Kaizen - Continuous Improvement - Personalized Calligraphy Wall Scrolls

Buy a "Kaizen" Japanese Martial Arts Calligraphy Wall Scroll to show your commitment to Total Quality Management...


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Kai Zen / Kaizen

 gǎi shàn
 kai zen
Kai Zen / Kaizen Scroll

改善 means betterment, improvement, to make better, or to improve - specifically incremental and continuous improvement.

改善 became very important in post-war Japan when Edwards Deming came to Japan to teach concepts of incremental and continuous improvement (for which the big 3 auto-makers did not want to hear about at the time - even kicking Deming out of their offices). The Japanese workforce absorbed this concept when their culture was in flux and primed for change.

This kaizen term is closely associated with the western title “Total Quality Management.” Perhaps dear to my heart since I spent years studying this at university before I moved to China where TQM did not seem to exist. Slowly, this concept has entered China as well (I've actually given lectures on the subject in Beijing).

If you are trying to improve processes at your business or need to remind yourself of your continuous TQM goals, this would be a great wall scroll to hang behind your desk or in your workplace.


See Also:  Kansei

Kansei Engineering / Sense Engineering

 gǎn xìng gōng xué
 kansei kougaku
Kansei Engineering / Sense Engineering Scroll

In short, 感性工學 or Kansei engineering involves collecting data on human experiences with a product and then designing or engineering improvements based on those experiences or “senses.”

Some may define Kansei as “engineering around the human experience.”

There is a lot more to know about Kansei, but if you are looking for this word, you probably already know the big picture.

Note: This term is very new in China and is only used by businesses, factories, and engineers that are implementing TQM principles. While the characters have the same base meaning in both languages, this is a Japanese title that flows back into the Chinese language (in history, most things flowed from China to Japan). To a Chinese person unfamiliar with this concept, they may interpret this as “sense vocational studies,” which doesn't make much sense. You may have to explain the intended meaning to some Chinese viewers. But that can make it a great conversation piece.

Kansei is also a newer term in Korean and is only used in certain parts of the industry, with the definition of “Sensory Engineering.” Not yet in widespread use in Korea.

Above is the modern Japanese version of this title. The last character has a Traditional Chinese version, making this 感性工學 instead of 感性工学. If you want the Traditional Chinese version, please include special instructions or email me so that I make sure the calligrapher writes the version you want.




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The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...

Title CharactersRomaji (Romanized Japanese)Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Kai Zen
Kaizen
改善kai zen / kaizengǎi shàn / gai3 shan4 / gai shan / gaishankai shan / kaishan
Kansei Engineering
Sense Engineering
感性工學
感性工学
kansei kougaku
kanseikougaku
kansei kogaku
gǎn xìng gōng xué
gan3 xing4 gong1 xue2
gan xing gong xue
ganxinggongxue
kan hsing kung hsüeh
kanhsingkunghsüeh
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.


Dictionary

Lookup in my Japanese & Chinese Dictionary

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.


A nice Chinese calligraphy wall scroll

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.

A professional Chinese Calligrapher

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.

Trying to learn Chinese calligrapher - a futile effort

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.

A high-ranked Chinese master calligrapher that I met in Zhongwei

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.