Japanese Crane Scrolls in Japanese...

人間性を再生するのは寛容な心親切な言葉奉仕と思いやりの精神 is known as the Triple Truth of Buddhism in Japanese.

The Buddha ordered that all should know this triple truth...
A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things that renew humanity.

That is the English translation most commonly used for this Japanese Buddhist phrase. You might have seen this on a coffee cup or tee shirt.

Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

鶴 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 the souls and spirits of ancestors.

Note: 鶴 can mean crane or stork in Japanese.

起重機 refers to the huge machine that lifts materials high into the air as crews construct huge buildings.

A customer requested this specifically after some confusion over the bird by the same name.

In an odd twist, while they don't know this name in English sounds like a bird; the building crane is jokingly called “The real national bird of China” because of the accelerated level of construction in Beijing and elsewhere ever since preparations began for the 2008 Olympics. As of 2018, construction has barely slowed.

If you want the type of construction crane that drives down the road, please note that the word is totally different for that kind of “vehicle crane.”

龍鶴虎 is Dragon Crane Tiger in Chinese.

〇 is the famous Enso symbol, which you will see widely used by Japanese Zen Buddhists.

In a twist, I am starting to see Enso used more and more by Chinese Buddhists.

Here is the typical appearance of Enso artwork by Japanese calligrapher Kougetsu.

Enso is not a Japanese Kanji character. It falls more into the category of a symbol. There is some debate, but many consider Enso to be a religious symbol.

Some call this “The Circle of Enlightenment.” Others call it the “Infinity Circle.” If you actually took the meanings of the two Kanji (円相) that make up the word “En-so,” 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.

The appearance of your Enso will be determined by the artist's personal style, feeling, mood, etc.

日本空手協会 is the Kanji for Nihon Karate Kyōkai or Japanese Karate Association.

将軍 or Shogun, in the simplest definition, is a General, but you could also use words such as commander, lord, overlord, highest ranking, or commanding officer.

The title “Shogun” has held some slightly ambiguous meanings at times in Japanese history.

In the west, when someone mentions “Shogun,” we may be filled with thoughts of gallant warriors. Some might even think of the TV mini-series with Richard Chamberlain. Often westerners use the words, Samurai and Shogun interchangeably, but that's really not technically correct. In the case of the Samurai, the Shogun was a designated (by the emperor) leader of a gild of Samurai. In this context, the Shogun was a Samurai lord. Or effectively, a commanding officer of a company of Samurai - to put it in modern military terms.

Sometimes a Shogun was a general; other times, he was the leader of a military government in Japan - but not a front-line warrior like a Samurai.

Variants of the same characters are used in China for the rank and title of a General of the People's Liberation Army (and the same term and characters have been used for the last 2200 years since the Qin Dynasty).

鼈 refers to a species of turtle.

鼈 is Trionyx Sinensis.

鼈 refers to different turtles in different languages. See individual language notes below:

Japanese: 鼈 means “snapping turtle” or “mud turtle.” But rarely used as a single Kanji like this in Japanese.

Chinese: 鼈 means soft-shelled turtle. A specific species, Trionyx Sinensis is native to Asia.
In China, this species is related to the “wang ba,” a soft-shelled turtle sometimes known in English as a banjo turtle (due to its long neck, and general shape). Unfortunately, there is a word, “wang ba dan” which means the egg of this species of turtle. That term has come to mean “bastard” in Chinese (a turtle hatches from an abandoned egg, and does not know who his mother or father is). 鼈 is not a good selection for a wall scroll if your audience is Chinese.

In Korean, this character can be pronounced (though most Koreans would have to look it up in a dictionary). It has not been in common use in Korea for at least a few hundred years.

General notes: You may notice that the bottom half of this character is the same as some other turtle-related titles. That bottom half is actually an ancient character that means “toad.” Though not seen in this way today, most turtle-related characters hold the meaning of “a toad with a shell” in their ancient origin. That toad character is rarely used alone anymore but you can see what it looks like in the image to the right.

噛み付き亀 is the verbose Japanese title for a Japanese snapping turtle.

Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

白鳥 is the Japanese Kanji and old Korean Hanja title for white swan (Cygnus Bechstein).

The title literally means white-feathered bird. This title can also be used to refer to a white crane.

This can also be the Japanese surname, Hakuchou.

白鶴 means White Crane.

This title directly means “White Crane” in Chinese, but in English, this particular crane is referred to as the “red-crowned crane” or “Grus Japonensis.” This crane is mostly white with a red bill (crown).

白鶴拳 is the title for the White Crane Fist style of martial arts.

白鶴拳 is also known as “Baihequan” or “Fujian White Crane.”

This is the title for White Crane Karate in Japanese Kanji.

白鶴拳法 means White Crane Kenpo.

This can be romanized as Hakutsuru Kempo or Hakkaku Kenpō in Japanese.

白鶴寺 is the title for White Crane Temple.

You might be looking for 白鹤萻 which is noted as the place where Mrs. Fang Qiniang (founder of the Fujian White Crane style) retired to. But this is really "White Crane Nunnery" rather than temple.