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3. Kodokan
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.
Jita-Kyoei
自他共栄 can be translated in a few different ways. Here are some possibilities:
Benefit mutually and prosper together.
Mutual welfare and benefit.
A learning concept of mutual benefit and welfare (that applies to all fields of society).
Mutual prosperity.
The first two characters are easy to explain. They are “self” and “others.” Together, these two characters create a word that means “mutual” (literally “me and them”).
The third character can have different meanings depending on context. Here, it means “in common” or “to share.”
The fourth character suggests the idea of “prosperity,” “flourishing,” or becoming “glorious.”
It should be noted that these Kanji are used almost exclusively in the context of Judo martial arts. 自他共榮 is not a common or recognized Japanese proverb outside of Judo.
You may see this romanized as Jita-Kyoei or Jitakyoei.
In modern Japanese Kanji, the last character looks like instead of . If you want the older/traditional version, please let us know when you place your order.
講道館 is a title that refers to a certain kind or school of Judo martial arts.
Here's how the characters break down in meaning for this one:
1. Mutual Assistance or Association. Can also refer to a lecture, speech, or explaining something (as in teaching).
2. Way / Path (the Tao/Dao as in Taoism/Daoism)
3. Schoolroom / Building / Establishment / Mansion / Small Castle / Hall (of learning)
Altogether, you get something like, “The Path of Mutual Learning Hall.”
More about Kodokan from the Institute of Kodokan.
Love each other and show mutual respect
相愛互敬 is a nice way to say “Love and Respect” in Chinese.
This proverb is about the mutual exchange of love and respect within a good relationship.
The first two characters create a word that means “to love each other” or “mutual love.”
The third character means mutual, interlocking, or in some contexts, “to dovetail” (as in how joints are made in fine furniture).
The last character means “to respect,” “to venerate,” “to salute,” “reverence,” or simply “respect.”
Love and respect each other
相敬相愛 is an old Chinese proverb that suggests love and respect go together and are to be exchanged between people (especially couples).
The first two characters mean “exchanging respect” or “mutual respect.”
The last two characters create a word that means “to love each other” or “mutual love.”
You'll notice that the first and third characters are the same. So you can read this literally as something like “Exchange respect, exchange love” or “Mutual respect, mutual love.” In English, we'd probably just say, “Mutual love and respect.” Grammar differs in every language - So while the literal translation might sound a bit awkward in English, this phrase is very natural in Chinese.
同病相憐 is a Chinese proverb that means “fellow sufferers empathize with each other” or to match it with a western idiom, “misery loves company.” This is also somewhat known in Korean Hanja.
This could be two people who were just dumped by a girlfriend/boyfriend or just divorced. They're drawn together either by their misery or because of the need to share their miserable experience with someone else.
同病相憐 is probably the saddest proverb in our collection.
Literally, the characters mean:
同 together with
病 illness, sickness, disease (in this case, just the mental anguish after some kind of event or life issue)
相 mutual, reciprocal, each other
憐 pity, sympathize
In Japanese, this is written with two extra Hiragana on the end like this: 同病相憐れむ
If you want the Japanese version,
don’t
use the button above but click here instead: Misery Loves Company in Japanese
相互尊重 means mutual respect in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
The first two characters are a word that means each other, mutual or reciprocal.
The last two characters are a word that means to respect, honor, value, eminent, or hold in high esteem.
同 means same, similar, together, alike, with, or mutual.
This can also be the Japanese male given name, Hitoshi.
同 is a strange selection for a wall scroll but a lot of people search for “same,” so we added this.
精力善用 means “maximum efficiency” and is often associated with Judo.
It is often matched with “Jita Kyoei” (mutual benefit) to complete the philosophy of Kodokan Judo.
精力 = sei ryoku = energy, vigor, and/or vitality.
善用 = zen yo = to be good at using (something), or to put (something) to good use.
This word means mutual benefit or mutually beneficial in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
This can also be defined as reciprocity or reciprocal.
Note: In Japanese, they will tend to drop one stroke on the second character and write 互恵 instead of 互惠. If this small variation matters to you, please drop me a note when you place your order.
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Enso - Japanese Zen Circle | 〇 | en sou / ensou / en so | ||
Mutual Welfare and Benefit | 自他共榮 自他共荣 / 自他共栄 | ji ta kyou ei jitakyouei ji ta kyo ei | ||
Kodokan | 講道館 讲道馆 | kou dou kan koudoukan ko do kan | ||
Love and Respect | 相愛互敬 相爱互敬 | xiāng ài hù jìng xiang1 ai4 hu4 jing4 xiang ai hu jing xiangaihujing | hsiang ai hu ching hsiangaihuching |
|
Love and Respect | 相敬相愛 相亲相爱 | xiāng jìng xiāng ài xiang1 jing4 xiang1 ai4 xiang jing xiang ai xiangjingxiangai | hsiang ching hsiang ai hsiangchinghsiangai |
|
Misery Loves Company | 同病相憐 同病相怜 | doubyou shou awaremu doubyoushouawaremu dobyo sho awaremu | tóng bìng xiāng lián tong2 bing4 xiang1 lian2 tong bing xiang lian tongbingxianglian | t`ung ping hsiang lien tungpinghsianglien tung ping hsiang lien |
Mutual Respect | 相互尊重 | sougo sonchou sougosonchou sogo soncho | xiāng hù zūn zhòng xiang1 hu4 zun1 zhong4 xiang hu zun zhong xianghuzunzhong | hsiang hu tsun chung hsianghutsunchung |
Same Similar Alike | 同 | dou / do / do / do | tóng / tong2 / tong | t`ung / tung |
Seiryoku Zenyo | 精力善用 | sei ryoku zen yo seiryokuzenyo | ||
Mutual Benefit | 互惠 | gokei | hù huì / hu4 hui4 / hu hui / huhui | |
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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