五輪の書 gorin no sho Book of Five Rings

Book of Five Rings in Japanese is 五輪の書 which is read gorin no sho

五輪の書 (gorin no sho): the Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi's book on the way of the sword.

五輪の書 is named for its five scrolls, and the rings are the scrolls. 五輪 is a Buddhist word for the five elements that make up the world. They are the same five that stack up in the five-ringed stone towers of old graveyards. Musashi gave one scroll to each. The dictionaries write the title 五輪書, without the particle. The scroll writes 五輪の書 with it, as the 1915 edition printed it, so both forms are right.

The five scrolls are Miyamoto Musashi's, written from 1643 to 1645 in his last two years, but the book never calls itself 五輪書, only a book in five scrolls, earth, water, fire, wind and void; the title is a later name for it, already in use in a Kumamoto biography finished in 1776 and in print from 1886.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 五輪の書.

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.

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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 real silk borders and Japanese paper that are layered so the scroll hangs straight and will not warp over time. The scrolls themselves are made by Sankō (株式会社三幸) in Gifu prefecture, which has been making high quality scrolls since 1947, and we have worked with Sankō 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