Block · kaisho 楷書 · VB5J
Block or kaisho (楷書) styles are the most common and recognizable styles. Block styles are easily read and are noted for their angular form and their vertical and horizontal lines.
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.
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
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.
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 風林火山.
