Custom Lucky Chinese & Japanese Calligraphy Wall Scroll

xìng

saki / sachi / rei / rē

행

幸 can mean happiness, good fortune, good luck, and in the old days, good harvest or bounty.

Note: From Japanese, this character is sometimes romanized as "sachi," and is often pronounced "kou" or sometimes "rei" when used in compound words with other Kanji.

jí

kichi

길

A simple way to express the state of being lucky.

Also used in conversation to hope that all is well with someone. 吉 is more often seen as part of a compound word with a lucky association (especially in Korean).

Not as often used in Japanese but still means "good luck" but can also mean "joy" in Japanese.

See Also:  Good Luck

kou un na guu zen

幸運な偶然 is one of many ways to express serendipity in Japanese.

The first two Kanji mean fortunate, lucky, fortune, or good luck.

In the middle is a Japanese Hiragana character that serves to connect these words/ideas together.

The last two Kanji mean incidentally, by chance, randomly, unexpectedly, suddenly, accident, fortuity, or by coincidence.

ruì

zui

서

瑞 is a Chinese, Japanese, and old Korean word that means: lucky; auspicious; propitious; freshness; purity; luster; good omen.

In Japanese, this can be the following female given names: Yutaka; Midzuho; Mizuho; Mizuki; Mizue; Mizu; Mio; Tamami. It can also be a Japanese surname, Zui or Shirushi.

In Buddhist context, this can represent an auspicious jade token or good omen.

lóng fèng chéng xiáng

龍鳳呈祥 is often seen at weddings and other celebrations in China.

It suggests that the dragon and phoenix will bring you auspicious tidings.

The first character is dragon.
The second is phoenix.
The third is presents or brings.
And the last means auspicious, propitious, or luck.

Throughout China, the dragon and phoenix are symbols of good fortune. You will see these auspicious figures as decorative symbols on everything from buildings, furniture, wedding costumes, sculptures in public parks, to caskets and items used in ceremonies.

fú

fuku

복

福 is pronounced "fu" in Chinese.

The character "fu" is posted by virtually all Chinese people on the doors of their homes during the Spring Festival (closely associated with the Chinese New Years).

One tradition from the Zhou Dynasty (beginning in 256 B.C.) holds that putting a fu symbol on your front door will keep the goddess of poverty away.

福 literally means good fortune, prosperity, blessed, happiness, and fulfillment.

xìng yùn

kou un

행운

This can be translated as "good luck," "fortunate," "lucky" and/or "good fortune" in Chinese, Korean and Japanese.

Occasionally, this is also translated as a type of happiness or a short way to write serendipity.

jī yù

기우

機遇 is the kind of opportunity that comes via good luck or good fortune.

機遇 is sometimes translated as "stroke of good luck."

While there are other ways to express "opportunity," I think this version is best for a calligraphy wall scroll or portrait.

Note: In Korean Hanja, this would also mean "Meeting someone under strange circumstances."

See Also:  Good Luck

qiān lǜ yī dé

senryonoittoku

千慮一得 means, "1000 tries, one success," or "[a] thousand tries [leads to] one success."

This proverb is a humble way to speak of your success, ideas, or accomplishments. As if you are a fool who just got lucky in inventing or creating something.

Translations for this proverb include:
Even without any notable ability on my part, I may still get it right sometimes by good luck.
Even a fool may sometimes come up with a good idea.

hóng wǔ fú

紅五蝠 is a play on words in Chinese because of some homophones.

The first thing you need to know is that the word for bat, 蝠, sounds exactly like the word for good fortune, 福. Thus, bats are often associated with good luck and good fortune in Chinese culture.

Five bats (五福 / 五蝠) means "five fortunes" referring to luck, prosperity, wealth, happiness, and longevity.

The word red, 红, has the same sound as 宏 meaning vast, great, or magnificent. Therefore, a red bat means "vast fortune."

Altogether, five red bats represent vast reaches of the five fortunes.

fú

복

蝠 is the simplest way to write bat in Chinese and old Korean Hanja.

This also means bat in Japanese but is almost never written alone like this (it's often part of other titles for vampire bats or fruit bats).

In Chinese culture, the bat is a good luck charm, as the pronunciation is very similar to the word for "good luck" or "good fortune." The character for bat even looks like the good luck character.

fú yīn

fukuin

복음

福音 is the Chinese, Korean and Japanese word for "Gospel" or "Word of God." 福音 is a specifically Christian word in Asia (not used for any other religion).

The first character means "blessing," "good fortune" or "good luck." This first character is a special character used throughout China to bring good tidings and fortune - especially during Chinese New Years. The second character means "sound," "noise" or "news."

Together, these characters create a word that means "The Good News" or "The Sound of Good Fortune."

When read by a Chinese or Japanese person, this word is always perceived as "The Christian Gospel," "Word of God," or even "The Voice of God."

See Also:  Christianity | Jesus Christ | God of Abraham

mìng yùn

These two characters contain the ideas of "fate," "destiny," "fortune" and "luck." You can also say that it means "what life throws at you" or "your lot in life" because the first character contains the idea of "life" or "living."

This version is really only used in Chinese. There's another version with just the characters reversed that is more universal. In fact, just skip this one. The opposite character order is better.

yùn mìng

un mei

운명

These two characters contain the ideas of "fate," "destiny," "fortune" and "luck" in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

運命 is often defined as "a person's fate" in various dictionaries.

These two characters can be reversed (written in either order) and yield roughly the same meaning.

This particular character order happens to be more common in old Korean and less common in modern Chinese.

See Also:  Good Fortune | Good Luck

xǐ

희

Start customizing a "Double Happiness Guest Book Wall Scroll" Here!

The paper panel length can be whatever you choose from 68cm to 135cm (27" to 53").

If you don't mention what paper length you want in the special instructions tab (on the next page), we'll make it about 100cm (40").

The medium size scroll with a 33cm x 100cm (13" x 40") paper panel can usually handle up to 89 signatures. That breaks down to 37 signatures per empty square and 15 signatures around the 囍 character. If you switch to a 135cm paper panel, add another 37 potential signatures.

We can splice two 135cm papers together, but that would be a crazy-long scroll. These are only estimates, your mileage may vary.

With silk panels this will yield a wall scroll about 155cm (61") long. That's enough for up to 89 signatures. Of course, that depends on if your guests just sign a brief salutation and name, or more verbose good wishes. Customer feedback is that 126 people can sign the 135cm long paper on a medium-sized scroll. If we go bigger than that, there will be a minor paper seam and an extra charge. Email me with your specifications if you need something special.

Most customers pick the festive red paper with gold flecks and white or ivory silk. Red is a good luck color in Chinese culture, thus the most popular choice. But, you can do any color combination that you want.

There is a long history of Chinese-character-use outside of mainland China. This Double Happiness character is also seen at weddings in Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, as well as Chinese communities in Thailand, Indonesia, and elsewhere. While Japan borrowed Chinese characters into their language, you won't see 囍 as often at Japanese weddings.

fú zhái

복택

Perhaps the Chinese equivalent of "This blessed house" or perhaps "home sweet home."

This phrase literally means "Good fortune house" or "Good luck household." It makes any Chinese person who sees it feel that good things happen in the home in which this calligraphy is hung.

xǐ

囍 is a common gift for Chinese couples getting married or newly married couples.

As we say in the west, "Two heads are better than one" Well, in the east, two "happinesses" are certainly better than one.

Some will suggest this is a symbol of two happinesses coming together. Others see it as a multiplication of happiness because of the union or marriage.

囍 is not really a character that is pronounced very often - it's almost exclusively used in written form. However, if pressed, most Chinese people will pronounce this "shuang xi" (double happy) although literally there are two "xi" characters combined in this calligraphy (but nobody will say "xi xi").

If you select this character, I strongly suggest the festive bright red paper for your calligraphy. Part of my suggestion comes from the fact that red is a good luck color in China, and this will add to the sentiment that you wish to convey with this scroll to the happy couple.

jīn ruì xiáng lóng zhī jiā

금서상룡지가?

This "home golden auspicious dragon" title was added by special request of a customer.

The first character means gold or golden.
The second and third characters hold the meaning of auspiciousness and good luck.
The fourth character is dragon.
The fifth is a possessive modifier (like making "dragon" into "dragon's").
The last character means home (but in some context can mean "family" - however, here it would generally be understood as "home").

Note: The word order is different than the English title, because of grammar differences between English and Chinese. This phrase sounds very natural in Chinese in this character order. If written in the English word order, it would sound very strange and lose its impact in Chinese.

Note: Korean pronunciation is included above, but this has not been reviewed by a Korean translator.

jí gēn

We like this way to transliterate the name Keegan into Mandarin Chinese because it has a nice meaning.

It kind of means, "The root of luck."

hóng

hung

beni

홍

紅 is a single character that means red in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

The perceived meaning of this character can be ambiguous. Most will see it as the color red but it can also mean Communist (just like it can in English). In Japanese, it can be a female given name "Rena," or refer to red silk lining. In Chinese, red is a good luck color, and can refer to a bonus or revolutionary.

shiawa se na guu zen

幸せな偶然 is one of many ways to express serendipity in Japanese.

The first two characters mean happiness, good fortune, luck, or blessing.

In the middle is a Japanese Hiragana character that serves to connect these words/ideas together.

The last two Kanji mean incidentally, by chance, randomly, unexpectedly, suddenly, accident, fortuity, or by coincidence.

Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

yī fán fēng shùn

일범풍순

一帆風順 is just what you think it means. It suggests that you are on a trouble-free voyage through life, or literally on a sailing ship or sail boat. It is often used in China as a wish for good luck on a voyage or as you set out on a new quest or career in your life. Some may use this in lieu of "bon voyage."

The literal meaning is roughly, "Once you raise your sail, you will get the wind you need, and it will take you where you want to go." Another way to translate it is "Your sail and the wind follow your will."

一帆風順 is a great gift for a mariner, sailor, adventurer, or someone starting a new career.

Note: Can be understood in Korean Hanja but rarely used.

See Also:  Bon Voyage | Adventure | Travel

fuu un ji

風雲児 is "soldier of fortune" in Japanese.

It can also be read as, "lucky adventurer" or "adventurer who takes advantage of troubled times."

xìng cún zhě

倖存者 is the most common way to express "survivor" in Chinese. It literally means "lucky/fortunate surviving person."

倖存者 is kind of an odd selection for a wall scroll but there is no better way to say survivor in Chinese calligraphy.

lóng

ryuu / tatsu

룡*용

龍 is the character for dragon in Chinese, old Korean Hanja, and Japanese Kanji.

The dragon is the creature of myth and legend that dominates Chinese, Japanese, and even European folklore. In China, the dragon is the symbol of the Emperor, strength and power, and the Chinese dragon is known as the god of water.

From the Chinese Zodiac, if you were born in the year of the Dragon, you . . .

Have a strong body and spirit.
Are full of energy.
Have vast goals.
Have a deep level of self-awareness.
Will do whatever you can to "save face."

See also our Chinese Zodiac or Dragon Calligraphy pages.

zhū

inoshishi

저

豬 is the character for boar, pig, or swine in Chinese and old Korean.

If you were born in the year of the boar / year of the pig, you...

Are optimistic.
Have good luck with wealth and money.
Are honest, generous, and warm-hearted.

The character shown to the right is the Japanese Kanji for "wild boar."
It's an alternate/simplified form of pig/boar in Chinese (can be read by both Chinese and Japanese people). Click on that character instead of the button above if you want this version.

See also our Chinese Zodiac page.

shì lì

shiri

室利 is a Buddhist term or title that comes from the Sanskrit śrī.

The meaning is fortunate, lucky, prosperous, wealth, or beauty. This can be a sort of suffix for certain deities or respected people in Buddhism.