Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC5B
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.
文武両道
bunbu ryōdō
Literary and Military Arts
Both ways, letters and arms.
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
文武両道 is the pen and the sword held together in one person. 文 is letters and learning, 武 is arms, and 両道 is both ways. In a Japanese school today it is the praise for a student good at both books and sport. A person who chooses it may mean the scholar-warrior, the athlete-scholar, or the rule that one half is not enough.
文武両道 is composed of the kanji 文 (read bun) meaning "art; literature", 武 (read bu) meaning "military; arms; chivalry", 両 (read ryō) meaning "both; two" and 道 (read dō) meaning "the way; teachings".
The pair 文武 appears in the Analects and the 禮記 as two Zhou kings, Wen and Wu, whose combined "way" was the model of good rule; Japan turned the pair into "two ways" by 1252 (the 十訓抄) and "both ways" by 1265 (Nichiren), first as a rule for governing a state and, by the seventeenth century, as a warrior's own balance of letters and arms.
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 文武両道.
