Custom Moral Chinese & Japanese Calligraphy Wall Scroll

Characters shown
above are read
vertically, starting
from the right

This literally translates as: [One who is] close to gold [is] like gold [and one who is] close to jade [is] like jade.

Figuratively, this means:
A good environment produces good people.
People are in influenced by the company they keep.

Basically, if you hang out with good people, you are likely to become or stay good yourself. The opposite also being true. This is like the moral version of "You are what you eat".

Note: In Japanese, they have a similar phrase, 類は友を呼ぶ (rui wa tomo o yobu) Birds of a feather flock together. However, this is not a good meaning, so we're not offering it for wall scrolls.

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

This Chinese, Japanese, and old Korean word can also be defined as "moral principles". The first character is the same that is associated with Daoism / Taoism. This word is also used to express morality, virtue, or simply morals.

There is a slight deviation in the Japanese Kanji form. If you want the modern Japanese version, please click on the special Kanji shown to the right instead of the button above. Note that the traditional Chinese form is still readable and understood by Japanese people.

See Also...  Chastity | Prudence

This word means goodness, virtue, good deed, charitable, benevolent, well-disposed, nice, pleasant, kind, or simply, "good".

This is the kind of good that applies to someone's good character, or a good person in general.

Referring to someone with this word means that they have a well-aimed moral compass, are charitable, giving, wise, and honest. Basically this is a blanket statement for every good trait a human can have, or all the things that makes someone good.

In other context, it can mean to improve or perfect something or refer to someone who is good at something.

This is one of those Asian words that is used more in English than it is in the original Chinese.

Gung Ho was originally used to speak of Carlson's Raiders, a group of "Gung Ho U.S. Marines who went on an island-hopping campaign of death during WWII.

A movie called Gung Ho came out in the mid-1940s and was later re-released in the 1950s depicting the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, and brought this word to the mainstream.

It is still sometimes used today within the U.S. Marine Corps brotherhood to refer to a unit or group that works well together, or is otherwise efficient and motivated (has good moral).

In 1986, there was a movie called Gung Ho, about a Japanese company taking over an American automotive factory. They completely ignored the fact that this was a Chinese title.

It should be noted that this title actually means condition, state, manner, or health of something in Japanese.

Language and pronunciation notes:
Like many Asian words absorbed into common use in English, this one is drastically mispronounced. The official Romanization is "gong he", but that doesn't tell you enough. The vowel sound on the first character is like the English word "own", now just add the g-sounds to the beginning and end. The second character is misleading, as you might think it is like the English word "he". In reality, the vowel sound is more like the "u" in "up".

It should also be noted, that the current generation in China no longer uses, or recognizes this as a common word or slogan.

Note: This can be pronounced and is a word in Japanese, though seldom used. Japanese will use a variation of "具合" instead. But still, not common.

This word would often be translated as “heart”. However, because it was believed in Chinese culture thousands of years that your consciousness and thoughts came from the big red organ in the middle of your chest, it also means “mind” or “spirit” and sometimes even “soul”.

In Korean, beyond heart, mind, and spirit, this character can mean moral, nature, mind, affections, intentions, core, and center. In fact, it is used in Chinese to mean "center" as well, but only with another character in front of it. For instance, "medical center" or even "shopping center". Separately and alone, it will not be read with that "center" meaning unless thought of as "the center of your soul".

This is the simple way to express the ideas of having virtue, morals, kindness, benevolence, goodness etc. This character also happens to be the first character of the Chinese word for Germany.

There is a slight deviation in the Japanese Kanji form. If you want the modern Japanese version, please click on the special Kanji shown to the right instead of the button above. Note that the traditional Chinese form is still readable and understood by Japanese people.

See Also...  Ethics | Chastity | Prudence | Benevolence | Morality

Beyond "morality" this can also mean ethics, ethical, morals or virtue.

There is a slight deviation in the Japanese Kanji form. If you want the modern Japanese version, please click on the special Kanji shown to the right instead of the button above. Note that the traditional Chinese form is still readable and understood by Japanese people.

See Also...  Chastity | Prudence

This is one of the Noble Eightfold Paths of Buddhism. Right Action, along with Right Speech and Right Living constitute the path to Virtue.

The five precepts of Right Action are:
1. To refrain from destroying living beings (no murder, or any form of taking a life).
2. To refrain from stealing.
3. To refrain from sexual misconduct (adultery, rape, etc.).
4. To refrain from false speech (lying or trickery).
5. To refrain from intoxicants which lead to heedlessness (no drugs or alcohol).

This concept can be summarized as, "Avoidance of actions that conflict with moral discipline".

Note: In Japanese, when read by a non-Buddhist, this will mean "the right job/vocation".

This term is exclusively used by devout Buddhists. It is not a common term, and is remains an unknown concept to most Japanese and Chinese people.

See Also...  Buddhism | Enlightenment

This is the Japanese word meaning "The Old Way". The first character literally means old or ancient. The second character means "the way" and is the same character as used in Taoism / Daoism (Taoism literally means "the way").

This second character can also be translated as "method", as in a way of doing things.

This word is sometimes Romanized as "kodo" though officially, the Romaji should be "Kodou".

My Japanese-English dictionary further translates this word as old road, ancient methods, ancient moral teachings, the way of learning.

Note that this would be understood differently in Chinese. Most Chinese people would just read this as, "The old road" without the other meanings derived in Japanese.