Jiun · 自運 · VD6B
Jiun (自運) is the calligrapher's word for writing from one's own invention. As a Shihan, Master Takase has a hand of her own, and these designs are that hand: she draws freely on the classic scripts to create exactly the look she wants.
本来無一物
honrai muichimotsu
By Nature, Having Nothing
From the beginning, not one thing.
Master Takase creates this beautiful scroll when your order is placed, personally preparing the ink and brushing your art, which proudly bears her signature and seal. This is an original work of art.
Description
By Nature, Having Nothing in Japanese is 本来無一物 which is read honrai muichimotsu
本来無一物 (honrai muichimotsu): from the beginning, not one thing.
In 本来無一物, 本来 is how things have always stood, not where they came from, and 無一物 means not one thing. In everyday Japanese 無一物 also means having nothing to one's name. The Daijisen and the Nihon Kokugo Daijiten both gloss the five characters: since all things are empty from the beginning, there is not one thing to cling to. The Nihon Kokugo Daijiten adds a mind free of everything. Its readers have had to say what it does not mean: Ōbaku, asked whether it means that nothing exists, answers that nothing is just as wrong, and Tōzan warns that saying it outright is not yet enough. Whether you hang it as a teaching or as a reminder to let go is yours.
The line is the third of the verse that, in Chan legend, won the illiterate Huineng 惠能 the Sixth Patriarch's robe; it is absent from the oldest surviving text of the Platform Sutra, a Dunhuang manuscript copied in the ninth century, is quoted in Ōbaku's recorded teaching, whose preface is dated 857, stands in the verse in a Chan history of 952, and has been in the sutra's received text since 1291.
We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 本来無一物.
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 layered Japanese paper, designed to last generations. 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
