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2. China
4. Great Aspirations / Ambition
5. China
6. Flowers / Blooming / Splendid / China
7. Wall
9. Great Peace
10. Great Sea
11. Great Endeavor / To Strive
13. Great Britain
14. Great Ambitions
17. Great Wisdom
18. Great Power
19. Grand Master / Great Teacher
20. Great Wisdom
21. Great Illumination of Wisdom
22. Heroic Spirit / Great Ambition
長城 is the Chinese name for the Great Wall.
Built at the northern border of China to protect from Mongol attack.
Notes:
In Japanese, this can be a surname Nagaki. Japanese often use a longer title for the Great Wall of China.
In Korean, this refers to Changsŏng (a city in Changsŏng-kun county, Chŏllanam-to province).
登长城 means to ascend or to climb the Great Wall of China.
登長城 is the poetic and native way to express this feat.
登 means “to ascend” and is a classical verb used in inscriptions, poems, and calligraphy.
长城 is the title of the Great Wall.
This three-character phrase is concise and implies achievement rather than casual travel.
鴻鵠之誌 is a Chinese proverb that implies that having grand ambitions also means that others will not understand your great expectations and ideas.
Though the actual words come from a longer saying of Confucius, which goes, “The little swallows living under the eaves wouldn't understand the lofty ambitions of a swan (who flies far and wide).”
This Confucius quote has led to this idiomatic expression in China that means “think big.” What you'd be saying is “The lofty ambitions of a swan.”
Note that Chinese people sometimes refer to the little swallow as one who does not “think big” but is, instead, stuck in a rut or just leading a mundane life. Therefore, it's a compliment to be called a swan but not a good thing to be called a swallow.
華 means blooming flowers or splendid China.
華 is really open to interpretation. 華 meant flowers or blooming in ancient China. It still has that meaning in Japanese, and Buddhist contexts.
In modern China, this means glorious, beautiful, splendid, magnificent, or the best part of something. It can also refer to the country of China or something Chinese (such as people - overseas Chinese are often called “hua ren”). 華 is also a surname in China.
In Japanese, this can be the female given name “Ririka.” It's also the short name for a certain kind of playing cards in Japan.
In Korean, This can be the surname “Hwa.” While it also means splendid, flowery, or the country of China in Korean.
面壁九年 is a Buddhist term that means “facing a wall for nine years.”
This refers to the Bodhidharma who stared at a wall in meditation at the Shaolin Temple (or in a cave) for nine years until reaching full enlightenment.
This is a rarely-used word for ocean in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. This is here mostly for reference - please order a different ocean for your custom calligraphy wall scroll.
The first character means “big” or “great.”
The second means “ocean” or “body of water” (it can sometimes mean “foreign” but not in this case).
The first character designates that you are talking about a great or huge body of water (certainly a major ocean and not a smaller sea).
努力 means great effort; to strive; to try hard; great effort; great exertion; great endeavor (endeavour); great effort; to strive.
This “striving endeavor” word is valid in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
This is the Chinese name for Great Britain.
See Also: England | United Kingdom | Scotland | Ireland | Europe
Brave the wind and the waves
乘風破浪 is a Chinese proverb that represents having great ambitions.
The British might say “to plough through.” Another way to understand it is “surmount all difficulties and forge ahead courageously.”
This can also be translated as “braving the wind and waves,” “to brave the wind and the billows,” “to ride the wind and crest the waves,” or “to be ambitious and unafraid.”
Literally, it reads: “ride (like a chariot) [the] wind [and] break/cleave/cut [the] waves,” or “ride [the] wind [and] slash [through the] waves.”
乘風破浪 is a great proverb to encourage yourself or someone else not to be afraid of problems or troubles, and when you have a dream, just go for it.
There is an alternate version, 長風破浪, but 乘風破浪 is far more common.
大名 is the title Daimyō in Japanese, which means “lord” or “great name.”
This has the same meaning in Chinese as “great name,” or “your distinguished name.” In ancient Japan, this referred to a feudal lord.
Also sometimes romanized from Japanese as Daimio, Daimyou, Oomiyou, or Oomyou.
大師 is a way to title a great master, grand master, or great teacher.
This can be used in the context of martial arts or a Buddhist teacher. Thus, it can be used to title a living Buddha, Bodhisattva, or high-ranking monk.
Prajñā
般若 means great wisdom or wondrous knowledge.
In the Buddhist context, this is prajna or prajñā, to know, to understand, to have the wisdom required to attain enlightenment.
Since this is a wisdom that transcends the realm of logic, the pure, absolute wisdom beyond the reach of words and concepts, it is not obtained through learning but is realized for the first time through a religious experience.
大君 is the Japanese word Taikun. It's defined directly as liege, lord, or an alternate title for a shogunate.
The sound of this Japanese word entered the English lexicon by the 1800s but took the spelling of “tycoon.” Even President Lincoln was referred to as a Tycoon in the 1860s.
In Japan, this is still understood as “Great Lord” or “Big Boss.” In America, it means “Bill Gates” and “Warren Buffet.”
大道無門 is a Buddhist proverb that means “The Great Way has no entrance,” “The Great Way is gateless,” or “The Great Path lacks a gate.”
This can be translated in many other ways.
This concept was authored within a long sacred text by 無門慧開 (known as Wúmén Huìkāi in Chinese or Mumon Ekai in Japanese). He was a Chinese Chan Master (in Japanese, a Zen Master) who lived between 1183 and 1260 AD. His most famous work was a 48-koan collection titled “The Gateless Barrier” or “The Gateless Gate” (無門關 Wú Mén Guān in Chinese, or 無門関 Mu Mon Kan in Japanese). This calligraphy title is a notable line from this collection.
I like this reference to the source of this proverb: The Gateless Gate 無門關
大望 is one of a few ways to write “dream big” in Japanese.
This is a good title if you want that to inspire ambition or high aspirations. 大望 is also a way to say “great expectations.”
望 holds the ideas of ambition, hope, desire, aspiring to, expectations, looking towards, to gaze (into the distance), and in some contexts, full moon rising.
望 is one of those single characters that is vague but in that vagueness, it also means many things.
望 is a whole word in Chinese and old Korean but is seldom seen alone in Japanese. Still, it holds the meanings noted above in all three languages.
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
| Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
| The Great Wall of China | 万里の長城 | ban ri no chou jou banrinochoujou ban ri no cho jo | ||
| The Great Wall of China | 長城 长城 | chou jou / choujou / cho jo | cháng chéng chang2 cheng2 chang cheng changcheng | ch`ang ch`eng changcheng chang cheng |
| China | 中國 中国 | chū goku / chūgoku | zhōng guó zhong1 guo2 zhong guo zhongguo | chung kuo chungkuo |
| I Climbed the Great Wall | 登長城 登长城 | dēng cháng chéng deng1 chang2 cheng2 deng chang cheng dengchangcheng | teng ch`ang ch`eng tengchangcheng teng chang cheng |
|
| Great Aspirations Ambition | 鴻鵠之誌 鸿鹄之志 | hóng hú zhī zhì hong2 hu2 zhi1 zhi4 hong hu zhi zhi honghuzhizhi | hung hu chih chih hunghuchihchih |
|
| Great Aspirations Ambition | 大志を抱 | tai shi wo idaku taishiwoidaku | ||
| China | 中國 中国 | chuu goku / chuugoku / chu goku | ||
| Flowers Blooming Splendid China | 華 华 | ririka | huá / hua2 / hua | |
| Wall | 沃爾 沃尔 | wò ěr / wo4 er3 / wo er / woer | wo erh / woerh | |
| Wall | ウォール | wooru / woru | ||
| Facing the Wall Nine Years | 面壁九年 | menpeki kyunen menpekikyunen | miàn bì jiǔ nián mian4 bi4 jiu3 nian2 mian bi jiu nian mianbijiunian | mien pi chiu nien mienpichiunien |
| Great Peace | 大安穏 | daiannon | ||
| Great Sea | 大洋 | tai you / taiyou / tai yo | dà yáng / da4 yang2 / da yang / dayang | ta yang / tayang |
| Great Endeavor To Strive | 努力 | doryoku / doryoku | nǔ lì / nu3 li4 / nu li / nuli | |
| Door of Great Wisdom | 大智慧門 大智慧门 | dai chi e mon daichiemon | dà zhì huì mén da4 zhi4 hui4 men2 da zhi hui men dazhihuimen | ta chih hui men tachihhuimen |
| Great Britain | 英國 英国 | ei koku / eikoku | ||
| Great Britain | 大不列顛 大不列颠 | dà bù liè diān da4 bu4 lie4 dian1 da bu lie dian dabuliedian | ta pu lieh tien tapuliehtien |
|
| Great Ambitions | 乘風破浪 乘风破浪 | chéng fēng pò làng cheng2 feng1 po4 lang4 cheng feng po lang chengfengpolang | ch`eng feng p`o lang chengfengpolang cheng feng po lang |
|
| Daimyo Great Name | 大名 | dai myou / daimyou / dai myo | dà míng / da4 ming2 / da ming / daming | ta ming / taming |
| Great Responsibility | 重擔 重担 | juu tan / juutan / ju tan | zhòng dàn zhong4 dan4 zhong dan zhongdan | chung tan chungtan |
| Great Wisdom | 大智 | daichi | dà zhì / da4 zhi4 / da zhi / dazhi | ta chih / tachih |
| Great Power | 大力 | dai riki / dairiki | dà lì / da4 li4 / da li / dali | ta li / tali |
| Grand Master Great Teacher | 大師 大师 | daishi | dà shī / da4 shi1 / da shi / dashi | ta shih / tashih |
| Great Wisdom | 般若 | hannya | bō rě / bo1 re3 / bo re / bore | po je / poje |
| Great Illumination of Wisdom | 大智明 | dai chi myou daichimyou dai chi myo | dà zhì míng da4 zhi4 ming2 da zhi ming dazhiming | ta chih ming tachihming |
| Heroic Spirit Great Ambition | 雄心 | yuushin / yushin | xióng xīn xiong2 xin1 xiong xin xiongxin | hsiung hsin hsiunghsin |
| Great Lord Tycoon | 大君 | tai kun / taikun | ||
| The Great Path has No Gate | 大道無門 大道无门 | dai dou mu mon daidoumumon dai do mu mon | dà dào wú mén da4 dao4 wu2 men2 da dao wu men dadaowumen | ta tao wu men tataowumen |
| Big Dream Great Hope | 大望 | tai mou / taimou / tai mo | ||
| Great Expectations | 望 | bou / nozomi bo / nozomi | wàng / wang4 / wang | |
| Great Lotus Wisdom - Samadhi Wisdom | 大蓮華智慧三摩地智 大莲华智慧三摩地智 | dai renge chie sanmajichi dairengechiesanmajichi | dà lián huá zhì huì sān mó dì zhì da4 lian2 hua2 zhi4 hui4 san1 mo2 di4 zhi4 da lian hua zhi hui san mo di zhi | ta lien hua chih hui san mo ti chih |
| In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese. | ||||
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All of our calligraphy wall scrolls are handmade.
When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my 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.
Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!
When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.
The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.
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.
Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.
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