千秋万歳 senshūbanzai A Thousand Years of Long Life

千秋万歳 (senshūbanzai): a thousand autumns and ten thousand years, a wish for long life shouted at gates and courts for two thousand years.

A thousand autumns and ten thousand years: two spans of time set side by side with no verb, and the reader supplies the wish. It was a formula stamped on the roof tiles of Han China and, in Japan, the blessing on a great house's name, that it should continue, before it blessed the emperor's life and then any good occasion at all; the model letter-book literate Japanese copied for centuries carried it in its New Year passage, which is how completely it naturalized. Most Japanese dictionaries lead with its other life: men went from gate to gate at New Year chanting these words for a household's fortune and were paid for it, and that art is the ancestor of manzai, the two-man stage comedy; the blessing is the parent and the comedy its child, named for words already ancient when the performers came to the gate. Its meaning can be read straight off its characters, a thousand autumns, ten thousand years, and that is its strength. Whose thousand autumns you wish is yours.

千秋万歳 is composed of the words 千秋 (read senshū) meaning "thousand years, a thousand autumns" and 万歳 (read banzai) meaning "long life and prosperity".

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 千秋万歳.

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.

Sending it as a gift? Tell us when you order and we will include your message.

Shipping is calculated at checkout from your address; within the United States it is $13 to $22. We ship worldwide, and any import charges for your country are shown at checkout before you pay.

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. Refund policy

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