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3. Baseball
The Will to Fight
斗志 literally means fighting spirit in Chinese.
As in the spirit that a warrior, soldier, athlete, or fighter must possess.
Note: There is more than one way to write the first character of this word. It is sometimes written like the version shown to the right (yes, it's completely different but has the same meaning & pronunciation). If you have a preference, please let us know in the special instructions about your order.
Alternate Japanese version
アメフト is a short word that means “American football” in Japanese.
It is supposed to sound like an abbreviated version, “ame futo” which sounds like “ah-may foot-oh” (American Football).
There's not a great standard way to say “football” in Japanese, as the sport is not popular in Japan. Other Japanese terms for football can be confused with soccer or rugby.
Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.
See Also: Soccer
足球 is the word for football or soccer in Chinese.
As with most of the world, football is very popular in China. During the World Cup, the whole country seems to shut down to watch (regardless of whether Team China is playing or not).
Soccer is probably the 3rd most popular participation sport in China (after ping pong and badminton).
As you might expect, the first character means “foot” and the second character means “ball.”
FYI: This game would never be confused with American Football in Chinese. As with the rest of the world, there is a vague awareness of what American Football is (often described as "that game kind of like rugby").
For those familiar with American Football, there is some disgust regarding the fact that winners of the Superbowl call themselves "world champions" of a game that is only played in the USA. This is one of the reasons that jokes abound about how Americans are unaware that there is a world outside of their borders.
蹴球 is the title for football or soccer in Japanese Kanji and old Korean Hanja.
The sport is very popular in both Japan and Korea (Korea and Japan co-hosted the football World Cup in 2002 - a world-class sporting event held every four years that rivals the Olympics).
In Japan, they sometimes say サッカ (sakka) or フットボール (futto bouru) in place of the pronunciation shown above. 蹴球 is supposed to sound like the English word soccer and football/futbol respectively.
The first Kanji means kick and the second means ball. So technically, this means “kick ball” in Japanese and Korean (this is just an educational note - this will always be understood as the game of soccer/football).
FYI: This game would never be confused with American Football in Japan or Korea. Unlike the game of American basketball and baseball (both quite popular in Japan and Korea), there is only a vague awareness of a rugby-like game that is also called football in the USA.
美式橄欖球 is the Chinese title for “American football” (not to be confused with international football known as soccer in the USA).
If you are a player or fan of American football, this will make a great wall scroll for your home.
The first two characters mean “American style.”
The last three characters mean football or rugby (a game involving an oblong or ovoid ball).
The “American” adjective is needed in this title to differentiate between Canadian football, Australian rules football, and rugby.
See Also: Soccer
アメリカンフットボール is the full/long title for “American football” in Japanese Katakana.
It is “Amerikan Futtoboru” which is supposed to sound like “American Football.”
Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.
See Also: Soccer
フットボール is one of a few different titles for football in Japan.
This one is supposed to sound like the international word “football / futbol.”
Note: This word is seldom if ever associated with the sport of American football.
Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
| Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
| Fighting Spirit | 斗志 | dòu zhì / dou4 zhi4 / dou zhi / douzhi | tou chih / touchih | |
| Fighting Spirit | 闘誌 闘志 | tou shi / toushi / to shi | ||
| Fighting Spirit | 闘魂 | tou kon / toukon / to kon | ||
| Fighting Spirit | 闘氣 闘気气 | tou ki / touki / to ki | ||
| American Football | アメフト | ame futou / amefutou / ame futo | ||
| Baseball | 棒球 | bàng qiú / bang4 qiu2 / bang qiu / bangqiu | pang ch`iu / pangchiu / pang chiu | |
| Baseball | 野球 | yakyuu / yakyu | ||
| Soccer Football Futbol | 足球 | zú qiú / zu2 qiu2 / zu qiu / zuqiu | tsu ch`iu / tsuchiu / tsu chiu | |
| Soccer Football Futbol | 蹴球 | shuu kyuu / shuukyuu / shu kyu | ||
| American Football | 美式橄欖球 美式橄榄球 | měi shì gǎn lǎn qiú mei3 shi4 gan3 lan3 qiu2 mei shi gan lan qiu meishiganlanqiu | mei shih kan lan ch`iu meishihkanlanchiu mei shih kan lan chiu |
|
| American Football | アメリカンフットボール | a me ri kan fu tto bo ru amerikanfuttoboru | ||
| Football Futbol | フットボール | futto bouru futtobouru futto boru | ||
| 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 Sports Kanji, Sports Characters, Sports in Mandarin Chinese, Sports Characters, Sports in Chinese Writing, Sports in Japanese Writing, Sports in Asian Writing, Sports Ideograms, Chinese Sports symbols, Sports Hieroglyphics, Sports Glyphs, Sports in Chinese Letters, Sports Hanzi, Sports in Japanese Kanji, Sports Pictograms, Sports in the Chinese Written-Language, or Sports in the Japanese Written-Language.
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