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Every word in the ArtSource calligraphy line, with its reading and what it actually means. 14 pieces, from single characters like 愛 (ai, love) to four-character phrases like 一期一会 (ichi-go ichi-e, one time, one meeting).
Japanese calligraphy, 書道 (shodō, the way of writing), treats a written character as a performance: each stroke has a prescribed order and direction, the brush is loaded once, and there is no correcting a line after it is made. The prints in this collection use brush glyphs by the calligrapher Yuji Boku, keeping the visible stroke order and dry-brush texture of hand work. Each print has three recolourable layers (ink, paper and a splash accent), so the piece can be traditional black-on-white or set to your room’s palette.
A single character, written in one breath. 愛 (ai) is love in its widest sense: romantic, familial, devotional. The brush form keeps the visible stroke order and dry-brush texture of hand calligraphy.
夢 (yume) is the dream you have at night and the one you chase by day. A favourite gift for new starts: graduations, new homes, new ventures.
力 (chikara) is strength of body and of will. Two strokes, nothing wasted; the most minimal print in the calligraphy line.
和 (wa) is harmony, peace, and also Japan itself (the same character opens 和食, Japanese cuisine). The quiet centre of the whole line.
勇 (yū) is courage: the kind summoned, not possessed. Hung where the day starts.
心 (kokoro) is heart, mind and spirit in one word; Japanese does not split them. Four strokes that calligraphers spend a lifetime balancing.
美 (bi) is beauty. The character builds from 羊 (sheep) over 大 (great), a 3,000-year-old recipe: a great offering is a beautiful thing.
静 (sei) is stillness and quiet, the value at the centre of the tea ceremony. A natural fit for the rooms you go to switch off.
道 (michi, or dō) is the road and the discipline: the same character ends 武道 (budō), 茶道 (sadō) and 書道 (shodō), calligraphy itself. A print about practice.
福 (fuku) is good fortune, the character pasted at doorways across East Asia at new year. Traditionally hung where guests enter.
一期一会 (ichi-go ichi-e): this meeting happens once, and never quite again. A tea-ceremony principle written vertically, the way it is brushed on a tokonoma scroll.
七転八起: fall down seven times, get up eight. The proverb behind the round daruma doll, brushed as a vertical column.
侘寂 (wabi-sabi) is the aesthetic of the imperfect, impermanent and incomplete: the mended bowl, the weathered timber. The splash behind the characters is deliberately irregular for the same reason.
生き甲斐 (ikigai) is the reason you get up in the morning: the meeting point of what you love, what you are good at, and what the day needs from you.
Single characters (愛, 心, 力) read boldest from a distance and suit being the only art on a wall. The vertical phrases (一期一会, 七転八起) echo the tokonoma scroll format and work well in hallways and dining spaces. If you are giving one as a gift, 夢 (yume, dream) and 福 (fuku, good fortune) carry the clearest well-wishing. Whichever you choose, the colour guide covers pairing the ink and splash with your room, and all 14 pieces are in the shop.