Not Knowing is Most Intimate (fuchi sai shinsetsu)

Scroll to see all 7 Japanese Not Knowing is Most Intimate tattoo designs

Here we offer 7 different hand-brushed Japanese Not Knowing is Most Intimate tattoo designs by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase. For these Not Knowing is Most Intimate tattoo designs the fonts are different, but the characters and the meaning are the same. So order the style you like - the meaning is the same for each design.

Not Knowing is Most Intimate in Japanese is 不知最親切 which is read fuchi sai shinsetsu. The Zen phrase fuchi sai shinsetsu is from the 20th Koan in Shoyoroku - called "The Book of Equanimity" (also "The Book of Serenity") written in the 12th Century by Hongzhi Zhengjue. This phrase has been described as the heart of Zen Buddhism. The Koan goes that Jizo asks Hogen where he is going. Hogen replied on a pilgrimage. Then Jizo asked why and Hogen replied that he did not know. To this Jizo said, "Not knowing is most intimate".

For this design we have used the Chinese characters. The modern Japanese would be only slightly different reading fuchi mottomo shinsetsu and written 不知最も親切.

There are several great on-line resouces. See Eric Boix page Shoyoroku for English translations. If you have Japanese fonts you can read discussions on the Koan at Shouyouroku Kouwa by Douken Takada [1906] and Shouyouroku Tsuukai by Nyoten Jinbo [1915]. Also we suggest the book The Book of Serenity: One Hundred Zen Dialogues by Thomas Cleary.

With your order, you will receive everything you need for the perfect Not Knowing is Most Intimate in Japanese Tattoo. Your design comes as an Adobe PDF file which means it will print exactly as Master Takase brushed the design and, of course, it includes the line art (also called a stencil) which your tattoo artist must have to properly ink the design.

The Adobe PDF file completely documents the design and contains everything your tattoo artist needs to properly ink the design. Your tattoo artist does not need to know Japanese.