Block · kaisho 楷書 · VB5C
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.
己に忠実なれ
onore ni chūjitsu nare
To Thine Own Self Be True
Be faithful to yourself.
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
Be faithful to yourself: Polonius's precept to his son, and in Japanese a maxim in its own right. 忠実 is faithful, loyal, the word for serving with a whole heart and for a translation true to its original; なれ is the old imperative, be, which makes the line a maxim rather than a sentence. The six characters are a translator's, and his readers already knew the longer form, 自己に忠実なれ, as the watchword of Japanese writers who set faithfulness to the self against rules, models and society. The words carry the precept; the half that follows it, that you cannot then be false to any man, is yours to keep.
The six characters are Polonius's line in Hamlet (about 1600) as Kume Masao 久米正雄 translated it in 1915, spoken on the Imperial Theatre stage in nearly the same sentence in 1918; the longer form 自己に忠實なれ was already in Japanese print by 1904, given to Shakespeare by one writer and used with no source by others.
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 己に忠実なれ.
