Cursive · sousho 草書 · VC2B
Cursive or sousho (草書) Fonts are the most simplified fonts and Master Takase's favorite. While very beautiful, these fonts are often difficult to read even by specialists.
初心 shoshin Beginner's Mind
The mind of a beginning: the first resolve, the first stirring toward awakening, the state of one new to an art, and plain inexperience.
Master Takase creates this beautiful scroll when your order is placed. Personally preparing the ink and brushing your art that proudly bears her signature and seal. This is an original work of art.
Description
Beginner's Mind in Japanese is 初心 which is read shoshin
初心 (shoshin): the beginner's mind.
Word for word it is the first mind, the mind of a beginning. The word is older than the maxim it is best known from. The Nihon Kokugo Daijiten and the Daijisen give it four senses. The oldest in Japanese writing is the resolve a person first formed. The state of one who has just begun an art comes next, and then the Buddhist sense, the first arising of the mind that seeks awakening; plain greenness comes last. The maxim is Zeami's: he used the word in his own writing before he closed a treatise with the words that the beginner's mind must not be forgotten. Which of those you hang it for, the learner's first steps or the resolve you began with, is yours.
The Japanese word shoshin meaning "Beginner's Mind" is composed of the kanji 初 (read sho) meaning "first time; beginning" and 心 (read shin) meaning "heart; mind; spirit".
The word is in a Chinese sutra translated in the early fifth century, as the first of the minds through which awakening is reached; in Japanese writing the first resolve is attested about 1060 and a learner's state by about 1211, and English took it up as "beginner's mind" from Suzuki Shunryū's talks to the Zen Center of San Francisco's group at Los Altos, in print by 1967.
We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 初心.
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 Japanese paper that are layered so the scroll hangs straight and will not warp over time. 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
