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.
一生懸命
isshōkenmei
Do One's Very Best
To do a thing as if your life depended on it, to give everything you have.
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
Everything you have, given as if your life hung on it: the word for the effort that holds nothing back, in a student, an athlete, a worker or a fighter. Inside it is an older picture, one place, one life, the single fief a warrior would die to keep; to know that picture is to be given the word rather than a gloss. The scroll brushes the word as every Japanese reader now sees it; the older spelling, 一所懸命, is the same word, and both are correct.
The four-character idiom 一生懸命 is composed of the words 一生 (read isshō) meaning "one's whole life; the greatest of one's life" and 懸命 (read kenmei) meaning "eagerness; risk one's life".
A Japanese word, first written in the 古事談 (1212–15) as 一所懸命, the one fief a warrior would stake his life on; respelled 一生懸命, a whole life, on the Edo puppet stage from 1734, and the newspapers' and broadcasters' spelling today.
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 一生懸命.
