Custom Justice Chinese & Japanese Calligraphy Wall Scroll

Practicing justice is being fair. It is solving problems so everyone wins. You don't prejudge. You see people as individuals. You don't accept it when someone acts like a bully, cheats or lies. Being a champion for justice takes courage. Sometimes when you stand for justice, you stand alone.

Note: These characters can also be translated as righteousness.

Note: This is also considered to be one of the Seven Heavenly Virtues.

This ancient "One Justice Can Overpower a Hundred Evils" idiom and proverb is famous in China. But it has been around so long that its origins have long been forgotten.

It could be something that Confucius or one of his disciples said, but no one can say for sure.

This is about doing the right thing or making the right decision, not because it's easy, but because it's ethically and morally correct.
No matter the outcome or result, one does not lose face if tempering proper justice.

This character can also be defined as righteousness, justice, morality, honor, or "right conduct". In more a more expanded definition, it can mean loyalty to friends, loyalty to the public good, or patriotism. This idea of loyalty and friendship comes from the fact that you will treat those you are loyal to with morality and justice.

This is also one of the five tenets of Confucius doctrine.

There's also an alternate version of this character sometimes seen in Bushido or Korean Taekwondo tenets. It's just the addition of a radical on the left side of the character. If you want this version, click on the image to the right instead of the button above.

This is also a virtue of the Samurai Warrior
See our page with just Code of the Samurai / Bushido here

See Also...  Judgement | Impartial | Confucius Tenets

This word means impartial, fairness, and justice in Chinese, old Korean, and Japanese.

This character, on your wall, should be used to remind yourself to be fair and just in all situations of life.

See Also...  Balance

This is how to write "universal benevolence". This is also how to express the idea that you see all people the same.

If you are kind and charitable to all people, this is the best way to state that virtue. It is the essence of being impartial to all mankind, regardless of social standing, background, race, sex, etc. You do not judge others, but rather you see them eye to eye on the same level with you.

See Also...  Benevolence | Compassion | Equality | Right Decision | Selflessness | Work Unselfishly For The Common

This is comes from an old story from some time before 476 BC. About a man named Qi Huangyang, who was commissioned by the king to select the best person for a certain job in the Imperial Court.

Qi Huangyang selected his enemy for the job. The king was very confused by the selection, but Qi Huangyang explained that he was asked to find the best person for the job, not necessarily someone that he personally liked or had a friendship with.

Later, Confucius commented on how unselfish and impartial Qi Huangyang was by saying "Da Gong Wu Si" which if you look it up in a Chinese dictionary, is generally translated as "Unselfish" or "Just and Fair".

If you translate each character, you'd have something like,

"Big/Deep Justice Without Self".

Direct translations like this leave out a lot of what the Chinese characters really say. Use your imagination, and suddenly you realize that "without self" means "without thinking about yourself in the decision" - together, these two words mean "unselfish". The first two characters serve to really drive the point home that we are talking about a concept that is similar to "blind justice".

One of my Chinese-English dictionaries translates this simply as "just and fair". So that is the short and simple version.

Note: This can be pronounced in Korean, but it's not a commonly-used term.

See Also...  Selflessness | Work Unselfishly For The Common Good | Altruism

Characters shown
above are read
vertically, starting
from the right

This is not a traditional Chinese phrase. We professionally translated it for a customer's request (in proper Chinese grammar).

See Also...  Christ | God | Impartial

This is the written title used to refer to Judges in the legal court system in China, Japan, and ancient Korea (same word used, but now written differently in modern Korea).

Characters shown
above are read
vertically, starting
from the right

This means, "Only God can judge me" in Chinese.

This simply means anarchy. Literally this means "without government" in both Chinese and Japanese.

This is the transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the name Andi or Andy.

Because transliteration goes by sound, these are both "spelled" the same in Chinese.

This is the transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the name Andy or Andi.

Because transliteration goes by sound, these are both "spelled" the same in Chinese.

This is the ancient way to write archer in both Chinese, Korean and Japanese. If you carried a bow into battle in an army of ancient Asia, this would be your title.

Note: This is an antiquated term that is rarely used in modern Chinese, Korean or Japanese. Beyond archer, this can also mean a ceremonial hunter in Japanese.

Note: This title is so old, that most Asian people will not recognize this as a normal word. It has not been in regular use for many generations.

The first chapter of Sun Tzu's Art of War lists five key points to analyzing your situation. Sun Tzu says that to sharpen your skills, you must plan. To plan well, you must know your situation. Therefore, you must consider and discuss the following:

1. Philosophy and Politics: Make sure your way or your policy is agreeable among all of your troops (and the citizens of your kingdom as well). For when your soldiers believe in you and your way, they will follow you to their deaths without hesitation, and will not question your orders.

2. Heaven/Sky: Consider climate / weather. This can also mean to consider whether God is smiling on you. In the modern military, this could be waiting for clear skies so that you can have air support for an amphibious landing.

3. Ground/Earth: Consider the terrain in which the battle will take place. This includes analyzing defensible positions, exit routes, and using varying elevation to your advantage. When you plan an ambush, you must know your terrain, and the best location from which to stage that ambush. This knowledge will also help you avoid being ambushed, as you will know where the likely places in which to expect an ambush from your enemy.

4. Leadership: This applies to you as the general, and also to your lieutenants. A leader should be smart and be able to develop good strategies. Leaders should keep their word, and if they break a promise, they should punish themselves as harshly as they would punish subordinates. Leaders should be benevolent to their troops, with almost a fatherly love for them. Leaders must have the ability to make brave and fast decisions. Leaders must have steadfast principles.

5. [Military] Methods: This can also mean laws, rules, principles, model, or system. You must have an efficient organization in place to manage both your troops and supplies. In the modern military, this would be a combination of how your unit is organized, and your SOP (Standard Operating Procedure).

Notes: This is a simplistic translation and explanation. Much more is suggested in the actual text of the Art of War (Bing Fa). It would take a lot of study to master all of these aspects. In fact, these five characters can be compared to the modern military acronyms such as BAMCIS or SMEAC.

CJK notes: I have included the Japanese and Korean pronunciations, but in Chinese, Korean and Japanese, this does not make a typical phrase (with subject, verb and object) it is a list that only someone familiar with Sun Tzu's writings would understand.

We worked on this one for a long time. The effort involved both Chinese and Japanese translators and lengthly discussions. If you have been searching for this term, there is a reason that it's hard to find the way to write "Asian Pride" in Chinese and Japanese - it's because of the inherent difficulties in figuring out a universal combination of characters that can be read in all languages that use forms of Chinese characters.

This final solution that you see to the left creates a reasonable title in Chinese, and an exotic (perhaps unusual) title in Japanese (This could be read as "Eastern Self-Respect" in Japanese").
Although not as natural, it does have the same meaning in Korean Hanja and the older-generation of Vietnamese people will be able to read it too.

The first two characters literally mean "Oriental" and the second two mean "pride", "self-esteem", or "self-respect" (we chose the most non-arrogant way to say "pride"). If you have "Asian Pride" (sometimes spelled Asian Pryde) these are the characters for you.

Note: For those of you that wonder, there is nothing technically wrong with the word "Oriental". It is the most correct word, and any bad meanings were created by so-called "Asian Americans" and Caucasians in the United States. To say "Asian" would not completely correct to the intended meaning, since that would include people from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, India, and portions of Russia.

For further proof, if you were of East Asian ancestry and born in England, you would be known as a "British Oriental" (The "Oriental stigma" is basically an American creation and therefore applies mostly to the American English language - where they get a bit overzealous with political correctness).

Further, since the Chinese and Japanese word for Oriental is not English, it can not be construed having ill-meaning. One trip to China or Japan, and you will find many things titled with these two characters such as malls, buildings, and business names. These places also use "Oriental" as their English title (much as we do, since our Chinese business name starts with these same two characters).

In short, the first two character have the meaning that Americans attach to "Asian" but is more technically correct.

This character is used in a lot of compound words in the CJK world. Alone, this character has a broad span of possible meanings. These meanings include relaxed, quiet, rested, contented, calm, still, to pacify, peaceful, at peace, soothing or soothed.

This character and even the pronunciation was borrowed from Chinese and absorbed into both Japanese Kanji and Korean Hanja. In all these languages, this character is pronounced like "an".

This is a 3-character transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the Latin / Spanish name César.

I like this version better than the 2-character version, as this one is very close to the real sound of the name Cesar (both English and Spanish pronunciation).

These are the core of Confucius philosophy. Simply stated they are:
benevolence / charity
justice / rectitude
politeness / tact
wisdom / knowledge
fidelity / trust

Many of these concepts can be found in various religious teachings. Though it should be clearly understood that Confucianism is not a religion, but should instead be considered a moral code for a proper and civilized society.

See Also...  Confucius Teachings | Ethics

The title says it all.

This could also be translated as:
"Never hesitate to do what is right".

See Also...  Work Unselfishly For The Common Good | Bravery

In Japanese, this word means "manners", "courtesy" or "etiquette".

This also clearly means etiquette in Chinese, though the first Japanese Kanji has been "modernized" and happens to be the same as the modern Simplified Chinese version. Therefore this word will be understood by both Japanese and Chinese people, but best if your audience is mostly Japanese (Chinese people would generally prefer the ancient Traditional Chinese version).

See Also...  Kindness | Respect

This is a famous bird of China. Known in China to be a very spiritual creature, the crane is a symbol of both longevity, and the journey of souls and spirits of ancestors.

Note: This character can mean crane or stork in Japanese.

Separately, the first character here does mean "danger" or "to endanger" and the second character can mean "opportunity".

However, I want to debunk a myth that was propagated by some westerners who did not have a clear understanding of Asian languages...

While often, Chinese/Japanese/Korean compound words (words of two or more characters) are the sum of their parts, this is not always the case. The compound is often understood with a completely different meaning than the two characters individually.

Many have said that the Chinese/Japanese/Korean word for Crisis is made up of the characters for "danger" and "opportunity". This is true when phrased this way.
However, it's not absolutely correct to say that "danger + opportunity = crisis" in Asian cultures.

English example:
If I tell you that...
Bovine creature + Guy behind the plate in baseball = Locomotive protection
...you would think I was mad. But consider that "cow + catcher = cowcatcher", which is the device that used to be found on steam engines to protect them if they hit an animal on the tracks. When we hear the word "cowcatcher" we don't separate the words into their individual meanings (necessarily).
The same is true with the word for crisis in Chinese/Japanese/Korean. While you can separate the characters, few Asian people would automatically do so in their minds.

The final answer:
It is a half-truth to say, "danger plus opportunity equals crisis" in Chinese/Japanese/Korean. Use this statement and concept with caution.

Also, the second character can mean "secret" or "machine" depending on context so I guess you have to say "a dangerous machine = crisis" or "danger + a secret = crisis". Both of these are only slightly more ridiculous than the first premise.

PS: This is probably not a great word for a scroll, unless you have a special use for it.

This is the simplest way to write dance in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja. It can also be translated as to dance, to wield, to brandish or to circle. It's meaning of dance is more clearly defined in Chinese than it is in Japanese (see our two-character word for dancing if you want to be absolutely clear in both languages).

This is Enso, which is really NOT a regular Japanese Kanji character. It falls more into the category of a symbol. In this case, it can be considered a religious symbol, as it is strongly-associated with Japanese Zen Buddhism.

This is a typical appearance of Enso with an inscription by master calligrapher Michiko Imai.

Some call this "The Circle of Enlightenment". Others call it the "Infinity Circle". If you actually took the meanings of the two Kanji that make up the word "Enso", you could read it as "Mutual Circle" or "Circle of Togetherness". I think the Enso symbol can simply mean different things to different people. Therefore, you should let it have the meaning that you perceive.

Please note when you start making your customizations for an Enso wall scroll, you will see some possible ways it might be written, listed under the different calligraphy styles that we normally offer. However, Enso does not really conform to normal Asian calligraphy styles. Therefore, do not expect that you can make a style selection and expect the actual result to be identical. The appearance of your Enso will be determined by the artist's personal style, feeling, mood, etc. You cannot control or constrain that, to do so, would remove the art from the symbol.

Note: Our calligraphy selection process does not take this into account, as it was designed for Chinese characters and Japanese Kanji selection.

Please ignore the part where you are invited to pick a calligraphy style in the following pages.

Both our Japanese and Chinese master calligraphers are Buddhist (not as devout as monks, but Buddhist none the less). Therefore you can be assured that your Enso symbol will be written with the utmost effort and feeling.

By the way, when "Enso" is written in Kanji, it looks like this:

This same phrase seems to be used in virtually every language and culture around the world. Whether you are Arab, Persian, Jewish, European, British, Asian, or American, this phrase is well known as the "original form of justice".

This is the colloquial way to say "Daddy" in Chinese. Sometimes Chinese people will refer to their father with just one of these characters, "Ba", which would be like "Dad". With both characters, "Baba", it's more like "Daddy".

This is really a weird selection for a wall scroll, so consider this entry to be for educational purposes only (don't order this).

This the word for football or soccer in Japanese Kanji and old Korean Hanja. Soccer is very popular in both Japan and Korea (Korea and Japan co-hosted the football World Cup in 2002 - a world-class sporting event held every four years that rivals the Olympics).

In Japan, they sometimes say "sakka" in place of the pronunciation shown above. This is supposed to sound like the English word "soccer".

The first Kanji means "kick" and the second means "ball". So technically, this means "kick ball" in Japanese and Korean (this is just an educational note - this will always be understood as the game of soccer / football).

FYI: This game would never be confused with American Football in Japan or Korea. Unlike the game of American basketball and baseball (both quite popular in Japan and Korea), there is only vague awareness of a rugby-like game that is also called football in the USA.

This is a common word to express the idea of freedom in both Chinese and Japanese.

This word is the essence of "being free" but also acts as the suffix to create words like freestyle swimming, free trade, civil liberties, free will, freedom fighter, religious freedom, and liberal.

Note: If you need any of these other words or meanings, just post your request on our Asian calligraphy forum.

Can also be defined as companionship or fellowship. This word is common in Chinese and Korean Hanja but seldom used in Japanese anymore.

See Also...  Partnership | Friendliness

This term means obligation or a sense of duty that one may have to their employer, country or culture.

This is a specifically Japanese term, as in Chinese, these two characters form a word that means "religious doctrine" or refers to the argument presented in an essay.

This term has similar meaning in Korean where is can be translated as justice, sense of duty, loyalty, integrity or obligation.

This is kind of a weird selection for a wall scroll. So this entry is intended more for educational purposes.

More information about Giri

This is how Chinese Christians and Jews refer to God. Yes, there are Chinese Jews whose ancestry dates back to Jewish traders on the silk road. Most have left China for I presume, Israel now. There are also plenty of Christians in China of both the Protestant and Catholic variety. However, the churches are basically run by the government, and the Chinese Catholic church does not recognize the Pope.

Oddly, in my experience, I found the Chinese Protestant church to be much less political compared to Baptist and other Protestant churches that I have attended in America.

This is also the typically-used title for God in Japanese.
However, while you may find this term in old Korean dictionaries, it is an obscure, and rarely-used title for God in modern Korean.

See Also...  Christianity | Jesus Christ

This is "goddess" in both Chinese and Japanese.

This is a single character that means good health or vigor in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

This character can also mean peaceful, at ease, or abundant in some contexts.

Please note that this is rarely seen alone in Japanese Kanji. In Japanese, it is used both for health-related compound words and to denote the kouhou through koushou eras of Japan.

In Korean, this can also be the family name "Kang" (caution: not the only family name romanized as Kang in Korean).

See Also...  Health | Vitality | Wellness

The dictionary definition is:
relations / relationship / to concern / to affect / to have to do with / connection.
But there's more to it...

In China, your relationship that you have with certain people can open doors for you. Having guanxi with someone also means they would never defraud you, but instead are honor-bound to treat you fairly (of course, this goes both ways). Sometimes it is suggested that guanxi is the exchange of favors. I would say is is more having a relationship that allows you to ask for and expect favors without shame.

There is no concept in western culture that exactly matches guanxi, but perhaps having a social or professional network is similar.

Note that there are some variations common within Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and Korean Hanja for this word...

Japanese tend to use a Chinese alternate form as shown to the right for
the first character.

There's also another alternate form of that first character (currently used as the official Simplified form in mainland China) which looks like the character shown to the right. It's basically the central radical of the alternate version shown above, but without the "door radical" around it. In more free-flowing calligraphy styles, this version would be the likely choice for a calligrapher.

In Modern Japanese, they use the character shown to the right.
They also tend to use this same form in Korean Hanja (I've only checked this word in my Korean dictionary, but it has not been confirmed by a translator's review).

If that were not confusing enough, there is another alternate form of that second character. See right.

An Asian calligrapher of any nationality may use any of these forms at their discretion. However, They would tend to stick to the most common form used in their respective languages.

If you have any preference on any of these issues, please give us a special note with your order, and we'll make sure it's done the way you want.

Hapkido is a mostly-defensive martial art of Korea. It has some connection to Aikido of Japan. In fact, they are written with the same characters in both languages. However, it should be noted that the Korean Hanja characters shown here are the traditional Chinese form - but in modern Japan, the middle character was slightly simplified.
Note: You can consider this to be the older Japanese written form of Aikido. Titles on older books and signs about Aikido use this form.

The connection between Japanese Aikido and Korean Hapkido is a bit muddled in history. This is probably due to the relationship between the two countries - especially during WWII when many Koreans became virtual slaves for the Japanese (many Koreans are still bitter about that, so many things were disassociated from having any Japanese origin).

Looking at the characters, the first means "union" or "harmony."
The second character means "universal energy" or "spirit".
The third means "way" or "method".
One way to translate this into English is "Harmonizing Energy Method". This makes since, as Hapkido has more to do with redirecting energy, rather that fighting with strength against strength.

More Hapkido info

More notes:
1. Sometimes Hapkido is Romanized as "hap ki do", "hapki-do" "hab gi do" or "hapgido".

2. Korean Hanja characters are actually Chinese characters that usually hold the same meaning in both languages. There was a time when these characters were the standard and only written form of Korean. The development of modern Korean Hangul characters is a somewhat recent event in the greater scope of history. There was a time when Chinese characters were the written form of many languages in places known in modern times as North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, and a significant portion of Malaysia. Even today, more people in the world can read Chinese characters than can read English.

3. While these Korean Hanja characters can be pronounced in Chinese, this word is not well-known in China and is not considered part of the Chinese lexicon.

This is simple "happiness" which can also be translated as blessed, welfare, well-being, or fortunate.

This can be interpreted a few different ways:
God blesses those who work hard.
It is the way of Heaven to smile on the diligent.
God will reward those that are worthy.
Heaven blesses those who are diligent.

Whichever translation you like, a scroll like this on your wall may serve as a reminder to work hard because your diligence will pay off both in this life and the next.


Note: This can be pronounced in Korean, but it's not a commonly-used term.

You might think this title is in reverse, but actually this is the original idiom. The movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was actually a play on words or order reversal of this old Chinese idiom.

The meaning is that both the tiger and dragon have amazing talents, but if they are out of view, you may have not discovered them. It can be said of someone with amazing ability that keeps that ability hidden.

This is a word that is often used to describe a person with an honest and loyal reputation. To put it simply, this applies to somebody you can trust (with your life).

In Chinese, this is often defined as good faith, honor, trust and justice.
In Korean, this word means fidelity, truthfulness, or faithfulness.
In Japanese: faith, fidelity and loyalty. It's also a Japanese male given name when pronounced "Nobuyoshi".

This character means real, true, honest, or solid. It is one of several ways to express the idea of truth.

Note: In some context, this can carry extended meanings of reality, actuality, really, sincerity, or substance.

See Also...  Truth | Trust

This version of honor is about having or earning the respect of others and about your reputation. It is the status of being worthy of honor (not to be confused with doing honorable things or specific actions - see our other "honor" listing for that).

Both modern Japanese and modern mainland Chinese use the same simplified version of the second character of honor. We will automatically use the simplified version shown to the left, unless you make a special request for the traditional second character as shown to the right (just click on that character to order the traditional Chinese version). Before WWII, both Japan and China used the traditional form, but modern Japanese and Chinese are more likely to identify this simplified form. Koreans still use the traditional form when they are not writing in their modern Hangul glyphs.

This is also a virtue of the Samurai Warrior
See our page with just Code of the Samurai / Bushido here

See Also...  Integrity | Respect

The story goes that Mr. Feng and Mr. He were both senior officials in the Song Dynasty (about a thousand years ago). One day, Mr. Feng walked into their shared office wearing a new pair of boots. The boots caught the eye of Mr. He who said, "New boots! - how much were they?". Mr. Feng lifted one of the boots off the ground as if to show it off and responded, "900 coins". Astonished, Mr. Feng explained, "900? How can that be? - I paid 1800 coins for my boots!". Mr. Feng then lifted his other foot off the ground and said, "This boot was also 900 coins".

It is said that the whole room was shaking from the laughter of all that heard Mr. Feng's joke on Mr. He.
br> Currently in China, this phrase is used in response to a good joke or witty comment.

This is the Chinese way to say "I miss you". It is said in the same word order in both English and Chinese.

The first two Kanji alone mean immobility, firmness, fixed, steadfastness, motionless, idle.

The last Kanji means heart, mind, soul, or essence.

Together, these three Kanji create a title that is defined as "immovable mind" within the context of Japanese martial arts. However, in Chinese it would mean "motionless heart" and in Korean Hanja, "wafting heart" or "floating heart".

This is one of the five spirits of the warrior (budo), and is often used as a Japanese martial arts tenet. Under that context, places such as the Budo Dojo define it this way: An unshakable mind and an immovable spirit is the state of fudoshin. It is courage and stability displayed both mentally and physically. Rather than indicating rigid, inflexibility, fudoshin describes a condition that is not easily upset by internal thoughts or external forces. It is capable of receiving a strong attack while retaining composure and balance. It receives and yields lightly, grounds to the earth, and reflects aggression back to the source.

This is a long word by Chinese standards. At least it is often translated as a single word into English. This simply means "Indomitable" or "Unyielding".

If you want to break it down, you can see that the first and third characters are the same. Both meaning "not" (they work as a suffix to make a negative or opposite meaning to whatever character follows). The second character means "bendable". The last means "scratched" or "bothered".
So this really means "Won't be bent, can't be bothered". I have also seen it written as "Will not crouch, will not submit". This comes from the fact that the second character can mean, "to crouch" and the last can mean "to submit" (as in "to give in" such as "submitting to the rule of someone else"). This may explain better why these four characters mean "indomitable".

Notes:
Some will translate this as "indomitable spirit"; however, technically, there is no character to suggest the idea of "spirit" in this word.
The first two characters can be a stand-alone word in Chinese.
In Japanese, this is considered to be two words (with very similar meanings).
The same characters are used in Korean, but the 2nd and 4th characters are swapped to create a word pronounced "불요불굴" in Korean.
Just let me know if you want the Korean version, which will also make sense in Japanese, and though not as natural, will also make sense in Chinese as well.

See Also...  Tenacity | Fortitude | Strength | Undaunted

This term transcends a few religions, including Taoism and Buddhism. This title refers to the inner bliss and peace that you can achieve from meditation. It can also be translated as "joy of the mystic trance" or simply "meditative bliss".

Amazing that such a complex idea can be expressed in just two Chinese characters. Note that the first character is Chan/Zen (Chinese/Japanese) which means "meditation" in both languages.

This is the shorter version of inner-strength (can also be translated as "internal force"). The first character holds the meaning of "inner" or "internal". The second character means "power", "force" or "strength".

This is kind of a Kung Fu way of talking about an inner power or strength from within. This is sort of a way to express "inner-chi". This is clearly something that you might hear in a real Chinese Kung Fu movie.

While understood in both Chinese and Japanese, this can have a secondary meaning of "inner stress" in Japanese.

If you are a government spy, engaged in business espionage, or in some military intelligence department, this is both the title of what you are doing and what you are collecting about your enemy.

It is suggestive by itself of military intelligence, but applies to corporate intelligence if you are keeping an eye on your competition in business.

This is the title for the iris flower in Chinese and Japanese. If your name happens to be Iris, this is a nice way to express your name by meaning in both of these languages (it will mean your name, but not sound like your name).

Can also mean wall iris, roof iris, or Iris tectorum.
Note: There are other titles for specific iris varieties - contact us if you need something special.

This is the title for the iris flower in Japanese. If your name happens to be Iris, this is a nice way to express your name by meaning in both of these languages (it will mean your name, but not sound like your name).

Can also mean Siberian iris (Iris sanguinea) or sweet flag (Acorus calamus / Acorus gramineus) varieties.

Note: This will also be recognized in Chinese, though it is generally written with the addition of a character meaning "stone" in front in the Chinese language.

This both means and sounds like "Islam" in Mandarin Chinese.

The first three characters sound like the word "Islam", and the last character means "religion" or "teaching". It's the more general term for "Islam" in China. The highest concentration of Muslims in China is Xinjiang (the vast region in northwest China that was known as East Turkistan Republic until 1949 and is sometimes called Chinese Turkistan, Uyghuristan or Uyghur Stan). Here you will find Uygurs, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz and others that are descendants of Turkmen (possibly mixed with Persians and Arabs). Many of their ancestors were traders who traveled the silk road to buy and sell spices, silk, and exchange other goods from the Orient and Middle East.

I spent some time in Xinjiang and got to know this community. They are strong people who can endure much. They are friendly and love to have a good time. I was a stranger, but I was treated by villagers (near China's border with Afghanistan) as if I was a good friend.
But I have heard that it's best not to cross them, as in this land, the law is the blade, and everything is "eye for an eye". The Chinese government has little control in Xinjiang with almost no police officers except in the capital of Urumqi (so it's a 60-hour roundtrip train ride to seek the aid of law enforcement in most cases).

While few seem to be devout, there are at least small mosques in every village. And you will never see a man or woman outside without a head covering.

It should be noted that these people are all citizens of China but they are officially of the Caucasian race. A visit to Xinjiang will change your idea what it means to be Chinese.

In short, kansei engineering involves collecting data on human experiences with a product, and then designing or engineering improvements based on those experiences or "senses". Some may define this as "engineering around the human experience".

There is a lot more to know about kansei, but if you are looking for this word, you probably already know the big picture.

Note: This term is very new in China, and only used by businesses, factories, and engineers that are implementing TQM principles. While the characters have the same base meaning in both languages, this is really a Japanese title that is flowing back into the Chinese language (in history, most things flowed from China to Japan). To a Chinese person that is not familiar with this concept, they may interpret this as "sense vocational studies", which doesn't make much sense. You may have to explain the intended meaning to some Chinese viewers. But that can make it a great conversation piece.

This is also a newer term in Korean, and is only used in certain parts of industry, with the definition of "Sensory Engineering". Not yet in widespread use in Korea.

See Also...  Kaizen

This is the simplest way to express the idea of Karma. This is the Buddhist concept of actions committed in a former life affecting the present and future.

Out of the context of Buddhism, this Karma character means one's profession in life, trade, occupation, business, study, or career.

The Karma definition applies to both Chinese and Japanese for this character. This also works as Korean Hanja as Karma; although the meaning can vary depending on context (my Korean dictionary gives the definition of profession/occupation).

See Also...  Buddhism

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This is from Sun Tzu's (Sunzi's) Art of War. It means that if you know and understand the enemy, you also know yourself, and thus with this complete understanding, you cannot lose.

This phrase is often somewhat-directly translated as, "Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat".

It can also be translated as, "If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can come out of hundreds of battles without danger", or "Know your enemy, know yourself, and your victory will not be threatened".

If you like or collect and maintain koi fish, this is the wall scroll for you.

Technically, this is a certain and revered species of "koi fish" in Japan, but it is the most normal selection for a wall scroll (more normal than the actual Kanji for "koi" or "fish" alone.

This literally means "brocade carp" or "embroidered carp". This term is also used to mean the same thing in China (which is the origin of koi fish breeding and cultivation, several generations before they became popular in Japan).

For those of you that don't know, the Kanji for "koi" (which is pronounced "goi" in this entry) really means "carp". If you want the word that means "koi fish", it would just be the generic word for "carp fish". That would include both colorful carp, and the more mundane gray carp (the ones people eat, if they don't mind lots of bones).

This is the term that seems to be known worldwide as kowtow. In Japanese and Chinese, it simply means a deep bow, especially one so low that one's head touches the ground in submission. However, in western culture, it has sometimes come to mean "giving in" or "surrendering to someone else's will". Sometimes even said of a person who stoops to flattery at the expense of their own dignity.

I don't know if you would really want this on a wall scroll, but enough people have searched for this term on our website, that I guess it was time to add it. It just feels strange to see such a word on a wall scroll, so please order with caution. This word is antiquated in both Japanese and Chinese. The act is seldom done anymore, and seen as an ancient ritual of sorts.

One of the most famous types of martial arts in the world - and not just because of Bruce Lee.

Some translate the meaning as "Accomplishment by Great Effort". I think this is partially true, but directly translated it literally means "Merit/Achievement/Accomplishment Man". The word "fu" can sometimes mean "husband" or "porter", but in this case, it can only mean "man". However, few in China will think "man" when they hear the word "Gong Fu" spoken.

This term is also used for things other than martial arts. In fact, it's used to refer to a person with excellent skills in crafts that require a great deal of effort such as cooking, tea ceremonies, and calligraphy.

What a lot of people don't know is that the spelling of "Kung Fu" was actually taken from the old Wade Giles form of Romanization. Using this method, the sounds of the English "G" and "K" were both written as "K" and an apostrophe after the "K" told you it was supposed to sound like a "G". Nobody in the west knew this rule, so most people pronounce it with a "K-sound". And so Gong Fu will always be Kung Fu for most westerners.

Also, just to educate you a little more, the "O" in "Gong" has a sound like the English word "oh".

The popular Chinese dish "Kung Pao Chicken" suffers from the same problem. It should actually be "Gong Bao Chicken".

Historical note: Many will claim that Kung Fu was invented by the monks of the Shaolin monastery. This fact is argued in both directions by scholars of Chinese history. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that the Shaolin Monks brought the original fame to Kung Fu many generations ago.

Japanese note: While Japanese martial artists will recognize these characters, Katakana is more often used to approximate the pronunciation of "Kung Fu" with "カンフー". Some will argue as to whether this should be considered a Japanese word at all.

This is another transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the name Leanna.

The first character is the only difference. Both ways, the first character is pronounced like "lee" but this one happens to be the same "lee" as in "Bruce Lee" - it also means plum.

First off, this should only be used in context of Japanese martial arts. In Chinese, it's a rather sad title (like a broken heart). In Chinese, the first character alone means destroyed, spoiled, ruined, injured, cruel, oppressive, savage, incomplete, disabled. However, in Japanese, it's remainder, leftover, balance, or lingering.
The second character means heart, mind, soul, or essence in both languages.

This is one of the five spirits of the warrior (budo), and is often used as a Japanese martial arts tenet. Under that context, places such as the Budo Dojo define it this way: The spirit of zanshin is the state of the remaining or lingering spirit. It is often described as a sustained and heightened state of awareness and mental follow-through. However, true zanshin is a state of focus or concentration before, during, and after the execution of a technique, where a link or connection between uke and nage is preserved. Zanshin is the state of mind that allows us to stay spiritually connected, not only to a single attacker, but to multiple attackers and even an entire context; a space, a time, an event.

A man named Wei Zheng lived between 580-643 AD. He was a noble and wise historian and minister in the court of the early Tang Dynasty.

The emperor once asked him, "What should an emperor do to understand the real-world situation and what makes an emperor out-of-touch with reality?"

Wei Zheng replied, "Listen to both sides and you will be enlightened; listen to only one side and you will be left in the dark."

Then Wei Zheng went on to site examples of leaders in history that were victorious after heeding both sides of the story, and other leaders that met their doom because they believed one-sided stories which often came from flattering lips.

Please note that there is an unwritten rule when the same character appears twice in the same phrase, the calligrapher will alter the appearance so that no two characters are exactly alike in the same piece. This calligraphy has two repeating characters that will be written differently than they appear here.

This means to love and honor. This is more or less the kind of thing you'd find in marriage vows.

The first two characters suggest deep love or deep emotions, passion, and feelings.
The last two characters mean generous justice or thick honor (the third character is an adjective that means generous or thick). It just means that you will honor your lover's wishes, and treat them justly and righteously (fairly).

This is the longer four-character version, there is also a short and sweet two character version (you can find it here: Love and Honor if it's not on the page you are currently viewing).

See Also...  Love And Honor

Loyalty is staying true to someone. It is standing up for something you believe in without wavering. It is being faithful to your family, country, school, friends or ideals, when the going gets tough as well as when things are good. With loyalty, you build relationships that last forever.

Notes:
1. This written form of loyalty is universal in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

2. There is also a Japanese version that is part of the Bushido Code which may be more desirable depending on whether your intended audience is Japanese or Chinese.

3. This version of loyalty is sometimes translated as devotion, sincerity, fidelity, or allegiance.

See Also...  Honor | Trust | Integrity | Sincerity

This refers to the virtue, morality, and ethics that any practitioner of martial arts should posses. This can be used in both Chinese and Japanese in lieu of English terms such as "soldierly virtue", "good conduct" (military), "warrior ethics", and being honorable in regards to any fight or competition.

See Also...  Morality Of Mind | Morality Of Deed

This can be translated as "martial arts skills", "warrior skills", or "military skills" depending on usage. In both Japanese and Chinese, rather than meaning martial arts, this speaks more to the skills that you posses in regards to martial arts. This phrase also has a light suggestion of "having an itch to show off these skills".

This is the simplest way to say "money" in Chinese. It can also mean cash, coins, or currency. It's also a surname in China.

This also means coins in old Korean Hanja, and Japanese Kanji (though they use a slightly alternate form in Japan as seen to the right). In both Japan and Korea, this can simply mean "one cent".

On the left side of this character is a radical which means "gold" (or metal depending on context).

On the right are two repeated radicals which currently mean "small" or "narrow" but used to kind of mean "tools" or "weapon".

It's a bit of a stretch, but you could suggest that money = "gold weapons" or "gold tools" in Chinese. Many Chinese people would argue otherwise depending on what they know of or the way they understand the etymology of the right side radical. I've seen some who say it means "industrialized gold".

This is the short title for a man long in legend. Miyamoto Musashi is probably the most famous Samurai in all of Japanese history. While coming from a lower class, his new sword and fighting techniques put him on par with the best that feudal Japan had to offer. His long career started with his first duel was at age 13!

He is credited both with using two swords at once, and never losing a single battle in his career. After becoming a Buddhist, and getting older, like many old warriors, he took up a peaceful and solitary life until his death around 1645 A.D.

Note: Technically, Musashi is his given name, and Miyamoto is his surname. However, it's suggested that he assumed both of these names, and also had a few other names at childhood, as well as being given a Buddhist name. It's hard to know what to call him, as with most Kanji, there are multiple pronunciations. The characters for Musashi can also be pronounced "Takezō". But, everyone in modern times seems to know him by the name Musashi.

The word namaste comes from Sanskrit and is a common greeting in the Hindi and Nepali languages exchanged by devout Hindu or Buddhist people in Southern Asia (especially India).

Here you can see the Chinese form of this word which is used describe a Buddhist (or Hindu) greeting with palms closed together in a prayerful manner, generally at chest level. However, this selection of characters describes the act, and is not a word spoken during the greeting. In fact, words or a greeting is seldom spoken when two Chinese Buddhists meet. The greeting is silent, and respectful, but composed completely of body language.

Note that the greeting namaste as well as the act of placing palms together are used both as a hello and goodbye (kind of like the word aloha in Hawaiian).

If you are looking for a welcoming hello and goodbye, you may want to consider gassho or a simple welcome.

In Japanese, this word means innocent, or one with no knowledge of good and evil. It literally means "without mind".

This is one of the five spirits of the warrior (budo), and is often used as a Japanese martial arts tenet. Under that context, places such as the Budo Dojo define it this way: "No mind, a mind without ego. A mind like a mirror which reflects and dos not judge." The original term was "mushin no shin", meaning, "mind of no mind." It is a state of mind without fear, anger, or anxiety. Mushin is often described by the phrase, "mizu no kokoro", which means, "mind like water". The phrase is a metaphor describing the pond that clearly reflects it’s surroundings when calm, but whose images are obscured once a pebble is dropped into its waters.

This has a good meaning in conjunction with Chan / Zen Buddhism in Japan. However, out of that context, it means mindlessness or absent-minded. To non-Buddhists in China, this is associated with doing something without thinking.
In Korean, this usually means indifference.

Use caution and know your audience before ordering this selection.

More info: Wikipedia: Mushin

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I remember this being shouted a lot during U.S. Marine Corps boot camp. This is how to write that phrase in Chinese. At least, this is as close as we could compose/translate it, and hold the full original meaning and connotations.

The version shown here is really, "Pain is weakness leaving your body". Although, it's said in English both ways (the or your), it works better in Chinese with "your".

A reversal of the characters between Chinese and Japanese/Korean languages yields this "passion" meaning. While many characters and even multi-character words have the same meaning in both languages, often some conventions are different or may have changed over time.

Note: This character order is not natural in Chinese. However, a typical Chinese person can guess that this is a Japanese or Korean word and also understand the intended the meaning. This selection is best if your audience is Japanese or old-school Korean.

See Also...  Persistence | Devotion | Tenacity | Commitment | Motivation

This means just what it says. It's a word that expresses both the idea of being at peace and healthy at the same time.

Note: This is a bona-fide word in Chinese and Korean, and the characters will at least make sense in Japanese.

The first and second character both mean quiet. Together, they reinforce the meanings almost creating a word that means "double quiet" or "perfect quiet".

A good wall scroll for a library, reading room, or other quiet place.

See Also...  Peace | Harmony

Qigong is the title of a technique that is somewhere between a medical practice, meditation, and in some cases a religion. The definition is blurred depending on which school of Qigong you are following. In some cases, it is even incorporated with martial arts.

Some people (even Chinese people) mix this title with Tai Chi (Tai Qi) exercises.

Lately in China, people will claim to practice Tai Chi rather than Qigong because the Qigong title was recently used as a cover for an illegal pseudo-religious movement in China with the initials F.G. or F.D. (I can not write those names here for fear of our website being banned in China).

You can learn those names and more here: Further info about Qigong

If you are wondering about why I wrote "Qi Gong" and "Chi Kung" as the title of this calligraphy entry, I should teach you a little about the various ways in which Chinese can be Romanized. One form writes this as "Chi Kung" or "Chikung" (Taiwan). In the mainland and elsewhere, it is Romanized as "Qi Gong" or "Qigong". The actual pronunciation is the same in Taiwan, mainland, and Singapore Mandarin. Neither Romanization is exactly like English. If you want to know how to say this with English rules, it would be something like "Chee Gong" (but the "gong" has a vowel sound like the "O" in "go").

Romanization is a really confusing topic and has caused many Chinese words to be mispronounced in the west. One example is "Kung Pao Chicken" which should actually be more like "Gong Bao" with the "O" sounding like "oh" for both characters. Neither system of Romanization in Taiwan or the Mainland is perfect in my opinion and lead to many misunderstandings.

This is the title of a healing practice that is now found throughout the world but with origins in Japan.

Special note: Outside of the context of the healing practice of Reiki, this means "aura" or "spiritual essence that surrounds all living things". A Japanese person not familiar with the practice will take the "aura" meaning.

Reiki is a technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also heals. It can be compared to massage, but is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If your life force energy is low, you'll be more likely to get sick or feel stress. If your life force energy is abundant and flowing well, you become more capable of being happy and healthy.

There is a lot of information available if you want to Google this term - my job is to offer the calligraphy, while you can decide if it is right for you.

Note: We are showing the ancient (traditional) form of the Reiki Kanji. I have seen Reiki written with both the slightly simplified version and this more classic form. If you want the form of Reiki with the two strokes in the shape of an X on the second character and reformed first character, simply click on the Kanji characters to the right.

Note: This is also a Chinese word, but in Chinese, these characters create a word that refers to a smart person, or someone with high aspirations. It is not read as a healing method in Chinese.
In Korean Hanja, this can be read as "mysterious atmosphere" by a Korean who is not familiar with the practice of Reiki (still has a cool meaning in Korean).

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This is a proverb that seems to be aimed at world leaders or others in power. Perhaps a suggestion to avoid the practice of "fear mongering" opting instead for a policy of benevolence and justice.

An example: When the Bush administration told Pakistan they could either join America in the "war on terror", or expect some bombs to be coming their way, Bush gained this kind of "less-than-genuine respect" from Pakistanis.
Leaders in places like North Korea and even Saudi Arabia reap the same bogus respect from their own citizens.

Note that calligraphers do not like to repeat the same characters in exactly the same way in the same piece of artwork. So expect the characters that are repeated to be written in different forms in the real artwork (unlike the way they are displayed to the left).

Being responsible means others can trust you to do things with excellence. Responsibility is the ability to respond ably and to make smart choices.

This word can also refer to someone who is willing to take the blame when things go wrong (instead of making excuses or passing the blame to someone else). While this is a noble idea, I think it is getting more rare these days in both eastern and western cultures.

Also associated with the idea of "duty".

This is both the technical term for rose in the science of botany. However, it also means wild rose and can be found in some forms of poetry as well.

If you are wondering, this word for rose sounds good in Chinese, not like a super-technical such as the Latin words we use for scientific terms in the west).

This is the most universal way to write rose (as in the flower) because it is understood in both Chinese and Japanese (same characters in either language). This is also a common way to write about roses in Asian poetry. This can be translated as "wild rose" if you are looking for that title.

This is also how to write "rose" in old Korean Hanja (though they now us Hangul and most Koreans of this generation will not be able to read this without a dictionary).

This would be literally translated as "none self" in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. It is used to express "selflessness" or "unselfish". This is a popular term for the idea of being selfless or unselfish in modern China and Japan.
This term is not as commonly-used in Korea, but still has good meaning.

See Also...  Unselfish | Altruism

This a three-character transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the name Shaina. Both versions are close to the correct pronunciation for this name. It is just common for books and other publications to use either of these two versions.

Seems a lot of you want to know how to write "shit" in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja. Well, here it is.

Do not, under any circumstances, try to order this selection for a wall scroll. None of the calligraphers that I work with would dare to lower themselves to such a level, and actually write "shit" for you. This is only here for reference. This is not appropriate for custom calligraphy!

This word is thousands of years old, and was absorbed into both Japanese and Korean (if you note, the pronunciation is very similar in all three languages).

This version is sometimes used as a verb (when used with some other words).

These Kanji characters make up the title for Shotokan.

This should be considered a Japanese-only title. It does make sense and is pronounceable in Chinese and Korean, but only as a title for a building (perhaps a martial arts hall) surrounded by pine trees. Also, the first two characters were simplified in both Japanese and Chinese. The third character was simplified in Chinese, but not Japanese.

Upon request, we can offer the fully traditional Chinese version, but be sure you know what you are asking for.

Note: This would be understood in Chinese and Korean Hanja by a person from those cultures who is familiar with martial arts and various schools of Japanese karate.

These Kanji characters make up the title for Shotokan Karate.

This should be considered a Japanese-only title. It does make sense and is pronounceable in Chinese and Korean, but only as a title for a building (perhaps a martial arts hall) surrounded by pine trees - followed by the characters for "The empty hand method" (kong shou dao / Karate-do). Also, the first two characters were simplified in both Japanese and Chinese. The third character was simplified in Chinese, but not Japanese.

Upon request, we can offer the fully traditional Chinese version, but be sure you know what you are asking for.

Note: This would be understood in Chinese and Korean Hanja by a person from those cultures who is familiar with martial arts and various schools of Japanese karate.

When you take this word apart, you find the sum is a little different than the parts. The first character means blood and the second means heart. It is important to note that for thousands of years, it was believed that your heart was both your soul and your mind in Asian culture. When you add blood to the heart, it is your whole being - it is pure and clean dedication with your whole soul.

Most Chinese dictionaries define this as sincerity of heart or a MEDICAL TERM!!!
Please think carefully before ordering this selection - it was only added as others have used this for coffee cups and other novelties (though perhaps naively).

This word can also be translated as calmness, quietness, quietude and is used in Chinese and Korean.

The version shown here, would be considered the ancient Japanese form. The second character has been simplified in Japan (the same simplified form is used in mainland China, except for calligraphy). Please include a special instruction with your order if you want the simplified form of that second character. Both forms can be universally read.

See Also...  Smooth Sailing

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This literally translates as: Troops/soldiers/warriors have no fixed [battlefield] strategy [just as] water has no constant shape [but adapts itself to whatever container it is in].

Figuratively, this means: One should seek to find whatever strategy or method is best suited to resolving each individual problem.

This phrase is about as close as you can get to the military idea of "adapt improvise overcome". This is best way to express that idea in both an ancient way, and a very natural way in Chinese.

This is the character that means rock or stone in both Chinese and Japanese.

Alone, this will be read as "stone" in Japanese, but in some context, it is a unit of measure for the volume of about five bushels.

This phrase can mean either "strong hearted", "strong willed" or "determination". The first two characters can be translated simply as "will" but also have the element of "heart" in the lower portion of both characters (they also partially carry this meaning). The last two characters mean "strong" or "staunch".

Chinese word order and grammar is a bit different than English, so in this case, they are in reverse order of English, but have the correct meaning in a natural form.

See Also...  Strong Willed | Discipline | Will-Power

This word is used in both Japanese and Chinese to refer to the ability to comprehend supernatural power. Some may translate this as psychic ability, psychic power, ESP, or PSI.

Got a sushi restaurant and need an appropriate wall scroll? Or maybe you love sushi enough to have it on your wall. This sushi calligraphy scroll is for you.

Note that the written characters for sushi are exactly the same in both Chinese and Japanese. However, the first character is actually a modern Japanese / Simplified Chinese so in some cases it will be written differently in Taiwan, Hong Kong and some older Japanese sushi restaurants.

This is the title often used in both Chinese and Japanese to describe the beliefs or religion of Taoism / Daoism. The first character is simply "dao" and the second character can be translated as "teachings", "faith" or "doctrine".

This is a second common transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the name Thomas.

There are two common ways to transliterate this name into Chinese. Both sound reasonably close to the English pronunciation of Thomas, so just pick the one that looks best to you. If you like horses, pick this one, as the second character means horse.

This martial arts technique has an oral history (versus a written one) so very little can be said for sure about its origins.
Wing Chun (or Wing Cheun) is a Chinese martial art that emphasizes short combat strokes.

The characters literally mean "Singing Spring" (as in springtime).

If you are wondering, the spelling and pronunciation of this martial arts style in English comes from the Cantonese pronunciation of these characters. The second character sounds similar in both Mandarin and Cantonese, but the first is quite different.

In Chinese, this means "ability and wisdom" or "ability and intelligence".
It can also be defined as brilliance, or genius.

In Japanese, it takes on a meaning more of "wit and intelligence".

Note that the ancient/traditional form is shown above. After WWII, in both Japan and China, the first character was simplified. If you want this reformed/simplified version, just click on the characters to the right, instead of the button above. This is a good choice if your audience is Japanese.

This is the character used to represent the elusive animal known as the wolf in both Chinese and Japanese.

If you are a fan of the wolf, or the wolf means something special to you, this could make a great addition to your wall.

Do keep in mind, that much like our preception of wolves in the history of western culture, eastern cultures do not have a very positive view of wolves (save the scientific community and animal lovers). The wolf is clearly an animal that is misunderstood or feared the world over.

This character is seldom used alone in Korean Hanja, and is used in a compound word that means utter failure (as in a wolf getting into your chicken pen - or an otherwise ferocious failure). Not a good choice if your audience is Korean.

This can also mean: "Place Strict Standards on Oneself in Public Service".
This Chinese phrase is often used to express how one should act as a government official. Most of us wish our public officials would hold themselves to higher standards. I wish I could send this scroll, along with the meaning to every member of Congress, and the President (or if I was from the UK, all the members of Parliament, and the PM)

The story behind this ancient Chinese idiom:
A man named Cai Zun was born in China a little over 2000 years ago. In 24 AD, he joined an uprising led by Liu Xiu who later became the emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Later, the new emperor put Cai Zun in charge of the military court. Cai Zun exercised his power in strict accordance with military law, regardless of the offender's rank or background. He even ordered the execution of one of the emperor's close servants after the servant committed a serious crime.

Cai Zun led a simple life, but put great demands on himself to do all things in an honorable way. The emperor rewarded him for his honest character and honorable nature by promoting him to the rank of General and granting him the title of Marquis.

Whenever Cai Zun would receive an award, he would give credit to his men and share the reward with them.
Cai Zun was always praised by historians who found many examples of his selfless acts that served the public interest.
Sometime, long ago in history, people began to refer to Cai Zun as "ke ji feng gong".

See Also...  Unselfish | Selflessness | Altruism

This is the tattoo worn on the back of Yue Fei, a famous Chinese warrior who lived until 1142 A.D.

The tattoo can be translated as "Serve the country with the utmost loyalty". More literally, it means, "[The] Ultimate Loyalty [is too] Duty [of] Country".

Legend has it that this tattoo once saved his life when he was accused of treason.

The first two characters have come to create a word that means "serve the country faithfully" or "die for the country". Note: It's more a willingness to die for one's country than the actual act of dying.

The last two characters have come to mean, "Dedicate oneself to the service of one's country".

Both of these words are probably only in the Chinese lexicon because of this famous tattoo.

If you break it down, character-by-character, here is what you get:
1. To the utmost, to the limit of something, the ultimate.
2. Loyalty or duty (a sense of duty to one's master, lord, country, job).
3. Report, recompense, give back to (in this case, you are giving yourself to your country as payback).
4. Country, state, nation, kingdom.

More about the famous warrior and army general, Yue Fei