the short name of the line; the デジタル大辞泉 adds that they also name the banner. Sun Tzu writes the forest with 徐, which his commentators read as slow and in ranks, like the trees of a wood. Japanese reads 徐 as しずか, the same word as 静, still or quiet. So the forest can keep its ranks or keep still, and Japanese hears both in the one word.
Descriptions and drawings of 1763, 1786, 1800 and 1814 write 徐, and give gold, or gold and silver, on dark blue. The 甲陽軍鑑, a chronicle of the Takeda house printed in 1656, writes 静. It gives the banner as four phrases in gold on a black ground.
About the winter of 1785, in Edo, the monks of 雲峯寺 said a hand on the banners was that of 柏堂, a disciple of Kaisen. A drawing made in Edo the next year labels the banner with 柏堂's name. By 1814 the gazetteer of Kai province gave the hand to Kaisen, abbot of 恵林寺 in Shingen's lifetime, as something handed down.
The four words abbreviate a line of the Chinese military classic 孫子 that Takeda Shingen is said to have carried on his banners; the four-character name is in print by 1902 and common in print from the 1950s, the decade of Inoue Yasushi's novel of 1953–54.
We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 風林火山.
Delivery
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.
Sending it as a gift? Add your message at checkout and we will include it.
Shipping is calculated at checkout from your address; within the United States it is $13 to $23. We ship worldwide, and any import charges for your country are shown at checkout before you pay.
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. Refund policy
About Our Scrolls
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 woven damask borders and Japanese paper that are layered so the scroll hangs straight and will not warp over time. The scrolls themselves are made by a scroll maker in Gifu, Japan, and we have worked with them 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
