Hope you are having a great Spring Break. We're taking a short vacation and will be shipping again on April 12th (orders placed now will be shipped then). Custom calligraphy orders will not be delayed.
Buy an Intent calligraphy wall scroll here!
Personalize your custom “Intent” project by clicking the button next to your favorite “Intent” title below...
2. Determination to Achieve / Will-Power
3. Will of Fire
4. Samadhi
5. Courage to do what is right
6. Strong Hearted / Strong Willed
意志力 is a form of willpower or self-control and is about having the determination or tenacity to keep going.
In Japanese, this is the power of will, the strength of will, volition, intention, intent, or determination.
意志 is a Chinese, Korean, and Japanese word that means “determination to achieve.” It can also be translated as: will; willpower; determination; volition; intention; or intent.
In Japanese, this can also be the given name, Ishi.
三昧 is the Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja way to write Samādhi.
Samadhi is the state of intense concentration achieved through meditation.
Some will define Samādhi as putting together, composing the mind, intent contemplation, perfect absorption, or union of the meditator with the object of meditation.
見義勇為 means the courage to do what is right in Chinese.
This could also be translated as “Never hesitate to do what is right.”
This comes from Confucian thought:
Your courage should head in an honorable direction. For example, you should take action when the goal is to attain a just result as, without honorable intent, a person’s gutsy fervor can easily lead them astray.
One who flaunts courage but disregards justice is bound to do wrong; someone who possesses courage and morality is destined to become a hero.
Some text above paraphrased from The World of Chinese - The Character of 勇
See Also: Work Unselfishly for the Common Good | Justice | Bravery
意志堅強 can mean either “strong-hearted,” “strong-willed” or “determination.”
The first two characters can be translated as “will,” “willpower,” “determination,” “volition,” “intention,” or “intent.” But, it should be noted that this first part possesses the element of “heart” in the lower portion of both characters (they also partially carry the meaning “with the whole heart”).
The last two characters mean “strong” or “staunch.”
Chinese word order and grammar are a bit different than English, so in this case, they are in reverse order of English but have the correct meaning in a natural form.
See Also: Strong Willed | Discipline | Will-Power
一心流 is the title for Isshin-Ryu.
The literal meaning is “one heart method.” You could also translate it as “Unified Hearts Method,” “One-Mind School” or “One-Heart Style.”
It implies people doing things as if with one heart and mind.
As a style or lineage name, this phrase suggests a school founded on simplicity, unity of intent, and clarity of principle rather than excessive technical complexity.
The second Kanji can be defined as the heart, mind, or essence of your being. Clearly, there's a multitude of ways you can define this title in English.
See Also: Isshin-Kai
Isshin
一心 can be translated as “one mind,” “single-minded focus,” or “wholehearted devotion,” from Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
Colloquially or figuratively, it means: wholeheartedly; heart and soul; of one mind; single-mindedness, wholeheartedness; one's whole heart; with the whole mind or heart; one mind in heart.
I'm not kidding, all of those came right from the dictionary for this one title.
In martial arts usage, this term emphasizes total commitment, where intent, attention, and action are unified without distraction.
In Japanese budō, it often conveys wholehearted dedication to practice or principle, whereas in Chinese usage it tends toward inner mental cultivation.
In Buddhism, this can refer to the bhūtatathatā, or the whole of things; the universe as one mind, or a spiritual unity.
In Japanese, this can be the female given name, Hitomi.
Death Match
In modern Japanese, 真剣勝負 means to take something very seriously.
The literal and historical meaning is “real sword battle.” In old times, a Samurai apprentice would practice with a wooden practice sword. Once trained and qualified, they would wield a real steel sword made for battle and killing. They were ready for a “death match” or Shinken Shobu.
真剣 is an adjective that has come to mean serious/earnest. The literal translation is “real sword.”
勝負 in the simplest terms, means match, contest, game, or bout. Depending on the context, it could also mean victory or defeat, winning and losing, or the outcome of a battle.
There is a suggestion in Shinken Shobu that you train with serious and real intent, as we should train with the same fervor and dedication as if the battle was real. “Train as we fight.”
See Also: The More We Sweat in Training the Less We Bleed in Battle | Cry in the Dojo - Laugh on the Battlefield
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
| Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
| Will-Power Self-Control | 意志力 | ishi ryoku / ishiryoku | yì zhì lì yi4 zhi4 li4 yi zhi li yizhili | i chih li ichihli |
| Determination to Achieve Will-Power | 意志 | ishi | yì zhì / yi4 zhi4 / yi zhi / yizhi | i chih / ichih |
| Will of Fire | 火の意志 | hi no ishi / hinoishi | ||
| Samadhi | 三昧 | san mai / sanmai | sān mèi / san1 mei4 / san mei / sanmei | |
| Courage to do what is right | 見義勇為 见义勇为 | jiàn yì yǒng wéi jian4 yi4 yong3 wei2 jian yi yong wei jianyiyongwei | chien i yung wei chieniyungwei |
|
| Strong Hearted Strong Willed | 意志堅強 意志坚强 | yì zhì jiān qiáng yi4 zhi4 jian1 qiang2 yi zhi jian qiang yizhijianqiang | i chih chien ch`iang ichihchienchiang i chih chien chiang |
|
| Isshin-Ryu Isshin Style | 一心流 | isshin ryuu isshinryuu ishin ryu | yī xīn liú yi1 xin1 liu2 yi xin liu yixinliu | i hsin liu ihsinliu |
| One Heart One Mind Heart and Soul | 一心 | isshin / ishin | yī shì dài yi1 shi4 dai4 yi shi dai yishidai | i shih tai ishihtai |
| Shinken Shobu | 真剣勝負 | shinken shoubu shinkenshoubu shinken shobu | ||
| 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 Intent Kanji, Intent Characters, Intent in Mandarin Chinese, Intent Characters, Intent in Chinese Writing, Intent in Japanese Writing, Intent in Asian Writing, Intent Ideograms, Chinese Intent symbols, Intent Hieroglyphics, Intent Glyphs, Intent in Chinese Letters, Intent Hanzi, Intent in Japanese Kanji, Intent Pictograms, Intent in the Chinese Written-Language, or Intent in the Japanese Written-Language.