Water Chinese / Japanese Calligraphy Wall Scrolls

This is the symbol for water in Japanese and Chinese.

Water is one of the five elements that ancient Chinese believed all things were composed of. These elements are also part of the cycle of Chinese astrology. Every person has both an animal sign, and one of the five elements according to the date of their birth. See also Five Elements and Chinese 12 Animals / Zodiac.

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This proverb suggests that one should always be grateful to those who helped you succeed.

And remember your ancestors and those that came before you whose sacrifices made your present life better.

Some Chinese will separate the intended meaning from the idiom and translate this as "Don't forget the people who once helped you". In Modern China, this idiom is virtually never used to refer to an actual well.

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

This is a warning against a futile effort. This proverb literally refers to one who is "trying to put out a burning cart of wood with a cup of water". The lesson to be learned is about using the right measure or tool for the job, and not to waste your effort if you are inadequately equipped for the task at hand - in other words the postscript should be "go get a bucket or a fire hose".

This is the Japanese Buddhist and martial arts phrase, "mizu no kokoro", which means, "mind like water" or "heart of water".

The phrase is a metaphor describing the pond that clearly reflects it’s surroundings when calm, but whose images are obscured once a pebble is dropped into its waters.

Many things have opposite properties. The water you drink can also drown you. Pork may nourish you and keep you alive, but under-cook it and it could kill you. Potassium nitrate is often used as a fertilizer to grow the food that sustains us, but it's also been used as an explosive to topple buildings and destroy us.

This concept is easily associated with "yin yang" where an element has two opposite properties that are as different as night and day.

This proverb's meaning can be summed up this way: "Anything that can lead you to success may also contain great risks."

This phrase is known in literary circles by Korean people (scholars or literature). It is therefore also a valid proverb in Korean Hanja, though most Koreans would not be able to make sense of it.

Please note that there is an unwritten rule when the same character appears twice in the same phrase, the calligrapher will alter the appearance so that no two characters are exactly alike in the same piece. This calligraphy has two repeating characters that will be written differently than they appear here.

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This literally translates as: Mend the roof while the weather is fine, [and when you are] not yet thirsty, dig the well beforehand.

In simple terms, this means: Always be prepared in advance.

This is how to write "rain" in Chinese. If rain has some significance to you in your life, this is the character you want.

See Also...  Storm | Wave

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This literally translates as:
One who has been drenched by the rain is not afraid of dew drops.

Figuratively, this means:
One who has gone through hardships is not afraid of (minor)setbacks.

This proverb is often translated as, "Go ahead as planned regardless of the weather" or, "[Overcome] despite the rain and wind".

This Chinese proverb suggests that you are willing (or should be willing) to overcome any adversity, and accomplish your task at hand.

There is a second/optional part to this phrase which suggests that you should do this together with someone (see our other 8-character version if you want the full phrase).

This is the title for electricity in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

While this character means electric or electricity, it can also be used to mean lightning in Japanese and Korean.

See Also...  Thunder | Power | Energy | Rain

This is the title of the five elements which are: wood, fire, water, earth and metal. The first character means "5" and the second character is simply "elements".

According to ancient Chinese science, all matter in the world is made up of these elements. One idea presented with the five elements is that when energy is added, matter is believed to expand. When energy is removed, matter contracts. Oddly, this concept is not far from Einstein's theories, and modern science. Just a few thousand years before Einstein.

More info: Wikipedia - Five Elements (Wu Xing).

See Also...  Wood | Fire | Earth | Metal | Five Elements

This is a list of the Chinese characters for the five elements in a comfortable order (meaning that they simply "feel right" to a Chinese person who views this arrangement).

The order is metal, wood, water, fire, earth.

Note that sometimes the metal element is translated as gold. And earth refers to soil versus the whole planet earth.

This is the specifically-Japanese version of the five elements. This is a little different than the ancient or original Chinese version.

The elements are written in this order:
1. Earth / Terra / Ground
2. Water
3. Fire
4. Wind / Air
5. Sky / Emptiness / Void / Ether

Note: This set of Kanji can also be romanized as "ji sui ka fuu kuu", "jisuikafuukuu", or "jisuikafuku".

This is the Chinese character used to express "ice" or "frost".

The main part of the character on the right holds the meaning of "water" and on the left, is a radical (the two dots) that also means water. Together, they create the character that means "ice" (solid water).

This is similar to the character for frost in Japanese. However, Japanese drop the radical from the left side.

This is the Japanese Kanji for "ice" or "frost".

This is also the way to write "ice" in old Korean Hanja.

Note: This form is not commonly used anymore in Chinese - though still understood for the most part.

FYI: There was a time when Japan did not have a written language and simply absorbed Chinese characters into their language by meaning. When this occurred around the 5th century, the character shown here was a common but alternate way to write "ice" in Chinese, so it was the one that ended up being absorbed into the Japanese language. Not long after that, a similar thing happened in Korea - although Korea has replaced virtually all of the Chinese characters they once used with the new Hangul writing system.

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This literally translates as: [One who] cannot steer the boat blames the bends in the river.

Figuratively, this means: One who is incompetent always tries to shift the blame elsewhere.
This is similar to the English idiom, "a poor workman/craftsman blames his tools".

This is the title for lightning in Chinese.

The first character means, flash, or to dodge / get out of the way. In this case, it's the "flash" meaning. Sometimes this character can be used to mean lightning by itself.

The second character means electricity.

See Also...  Thunder | Rain | Storm

This Japanese word can be translated as "lightning attack", "charge", or "rush". Basically it's about a fast run or attack at the speed of lightning.

This is the Chinese and old Korean Hanja word for ocean. This can be pronounced in Japanese, and has the same meaning, but is rarely seen alone in Japanese.

Besides ocean or sea, this character can also mean foreign, wide, or vast.

It's more common for Chinese people to use a different word "hai" for ocean or sea.

This is the Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja word for ocean. This also means ocean in Chinese, but it's not a commonly-used term.

The first character means "big" or "great".
The second means "ocean" or "body of water" (it can sometimes mean "foreign" but not in this case).
The first character designates that you are talking about a great or huge body of water (certainly a major ocean and not a smaller sea).

This is the character often used for sea or ocean in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja. In some context, this can refer to the beach, or an area near the sea, such as "Shanghai" (same hai is the second character of Shanghai).

If you are looking for a universal word for ocean or sea - or can't decide which character for ocean or sea that you want, pick this one!

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This is an old proverb that is sometimes compared to the English saying "Shit Happens".

It's a reflection that there are risks in life, and you should not be surprised when things don't go your way.

A secondary translation might be, "When walking by a river, often one cannot avoid wet shoes".

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This literally translates as: Troops/soldiers/warriors have no fixed [battlefield] strategy [just as] water has no constant shape [but adapts itself to whatever container it is in].

Figuratively, this means: One should seek to find whatever strategy or method is best suited to resolving each individual problem.

This phrase is about as close as you can get to the military idea of "adapt improvise overcome". This is best way to express that idea in both an ancient way, and a very natural way in Chinese.

This is the Chinese word for storm.

If the meaning of storm is somehow important or significant to you, these are the characters you want.

The first character means wind, and the second means violent or sudden.

Note: This would be understood in Korean Hanja, however, Koreans would generally use these characters in reverse order.

See Also...  Rain | Wave

This is the Japanese Kanji and old Korean Hanja word for storm (can also mean gale, tempest, typhoon, hurricane, gale, violent wind, or windstorm - especially in Korean and Chinese).

If the meaning of storm is somehow important or significant to you, these are the Kanji you want.

The first Kanji means violent or sudden. The second Kanji means wind.

This also means storm in Chinese, but more in regards to a wind storm than a general storm. It's about the same for this word in Korean.

See Also...  Rain | Wave | Wind

If you like to ride a surf board, and "the way of the wave" is your life, this could the scroll for you.

The additional meanings contained in these characters include ripple, storm, surge, breaker, wandering and unrestrained.

This is the most simple way to express wave in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and Korean Hanja. This single character means wave. In Japanese, this is pronounced "nami" which is the same "nami" as used in the word "tsunami" (harbor wave).

This is a great title for a surfer whose lifestyle is entwined with the surf and waves.
This can be translated a few different ways:
The Way of the Wave
The Dao of the Wave
The Tao of the Waves
Note: Dao and Tao are the same character, just sometimes romanized differently.

This is the Chinese and Japanese way to write Aquarius (water bearer) of western astrology.

See Also...  Chinese Zodiac