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.
地水火風空
chi sui ka fū kū
Five Elements
Earth, water, fire, wind, space.
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
The five are the 五大 (godai), the five great elements of Indian and Buddhist doctrine, of which everything is made; the first four are the old four of Indian thought, and the fifth, 空, is sometimes added to them as the place in which matter exists. It is space, and not the Buddhist emptiness written with the same character.
The readings given here are the set's own, the Sino-Japanese ones. The five-ring stupa, a familiar Japanese grave marker, is the five stacked from the earth up.
空 is void in a 1974 English translation of Musashi and space to the doctrine, and the five here carry both.
The five are a Buddhist doctrine from India; the earliest Japanese example of their name, 五大, that the 精選版日本国語大辞典 gives is Kūkai's dedication of 821, and Miyamoto Musashi named the five scrolls of his treatise on strategy, dated 1645 at its close, for them.
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 地水火風空.
