Block · kaisho 楷書 · VB3C
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.
五輪の書
gorin no sho
Book of Five Rings
The Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi's book on strategy.
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
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 stūpas 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.
五輪の書 is composed of the kanji 五 (read go) meaning "five", 輪 (read rin) meaning "ring", the grammatical element の (read no) meaning "of" and 書 (read sho) meaning "book; writings".
The five scrolls are Miyamoto Musashi's, dated 1643 to 1645 in their copies, his last two years, but in the printed texts read here 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, whose earliest witness read here is a note of 1755 in a Kumamoto biography prefaced in 1776 (五輪ノ書 in one print, 五倫の書 in the other); Bennett (2018) says it was coined as a shorthand in the notes of Nagaoka Naoyuki, who studied under Musashi as a boy, and Toyota Masakata, his attendant, whose papers that biography was compiled from; it is in print as 五輪ノ卷 by 1886.
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 五輪の書.
