First I thought right char was 敵 , then I searched 愛敵 , found nothing, then I assumed it would be 愛敬 since it existed as a word. But my jp friend said it was 愛敵 .

Your thoughts??

Do you know who calligraphied it (there is a calligrapher database somewhere, where they are listed officially, in japanese plus the title of their works!).. Would help a lot I suppose.

I'd say with about 98% certainty that it's 敬, or at least that it's not 敵. Strokes 1, 2, 7, and 8 of what would be 敵 are nowhere to be seen, and what would be stroke 6 of 敵 has a giant notch in it, which wouldn't make any sense.

The second kanji is rather clear, but the second kanjis does not look like love, nor it expresses love in any kind.. In my opinion the first kanji has to have another meaning, is it really the kanjis for "love"? This cross on the top of it looks so strange and doesn't fit~

Though it doesn't seem to make sense given the standard stroke order, that does seem to be a calligraphic form of 愛:

http://www.tanso-museum.com/
http://fudigital.blog50.fc2.com/blog-entry-155.html
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/semidalion/42032128.html
http://fudigital.blog50.fc2.com/blog-entry-301.html

It is most likely 敬愛. Since it's written from right to left, as a calligraphy the main part would most likely be read right to left when the further text is on the left...

But 敬愛 and 愛敬 mean the same basically, so no big deal.