Cursive · sōsho 草書 · VC5J
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.
質実剛健
shitsujitsu gōken
Plain, Honest, Strong
Plain and earnest, strong and sturdy, with nothing put on for show.
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
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.
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 質実剛健.
