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.
痛みは体から抜ける弱さ
itami wa karada kara nukeru yowasa
Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body
Pain is weakness leaving the body, the Marine Corps drill instructor's line, in Master Takase's Japanese.
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
痛みは体から抜ける弱さ turns pain into good news: what hurts in training is weakness on its way out. 抜ける carries the image. It is what goes out of something it was inside, the air from a tire, the tiredness from a body. So the Japanese says what the English says, and reads as Japanese rather than as a translation. The is goes unsaid, the way Japanese writes a motto.
The English was a favorite saying of drill instructors before the Corps made it a recruiting slogan, and the Navy's midshipmen had it by 1988 and the Army's Rangers use it too; the meaning has never moved: the pain of training is the weakness going out of you, so welcome it.
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 痛みは体から抜ける弱さ.
