My 2011 Masterpiece Scroll

Although it says on my website that it takes about 1 month to create a scroll, sometimes based upon the work it may take longer. In the case of this scroll, it did take longer, much longer.

If you would like to order a custom scroll there are three ways to get started: 1. Go to my shopping site at www.shop.customjapanesecalligraphy.com 2. Download my scroll design workbook from my website at www.customjapanesecalligraphy.com to read about the concepts behind kakejiku or wallscroll design. 3. E-mail to me directly at sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com 

This beautiful scroll has been in the works since the beginning of December 2010. The customer asked me if I could frame this large piece. The artwork is about 4 1/3 feet wide and about 2 feet long. My greatest concern was not only the size, but the fact that it was wider than it was long, but the fact that it was painted in colored sumi. Color sumi has a propensity to bleed (滲むnijimu) during the Hada Urauchi process. After consulting with my sensei, I determined it would be possible to do the work.

The next process was to decide on the 裂地 kireji or cloth. The customer said they wanted a celadon color for the cloth. In Japanese celadon is 清滋 Seiji, which is a term used in Chinese ceramics to denote a jade or light green glaze. In Japan it is more of a teal or aquamarine. I asked my Sensei and he matched a perfect cloth. Mind you the cloth was a very high quality 三丁正絹 Sancho Shoken (Pure Silk). There is a beautiful pattern of phoenixes and chyrsanthemums in the cloth. This was a very expensive cloth. Because of the width of the artwork, it was decided that the scroll should be done in the 袋表具 Fukuro Hyougu style which forgoes a border of 一文字 ichimonji along the top and the bottom of the artwork.

When the artwork came, it was prepped by painting Dousa eki and sprayed with a Nijimanai spray before applying the Hada Urauchi. The cloth was not wide enough to make the scroll, so care was taken to cut two matching patterns of the cloth and then combine them to have the needed width for the Ten and Chi. I also let the works at different stages spend more time on the drying board. I appreciate the fact that the customer was not pushing me to finish the scroll in a certain amount of time, and when I said it would be better to let it hang longer, the response was always “take your time to do it right”. The two tone green and blue ceramic 軸先 Jikusaki (end caps) seem to provide a smooth transition between the cloth, but also helping to bring out the green in the painting.

In all, I have to consider this my masterpiece work of 2011.

Scroll dimensions as follows:

Name in Kanji	Name in English	Size in Bun	Size in Centimeters	Size in Inches
天	Ten	114.5	346.935	13.66
紙本の幅さ	Artwork Width	424	1284.72	50.58
紙本の長さ	Artwork Length	202	612.06	24.10
柱	Pillars	12.5	37.875	1.49
地	Chi	74.5	225.735	8.89
掛け軸の幅さ	Scroll Width	449	1360.47	53.56
掛け軸の長さ	Scroll Length	391	1184.73	46.64