We have many options to create artwork with the Chinese characters / Asian symbols / Japanese Kanji for Fate on a wall scroll or portrait.
If you want to create a cool Fate Asian character tattoo, you can purchase that on our Chinese and Japanese Tattoo Image Service page and we'll help you select from many forms of ancient Asian symbols that express the idea of Fate.
Quick links to words on this page...

This character is often translated as "destiny". Sometimes this character is simply translated as "life", but more in terms of one's lot in life. In certain context, this can mean command or decree (generally from a king or emperor). Of course, such a decree are part of fate and lead you to fulfill your destiny.
In Chinese this word leans toward the fate or destiny definition.
In Korean, it is usually read simply as "life".
In Japanese, it can mean all definitions shown above, depending on context.
See Also... Good Fortune | Good Luck


These two characters contain the ideas of "fate", "destiny", "fortune" and "luck". You can also say that it means "what life throws at you" or "your lot in life" because the first character contains the idea of "life" or "living".
See Also... Good Fortune | Good Luck


These two characters contain the ideas of "fate", "destiny", "fortune" and "luck". This is often defined as "a person's fate" in various dictionaries.
These two characters can be put in either order with the same meaning in Chinese and Japanese. The character order shown here is more the more natural order for Japanese Kanji and old Korean Hanja.
See Also... Good Fortune | Good Luck


These two characters contain the ideas of fate. But this is specifically the fate or destiny that brings two people together.
This is like the chance meeting of two people that leads some time later to marriage.
This could also be the chance meeting of two business people, who become partners and build a huge and successful company.
Basically, this is an idea often associated with a fateful meeting leading to good fortune.
Some will define this word as, "The destiny brings you two together", or "Meant to be".
Note: Second character can also be written without the left radical, as shown to the right. If you have a preference, please let use know in the special instructions for your project. There is no difference in meaning or pronunciation, just two (alternate) ways to write the same character.
See Also... Soulmates | Good Fortune


This is the Buddhist concept of a chance meeting or an opportunity that presents itself by fate.
Sometimes this is used to describe a cosmic chain of events or cause and effect.
It also is used to describe predestined relationships between people - and sometimes married couples (although if you want one about marriage, try this: Fate / Destiny of Lovers.
This word can also be translated as origin, karma, destiny, affinity, connection, and relation. This all depends on context - seen alone on a wall scroll, this will be read with a "fate / chance" meaning by a Chinese person, or Korean who can read Hanja.
This is a rather uncommon word in Japanese, so I recommend it only if your audience is Chinese, Korean or maybe devout Buddhist Japanese.
This concept is known as nidana in the original Sanskrit. Also sometimes presented as hetupratyaya which I believe is Pali.
See Also... Buddhism | Opportunity


These two characters mean, "Destiny that brings lovers together". It can also be translated technically as, "Predestined matrimonial affinity" (wow, talk about taking the romance out of this word - that was from the Oxford C-E dictionary).
Basically, this is talking about the fate (or karma) that brings a husband and wife together. I would translate this as "Together by fate" or "Joined by destiny", but in the context of marriage. You could use this for non-married lovers, but the first character has a suggestion that this refers to those that are married.


These two characters can be reversed (written in either order) and yield roughly the same meaning. Either way it's about your "fate", "destiny", "fortune" and "luck".
This character order happens to be more common in old Korean and less common in modern Chinese.
See Also... Good Fortune | Good Luck


This word is hard to define. One dictionary defines this as, "acceptance of fate and happy about it". There is one rare English word equivalent which is sanguinity.
You can also say that this means, "Be happy with whatever Heaven provides", or "Find happiness in whatever fate Heaven bestows upon you". This is kind of a way to suggest being an optimist in life.
Note: This is sometimes used as a given name in China.


Seeing the potential benefits or troubles that may lie ahead in the future.
Can also be defined as "presupposition" or "forethought".




This is the transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the name Destiny


This is a way to express destiny in a slightly religious way. Literally this means "Heaven's Wish" or "Heaven's Desire" with the idea of fate and destiny being derived as well. It suggests that your destiny comes from God / Heaven and that your path has already been chosen by a higher power.
My Japanese dictionary defines this word as "divine will" or "providence" but it also holds the meaning of "the will of the emperor". Therefore I don't suggest this phrase if your audience is Japanese - it feels a little strange in Japanese anyway.




This concept has existed for thousands of years that humans have the ability to understand right and wrong, then make a decision one way or the other (thus affecting their own fate).
Sources such as Confucius, Buddhist scriptures, the Qur'an and the Bible all address this idea.
As for the characters shown here, the first two mean free, freedom, or liberty. The last two simply mean "will".
See Also... Freedom | Strong Willed
Wall scroll artwork shown on this page is priced as follows:
1 character $29.88 each
2-3 characters $39.88 each
4 characters $49.88 each
After you select your calligraphy, our website will take you through the process of customizing your artwork.
Options for other mounting such as portraits are available for $13 less.
We also offer the services of a famous master calligrapher for a $40 fee on any scroll if you are looking for investment-quality calligraphy.
If you chose our famous master-calligrapher, you also get more choices for silk and paper colors and the option for larger artwork.
All of our calligraphy is completely done by hand in the ancient way.
When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to our art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.
Therefore, allow at least 3 weeks for delivery from the time you place your order.
When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.
The scroll that I am holding in this picture is a "regular size"
4-character wall scroll.
As you can see, it is a great size to hang on your wall.
(We also offer custom wall scrolls in larger sizes)
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
The following table is only helpful for those studying Chinese (or Japanese), and perhaps helps search engines to find this page when someone enters Romanized Chinese or Japanese
| Title | Characters Simplified Traditional |
Japanese Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Hanyu-Pinyin (Romanized Chinese) | |||
| Destiny / Fate | 命 命 | inochi / mei inochi/mei | mìng yùn ming | ming4 ming | ||
| Destiny / Fate | 命运 命運 | mei un meiun | mìng yùn ming yun | ming4 yun4 mingyun | ||
| Destiny / Fate | 运命 運命 | un mei unmei | mìng yùn yun ming | yun4 ming4 yunming | ||
| Fate / Chance Meeting | 缘份 / 缘分 緣份 / 緣分 | n/a | yuán fèn yuan fen | yuan2 fen4 yuanfen | ||
| Fate / Opportunity / Chance | 因缘 因緣 | innen | yīn yuán yin yuan | yin1 yuan2 yinyuan | ||
| The Karma/Fate/Destiny that Brings Lovers Together | 姻缘 姻緣 | n/a | yīn yuán yin yuan | yin1 yuan2 yinyuan | ||
| Personal Fate or Destiny | 运命 運命 | un mei unmei | yùn mìng yun ming | yun4 ming4 yunming | ||
| Acceptance of Fate / Happy With Your Fate | 乐天 樂天 | n/a | lè tiān le tian | le4 tian1 letian | ||
| Foresight | 先见 先見 | senken | xiān jiàn xian jian | xian1 jian4 xianjian | ||
| Destiny | 黛丝蒂妮 黛絲蒂妮 | n/a | dài sī dì nī dai si di ni | dai4 si1 di4 ni1 daisidini | ||
| Destiny Determined by Heaven | 天意 天意 | teni | tiān yì tian yi | tian1 yi4 tianyi | ||
| Free Will | 自由意志 自由意志 | jiyuu ishi jiyuuishi jiyu ishi | zì yóu yì zhì zi you yi zhi | zi4 you2 yi4 zhi4 ziyouyizhi | ||
| If you have not set up your computer to display Chinese, the characters in this table probably look like empty boxes or random text garbage.
This is why we spent hundreds of hours making images so that you could view the characters in the "Fate" listings above. If you want your Windows computer to be able to display Chinese characters you can either head to your Regional and Language options in your Win XP control panel, select the [Languages] tab and click on [Install files for East Asian Languages]. This task will ask for your Win XP CD to complete in most cases. If you don't have your Windows XP CD, or are running Windows 98, you can also download/run the simplified Chinese font package installer from Microsoft which works independently with Win 98, ME, 2000, and XP. It's a 2.5MB download, so if you are on dial up, start the download and go make a sandwich. | ||||||
All custom calligraphy items are made-to-order in our little Beijing artwork-mounting workshop.
Please note: Rush service can be as fast as two weeks, but regular service is over a month for delivery.
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