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Buy a Japanese Horse calligraphy wall scroll here!
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See also: Selections of just Japanese Kanji Calligraphy
Year of the Horse / Zodiac Sign
馬 is the character for a horse in Chinese, old Korean, and Japanese.
If you were born in the year of the horse, you . . .
Are outgoing and active.
Don't give up easily.
Are known to have a bad temper.
See also our Chinese Zodiac page.
一角獣 is the Japanese name for the western unicorn (a horse with a spiral horn emerging from the head). This can also refer to a narwhal, depending on context.
一角獣 is an unusual title for a Japanese wall scroll but it's OK if you really love unicorns.
Japanese have their own ancient unicorn-like creature called a “kirin” (or qilin in the original Chinese).
麒麟 is the title of a mythical beast of Asia.
The animal is thought to be related to the giraffe, and in some ways, it is a giraffe. However, it is often depicted with the horns of a dragon or deer and sometimes with the body like a horse, but many variations exist.
In Japanese, it is pronounced “Kirin” as in “Kirin Ichiban” beer.
Notes:
1. This is sometimes spelled as “kylin.”
2. In Japanese, this is the only Kanji word for giraffe. Therefore in Japan, this word needs context to know whether you are talking about the mythical creature or the long-necked giraffe of Africa.
3. Apparently, this was the first word used for regular giraffes in China (some were brought from Africa to China during the Ming Dynasty - probably around the year 1400). Though the mythical creature may have existed before, the name “qilin” was given to the “new giraffe.” This is because, more than 600 years ago, giraffes somewhat matched the mythical creature's description when Chinese people saw them for the first time. Later, to avoid such an ambiguous title, a three-character word was devised to mean a “giraffe of Africa.” The characters for “qilin” shown here are only for the mythological version in modern Chinese.
4. More information about the qilin / kirin from Wikipedia.
5. This creature is sometimes translated as the “Chinese Unicorn,” although it is generally portrayed with two horns. I think this is done more for the fantasy aspect of the unicorn and because most westerners don't know what a qilin or kirin is (this avoids a long explanation by the translator).
6. In Korean, this can mean kirin or simply giraffe (usually, the mythological creature is what they would think of when seeing these characters alone on a wall scroll).
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The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Horse | 馬 马 | uma | mǎ / ma3 / ma | |
Flying Dragon Horse | 飛龍馬 飞龙马 | hi ryuu me / hiryuume / hi ryu me | fēi lóng mǎ fei1 long2 ma3 fei long ma feilongma | fei lung ma feilungma |
Fire Horse | 火馬 火马 | oma hi / omahi | huǒ mǎ / huo3 ma3 / huo ma / huoma | |
Knight | 騎士 骑士 | ki shi / kishi | qí shì / qi2 shi4 / qi shi / qishi | ch`i shih / chishih / chi shih |
Zebra | 斑馬 斑马 | shimauma | bān mǎ / ban1 ma3 / ban ma / banma | pan ma / panma |
Les Chevaux Horses | 馬匹 马匹 | bahitsu | mǎ pǐ / ma3 pi3 / ma pi / mapi | ma p`i / mapi / ma pi |
Red Demon | 赤鬼 | akaoni | chì guǐ / chi4 gui3 / chi gui / chigui | ch`ih kuei / chihkuei / chih kuei |
Unicorn | 一角獣 | ikkakujuu / ikakuju | ||
Kirin Giraffe Mythical Creature | 麒麟 | kirin | qí lǐn / qi2 lin3 / qi lin / qilin | ch`i lin / chilin / chi lin |
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.
Some people may refer to this entry as Japanese Horse Kanji, Japanese Horse Characters, Japanese Horse in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese Horse Characters, Japanese Horse in Chinese Writing, Japanese Horse in Japanese Writing, Japanese Horse in Asian Writing, Japanese Horse Ideograms, Chinese Japanese Horse symbols, Japanese Horse Hieroglyphics, Japanese Horse Glyphs, Japanese Horse in Chinese Letters, Japanese Horse Hanzi, Japanese Horse in Japanese Kanji, Japanese Horse Pictograms, Japanese Horse in the Chinese Written-Language, or Japanese Horse in the Japanese Written-Language.