Jiun · 自運 · VD3B
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.
無心 mushin No-Mindedness
No-mind, the mind clear of obstructing thought.
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
No-Mindedness in Japanese is 無心 which is read mushin
無心 (mushin): no-mind, the mind clear of obstructing thought.
無心 is a mind that settles nowhere. The sword master Yagyū Munenori put it plainly: it does not mean having no mind at all. It is only the ordinary mind, and with it every stroke lands. The Zen master Takuan, writing to him, said the mind of no-mind is the original mind. The deluded mind is like ice, he wrote, while the original mind is like water and stays in no one place. Before them, the nō actor Zeami wrote of acting at the level of no-mind. A modern book on Japanese archery says no-mind is not the elimination of thought.
No-Mindedness, our title, is the form a Kenkyūsha dictionary prints for this sense, and many English books call it no-mind. The Japanese word has other lives that the English does not carry. It can mean innocence, or things that feel nothing, like grass and trees. In everyday speech it can also mean asking someone for money. The design carries only the Zen sense.
The Japanese word mushin is composed of the kanji 無 (read mu) meaning "no; nothingness" and 心 (read shin) meaning "heart; mind; spirit".
The word is in the 莊子 three times and became a term in Guo Xiang's commentary of about 300, five centuries before the Zen masters took it up; in Japan it is in the court anthologies of 814 and 818, and the sense the design carries, the mind that stops nowhere, is the sword-Zen teaching of Takuan and Yagyū Munenori in the 1630s.
We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 無心.
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
