Block · kaisho 楷書 · VB4C
Block or kaisho (楷書) styles are the most common and recognizable styles. Block styles are easily read and are noted for their angular form and their vertical and horizontal lines.
力と名誉
chikara to meiyo
Strength and Honor
Strength and honor, two nouns set side by side as the English sets them.
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
力と名誉 is a pair, not a sentence: there is no verb. 力 is strength, of the body and of the spirit. 名誉 is honor in the sense of a person's honor, which the 日本国語大辞典 first finds in 1877; before that the word meant a good name for a talent, then renown of any kind. The pair first came into Japanese through translations from English, as the power and honor of rulers and states. On this scroll the pair is a soldier's salute, as the film Gladiator made it.
力と名誉 is composed of the words 力 (read chikara) meaning "strength", the grammatical element と (read to) meaning "and", and the word 名誉 (read meiyo) meaning "honor".
The pairing is older than the film that made it a salute: Strength and honour are her clothing, Proverbs 31:25 in the King James Bible, before Maximus in Gladiator (2000); in Japanese the two nouns stand together from 1897, first in translations of Western texts and by 1912 in Japanese writers' own sentences, though never as a fixed phrase.
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 力と名誉.
