Ichizoku Sankan wo Yaburu

This scroll was made for a suiseki artist's display. I hope to have a picture of it paired with the suiseki at some point in the future. The suiseki is a horse, and the year of the horse is to be a strong spirit and full of life. So I was searching for phrases in the Zen book that exemplified those principles. This is what came up.

It is written by Yoshimi Yamada Maples in Gyousou (mix full and semi-cursive) style. The scroll is made in a Nidan Hyougu styling. The top dark green cloth is a Shike, the Chuumawashi is a yellow and green with a wave pattern in it. Both are benberugu cloths. The jikusaki is the First Order Gold Ring (non-lacquer) wood, and the kakehimo is the Kodai San Iro. It think it turned out simple, yet elegant, which will melt into the background of the stone.

Dimensions as follows along with an expanded translation of the meaning of the phrase.

Name in Kanji	Name in English	Size in Bun	Size in Inches
天	Ten	102	12.17
上中廻し	Ue Chuumawashi	34	4.06
紙本の幅さ	Artwork Width	109	13.00
紙本の長さ	Artwork Length	295	35.19
柱	Pillars	20	2.39
下中廻し	Shita Chuumawashi	20	2.39
地	Chi	65	7.75
掛け軸の幅さ	Scroll Width	149	17.77
掛け軸の長さ	Scroll Length	516	61.55

Within One’s Own Heart:

Is it possible to shoot an entire herd of deer with one arrow? Of course that idea is unfathomable, to reasonable person. However, in Zen, this type of feat is said to be possible. The key is to understand how it could be done.

The answer to that thought is this phrase “Ichizoku Sankan wo Yaburu「一鏃破三関」Like the characters imply the meaning is with a single arrow onoe can shoot through three barriers. Well now one asks, but what does this really mean?

People seek out the true way something should be done, and no matter how one suffers like a hungry ghost, this is the Sankan or three barriers. In other words, the many heavy worldly desires that we take upon and surround ourselves with do not help us go to our true thoughts. In order to break these three barriers, just look to let the arrow fly will not hit any target. What if we make the target face our own heart. Those hungry souls lost in their own desires have been able to remove these worldly burdens by aiming at their own soul.

As people, we think that our own problems are the things that surround us, but in reality it is the many things our heart tells us that decide what are problems really are. This phrase teaches us that if we look upon our own heart, we will be able to completely overcome the obstacles that confront us.

 

Ki Ga Tsuku Wallscroll for School

My wife works for and my children attend American Preparatory Academy at their Draper 2 Campus. Every month this school has a theme to try and help students develop certain values and virtues. The December theme happened to be the Japanese word Ki ga Tsuku 気が付く. The first character is Ki. Many of you have heard the Chinese term Chi, which is life force or energy. In Japanese we call this word Ki. Tsuku means to attach something to. So if we attach life force or energy, it means we are aware of our surroundings and can react quickly to serve or help others. I noticed back in August when the school year started that this was the theme and thought that Yoshimi and I could create something special for the students to learn. So I had Yoshimi write this back in August and have been making the scroll since then.

It is written in the Sousho (Full Cursive) style. The scroll is in the Sandan Hyougu (Three step style). The Ichimonji is a beautiful Gold Karakusa with some aqua in the flower arabesque. The Chuumawashi cloth is a benberugu with a white ivy design on a pale blue color. The Ten/Chi is a light blue shike cloth, with a light gold Hanging String. The Jikusaki are machined ebony wood with a very decorative pattern.

Dimensions as follows:

Name in Kanji	Name in English	Size in Bun	Size in Inches
天	Ten	95	11.33
上中廻し	Ue Chuumawashi	45	5.37
上一文字	Ue Ichimonji	12	1.43
紙本の幅さ	Artwork Width	105	12.53
紙本の長さ	Artwork Length	220	26.24
柱	Pillars	3	0.36
下一文字	Shita Ichimonji	8	0.95
下中廻し	Shita Chuumawashi	28	3.34
地	Chi	50	5.96
掛け軸の幅さ	Scroll Width	111	13.24
掛け軸の長さ	Scroll Length	446	53.20

Scroll with Last Name Translated into Japanese

This scroll is a Christmas present for a son who studies Japanese. Delving into the translation was difficult because of the limitation to four characters. But I feel that it was a successful idea. The idea for the scroll from the characters is The Possibility to Climb a Different Way or Path.

The scroll is done in a simple navy cloth in the Maru Hyougu style. It was written by Yoshimi Yamada Maples. It is in the Kaisho Block Print style. The Ichimonji is a large Karakusa (arbesque) that is gold on cream, a plastic ivory jikusaki and a light gold hanging string.

The dimensions are as follows:

Name in Kanji	Name in English	Size in Bun	Size in Inches
天	Ten	95	11.33
上一文字	Ue Ichimonji	10	1.19
紙本の幅さ	Artwork Width	54	6.44
紙本の長さ	Artwork Length	224	26.72
柱	Pillars	20	2.39
下一文字	Shita Ichimonji	6	0.72
地	Chi	55	6.56
掛け軸の幅さ	Scroll Width	94	11.21
掛け軸の長さ	Scroll Length	390	46.52

Rooster Kakejiku for Bonsai Enthusiast

This scroll was ordered during my scrollmaking class at the American Bonsai Society convention in September of 2013. It took a little longer to complete than normal, but the cloth selected was just gorgeous.
Painting was completed by Mariusz Szmerdt, and it is done in the Maru Hyougu style. It has a benberugu cloth, with a Kinran Ichimonji, plastic ivory jikusaki and a Green Hanging String. This is a seasonal bird and would go very well with a bonsai in a specific season which I will disclose if you e-mail to me at sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com.


Dimensions as followed:

Name in Kanji	Name in English	Size in Bun	Size in Inches
天	Ten	95	11.33
上一文字	Ue Ichimonji	8	0.95
紙本の幅さ	Artwork Width	94	11.21
紙本の長さ	Artwork Length	202	24.10
柱	Pillars	15	1.79
下一文字	Shita Ichimonji	5	0.60
地	Chi	60	7.16
掛け軸の幅さ	Scroll Width	124	14.79
掛け軸の長さ	Scroll Length	370	44.14

Custom Scroll for Aikido Dojo

This scroll was made for a customer who is enrolled in our scroll referral program. This is a program which allows one to earn a commission on referral sales for scrolls. This Aikidou dojo, located in the Western United States, wanted to provide a retirement gift for one of their Sensei’s.   he had a scroll commissioned.

This Sensei’s nickname was Kissaki, which means point of the sword, which is written prominently on the right hand side. On the left hand side is written, “To renew our Aikidou fighting spirit.” And the translation only uses Characters. The customer was concerned about my use of Fighting spirit, in that Aikidou has a principle to only use the martial art in self-defense. But my use of Toukon was to imply not to give up in the face of adversity or trial, in other words, to fight through the difficult battles of our life, and not meant to go out and start fights.

The calligraphy was written by Ryugyoku, Yoshimi Yamada Maples in the Semi-cursive style called gyousho. The scroll is made with a benberugu cloth which has both silk and cotton. It has a flower karakusa arabesque. The Ichimonji is a gold on orange with a cloud pattern. The Jikusaki is wood, and is a Shitan stain. The hanging string is usukin, or light gold.

Dimensions of the scroll as follows:

Name in Kanji	Name in English	Size in Bun	Size in Inches
天	Ten	87	10.38
上一文字	Ue Ichimonji	10	1.19
紙本の幅さ	Artwork Width	102	12.17
紙本の長さ	Artwork Length	440	52.49
柱	Pillars	22	2.62
下一文字	Shita Ichimonji	6	0.72
地	Chi	50	5.96
掛け軸の幅さ	Scroll Width	146	17.42
掛け軸の長さ	Scroll Length	593	70.74

Saratoga Springs New York Scrollmaking Class

Attached are some pictures from my scrollmaking class in New York. There were 8 students.

Bujinkan Ninjutsu Wallscroll

This kakejiku or wallscroll was commissioned for a practitioner
of Ninjutsu. He wanted a simple style scroll, but was concerned about the quality of the calligraphy. My wife works really hard to try and get all characters evenly spaced and balanced and I think this one was well written in the Gyousho style.

The scroll is in a navy silk, with gold on gold karakusa for the ichimonji. The jikusaki are Ivory plastic in the 9 bun size. I used the larger size because this customer also purchased the fuchin on the bottom, which are ceramic pieces to weight the scroll. Dimensions as follows:

Name in Kanji	Name in English	Size in Bun	Size in Inches
天	Ten	115	13.72
上一文字	Ue Ichimonji	7	0.84
紙本の幅さ	Artwork Width	53	6.32
紙本の長さ	Artwork Length	220	26.24
柱	Pillars	18	2.15
下一文字	Shita Ichimonji	4	0.48
地	Chi	70	8.35
掛け軸の幅さ	Scroll Width	89	10.62
掛け軸の長さ	Scroll Length	416	49.63