Custom Tenacious / Tenacity Chinese & Japanese Calligraphy Wall Scroll

These two characters together mean "Tenacious", "Hard to Defeat", or "Dogged".

Alone, the first character means mischievous, obstinate or stubborn. But it loses some of the mischievous meaning when the second character is added.

The second character means strength, force, powerful or better.

See Also...  Determination | Dedication | Devotion | Never Give Up

This single-character means diligence or "sense of duty" in Chinese and Korean (also understood in Japanese, but not commonly-seen as a stand-alone Kanji).

As a single character on a wall scroll, this will only be seen with this meaning. However, in certain context, it can mean "frequent".

If you, or someone you know is a hard-worker (or needs a reminder to be diligent), then this is the wall scroll to have in your/their office.

See Also...  Undaunted

This phrase means "Be undaunted in the face of repeated setbacks".

It comes from a long, and occasionally tragic story of a man that lived sometime around 25-220 AD. His name was Qiao Xuan and he never stooped to flattery, but remained an upright person at all times. He fought to expose corruption of higher-level government officials at great risk to himself.

Then when he was at a higher level in the Imperial Court, bandits were regularly capturing hostages and demanding ransoms. But when his own son was captured, he was so focused on his duty to the Emperor and common good that he sent a platoon of soldiers to raid the bandits' hideout, and stop them once and for all even at the risk of his own son's life. While all of the bandits were arrested in the raid, they killed Qiao Xuan's son at first sight of the raiding soldiers.

Near the end of his career a new Emperor came to power, and Qiao Xuan reported to him that one of his ministers was bullying the people and extorting money from them. The new Emperor refused to listen to Qiao Xuan and even promoted the corrupt Minister. Qiao Xuan was so disgusted that in protest he resigned his post as minister (something almost never done) and left for his home village.

His tombstone reads "Bai Zhe Bu Nao" which is now a phrase used in Chinese culture to describe a person of strong will who puts up stubborn resistance against great odds.

My Chinese-English dictionary defines these 4 characters as, "keep on fighting in spite of all setbacks", "be undaunted by repeated setbacks" and "be indomitable".

See Also...  Fortitude | Strength | Undaunted

This character contains the ideas of patience, perseverance and endurance. Alone, this single character can be a bit ambiguous or flexible. It can also mean to endure, to bear, to put up with or to conceal. If you want to simply decide what this character means to you within the general meaning, but keep it a mystery to others, this is a good choice.

If you want to be more direct, you may want to choose one of our other selections that mean perseverance or patience (you will see this character within those larger words/phrases).

There is a secondary meaning in Japanese, since this is the first character of the word ninja.

Note that when writing this as Kanji, Japanese will tend to write it in the form shown to the right. If you select our Japanese master calligrapher, please expect this Kanji form (yes, it's just one stroke that is slightly different in location, crossing another stroke in the Japanese Kanji form).

See Also...  Perseverance | Patience

Depending on context, this word can mean "cordial", "enthusiastic", "passionate" or "passionately".

This version is sometimes used in Japanese, but the character order is more common in Chinese. The meaning in Japanese for this Kanji order is "ardour" or "zeal", but rarely used in modern Japan. I suggest you choose the other "passion" if your audience is Japanese.

See Also...  Persistence | Devotion | Commitment

The first character means "strong", "solid", "firm", "unyielding" or "resolute". The second character means "to beat", "to endure", or "to tolerate". Together they speak of the strength from within yourself.

Note that when writing this as Kanji, Japanese will tend to write the second Kanji in the form shown to the right. If you select our Japanese master calligrapher, please expect this Kanji form (yes, it's just one stroke that is slightly different in location, crossing another stroke in the Japanese Kanji form).

Due to some odd computer coding conventions, these two character forms were combined/merged into the same code point - thus you will not see Kanji images of more Japanese form as you select options for your scroll.

See Also...  Perseverance | Strength

Diligence is working hard and doing your absolute best. You take special care by doing things step by step. Diligence helps you to get things done with excellence and enthusiasm. Diligence leads to success.

These characters can also be translated as industry, industrious, assiduity, assiduous, diligent, or sedulity.

See Also...  Hard Work | Commitment | Passion For A Cause

This is the same as the translation of "Passion for a cause" in Chinese. Enthusiasm is being cheerful, happy, and full of spirit. It is doing something wholeheartedly and eagerly. When you are enthusiastic, you have a positive attitude.

This Chinese word can also be translated as "sincere and warm" or literally "warm sentiment / affection".

See Also...  Motivation | Passion | Commitment | Happiness

Can also mean "opinionated" or "stubborn", in Chinese and Japanese, but in a nice way. Kind of just means "stubborn" in Korean (not a good scroll if your audience is Korean).

See Also...  Fortitude | Perseverance

You focus your energy and efforts on a task and stick with it until it is finished. Determination is using your will power to do something when it isn't easy. You are determined to meet your goals even when it is hard or you are being tested. With determination we make our dreams come true.

The first characters means "to determine" or "determined". The second character means "heart" or "soul", so you can imagine that this form of "determination" partially means to put your heart into something. It can also be translated as resolve, resolution, or decision (as in a decision made and followed).

See Also...  Devotion | Passion | Dedication

Perseverance is being steadfast and persistent. You commit to your goals and overcome obstacles, no matter how long it takes. When you persevere, you don't give up...you keep going. Like a strong ship in a storm, you don't become battered or blown off course. You just ride the waves.



This translation literally means, "something so persistent or steadfast, that it is not uprootable / movable / surpassable".

See Also...   Devotion | Persistence | Indomitable

This is the kind of dedication you might have to your job, or a person.

Trivia: It is the same word used as an adjective in front of the word for "network" to say "dedicated network" in Chinese.

Please note: While this is a word in Korean, the meaning is private or "exclusive use". So this is best if your audience is Chinese.

See Also...  Devotion | Passion | Commitment

Used to refer to someone who puts forth maximum effort and achieves much. We might call this kind of person a "go-getter" in English.

See Also...  Dedication | Devotion

This is the Japanese word for dedication. It means "give undivided attention" or "devote oneself to (something)".

Note: This can be pronounced in Korean, but it's not a commonly-used term.

See Also...  Devotion | Passion | Commitment

A reversal of the characters between Chinese and Japanese/Korean languages yields this "passion" meaning. While many characters and even multi-character words have the same meaning in both languages, often some conventions are different or may have changed over time.

Note: This character order is not natural in Chinese. However, a typical Chinese person can guess that this is a Japanese or Korean word and also understand the intended the meaning. This selection is best if your audience is Japanese or old-school Korean.

See Also...  Persistence | Devotion | Commitment

This is the simplest way to express perseverance in Chinese and Korean Hanja.
This single-character version leaves a bit of mystery about what kind of perseverance you might want to convey.

In Korean, this is usually associated with "strength of character".

In Japanese, this character can be pronounced about a dozen different ways (so we have left out the Japanese pronunciation guide that normally appears above). In Japanese this Kanji would usually be translated "strong" (perhaps strong-willed).

See Also...  Fortitude | Strength | Undaunted

This is a long word by Chinese standards. At least it is often translated as a single word into English. This simply means "Indomitable" or "Unyielding".

If you want to break it down, you can see that the first and third characters are the same. Both meaning "not" (they work as a suffix to make a negative or opposite meaning to whatever character follows). The second character means "bendable". The last means "scratched" or "bothered".
So this really means "Won't be bent, can't be bothered". I have also seen it written as "Will not crouch, will not submit". This comes from the fact that the second character can mean "to crouch" and the last can mean "to submit" (as in "to give in" such as "submitting to the rule of someone else"). This may explain better why these four characters mean "indomitable".

Note: The first two characters can be a stand-alone word in Chinese. In Japanese, this is considered to be two words (with very similar meanings). The same characters are used in Korean, but the 2nd and 4th characters are swapped to create a word pronounced "불요불굴" in Korean.
Just let me know if you want the Korean version, which will also make sense in Japanese, and though not as natural, will also make sense in Chinese as well.

See Also...  Fortitude | Strength | Undaunted

This is the short form of a longer Chinese word, and also a word used in Japanese to express the idea of being indomitable. It literally means "will not bend", "will not crouch", "will not yield", "will not flinch", or "will not submit".

See Also...  Fortitude | Strength | Undaunted