Font Design · VD5J
Font Designs are Master Takase's unique designs. Often she will use her own style or a combination of fonts and, without a classification limit, create exactly the look she wants.
質実剛健
shitsujitsu gōken
Plain, Honest, Strong
Plain and earnest, strong and sturdy, with nothing put on for show.
Master Takase creates this beautiful scroll when your order is placed. Personally preparing the ink and brushing your art that proudly bears her signature and seal. This is an original work of art.
Description
質実剛健 (shitsujitsu gōken): plain and earnest, strong and sturdy, with nothing put on for show.
The 日本国語大辞典 gives the same sense: without ornament and earnest, strong and steady. The four characters join two words, 質実, plain and sincere, and 剛健, strong and sturdy. Whether it is for yourself or for a son or daughter coming of age is yours.
In 1894 a magazine of school compositions printed a pupil's essay. In a frivolous age of show, the essay says, a 質実剛健 manner is most needed. School histories of 1901 and 1902 made the same pair of virtues, written 質樸剛健 and 質朴剛健, the mark of the Kamakura warrior.
In July 1914 the president of 中央大学, Chuo University in Tokyo, gave a graduation address. It was printed under the title 質実剛健の校風, a school spirit of 質実剛健. The university historian, as a paper of 2009 quotes him, says the tradition was not from the founding. It held, he says, for the fifty years from the last years of Meiji to the Shōwa 30s (1955 to 1964).
A Japanese compound found in print from the 1890s, made of two old words, 剛健 from the Book of Changes and 質実, plain substance; in the oldest print read for this history (1893) it glosses 藤田東湖's complaint that the city spoils the plain man from the country, and it stood in the imperial rescript of 1923, in the instruction of 1931 that made kendo and judo compulsory, and in the army's field code of 1941.
We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 質実剛健.
Delivery
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? Add your message at checkout and we will include it.
Shipping is calculated at checkout from your address; within the United States it is $13 to $23. 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
About Our Scrolls
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 woven damask borders and Japanese paper that are layered so the scroll hangs straight and will not warp over time. The scrolls themselves are made by a scroll maker in Gifu, Japan, and we have worked with them 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
