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Tan Paper and Copper Silk Love Wall Scroll
Red Paper and Ivory Silk Love Wall Scroll
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Love Vertical Portrait
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Love Vertical Portrait

Play in Chinese / Japanese...

Buy a Play calligraphy wall scroll here!

Personalize your custom “Play” project by clicking the button next to your favorite “Play” title below...

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Look up Play in my Japanese Kanji & Chinese Character Dictionary(My dictionary is a different system then the calligraphy search you just tried)

If you want a special phrase, word, title, name, or proverb, feel free to contact me, and I will translate your custom calligraphy idea for you.


  1. Five Red Bats

  2. Eat Drink and Be Merry

  3. Go-Dan / 5th Degree Black Belt

  4. Wine

  5. Perfect Harmony

  6. Polo

  7. Moderation / Temperance

  8. Nana-Dan / 7th Degree Black Belt

  9. Shenzhou Spacecraft


Five Red Bats

 hóng wǔ fú
Five Red Bats Scroll

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.

Eat Drink and Be Merry

 chī hē wán lè jí shí xíng lè
Eat Drink and Be Merry Scroll

喫喝玩樂及時行樂 is just about the closest proverb to match the western idea of “Eat, drink, and be merry.”

This is a Chinese proverb that more literally means “Eat, drink, play, be merry, enjoy everything as long as you can.”

It's basically a suggestion that you try to enjoy everything in life, as long as you live, or as long as you are able.

Go-Dan / 5th Degree Black Belt

 go dan
Go-Dan / 5th Degree Black Belt Scroll

五段 represents the 5th Rank or 5th Degree (5th Degree of black belt) in Japanese martial arts.

This can also be the 5th rank in other fields such as chess play (Japanese “Go”) etc.

 pú tao jiǔ
 bu dou shu / bu dou sake
Wine Scroll

葡萄酒 is the Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja for wine.

Very specifically, this is for grape wine (an important distinction in Asia where most wines were rice-based until western influences came into play).

The first word, 葡萄 literally means grape (or grapevine), and 酒 means alcohol (generic term for alcohol, sake, wine, liquor).

Perfect Harmony

 qín sè hé míng
Perfect Harmony Scroll

琴瑟和鳴 is a Chinese title that means “in perfect harmony” or “in sync.”

This can translate as “two harps in harmony.” While this more literally means “qin [and] se harmonious sound.”

The qin and se are both types of string instruments (Chinese zithers) that are known to play in perfect harmony. Thus, the two together are often used as a metaphor for marital harmony or a happy marriage.

 mǎ qiú
Polo Scroll

馬球 is the Chinese title for the ancient game of polo.

During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), the elite and rich would mount their horses and engage in this rigorous sport. It was the only sport of that period that women were also known to play.

The original polo came from Persia and may have been played in China hundreds of years before the Tang popularized it.

The characters “馬球” literally mean “horse ball.”

Moderation / Temperance

 jié zhì
 sessei
Moderation / Temperance Scroll

節制 means moderation or temperance in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

Moderation is creating a healthy balance in your life between work and play, rest and exercise. You don't overdo or get swept away by the things you like. You use your self-discipline to take charge of your life and your time.

節制 can also be translated as sobriety or self-restraint.

This is often used as part of the Seven Heavenly Virtues to represent sobriety and/or temperance.


See Also:  Prudence | Ethics | Humble | Humility

Nana-Dan / 7th Degree Black Belt

 nana dan
Nana-Dan / 7th Degree Black Belt Scroll

七段 represents the 7th Rank or 7th Degree (7th Degree of black belt) in Japanese martial arts.

This can also be the 7th rank in other fields such as chess play (Japanese “Go”) etc.

Shenzhou Spacecraft

 shén zhōu
Shenzhou Spacecraft Scroll

神舟 is the name of the Chinese spacecraft “Shenzhou.” The name means “divine craft” or “saintly vessel.”

The name is a play on words in Chinese, as there is an alternate name for China that is pronounced “Shenzhou” but means “Divine land” or “Land of the Gods” (just the second character is different).

The first flight of a Shenzhou spacecraft was in 1999, with more missions following. The next is planned for 2008, and will include China's first “spacewalk.” The tenth Shenzhou mission is planned for 2015, when China has promised its people that a Chinese astronaut will walk on the moon (or at least orbit the moon - there are two ways to interpret the announcement made in 2005).

For those of you concerned, this word is pronounced more like “Shen Joe” (with a slightly soft “J”) than the Romanization would suggest.


2016 Update: I wrote the above in 2006. Imagine that, 10 years later, none of the promises came true.




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These search terms might be related to Play:

Guide / Help / Cooperate

If You Cannot Bite, Do Not Show Your Teeth

Life is Fun

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

Title CharactersRomaji (Romanized Japanese)Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Five Red Bats紅五蝠
红五蝠
hóng wǔ fú
hong2 wu3 fu2
hong wu fu
hongwufu
hung wu fu
hungwufu
Eat Drink and Be Merry喫喝玩樂及時行樂
吃喝玩乐及时行乐
chī hē wán lè jí shí xíng lè
chi1 he1 wan2 le4 ji2 shi2 xing2 le4
chi he wan le ji shi xing le
chihewanlejishixingle
ch`ih ho wan le chi shih hsing le
chih ho wan le chi shih hsing le
Go-Dan
5th Degree Black Belt
五段go dan / godan
Wine葡萄酒bu dou shu / bu dou sake
budoushu / budousake
bu do shu / bu do sake
pú tao jiǔ
pu2 tao5 jiu3
pu tao jiu
putaojiu
p`u t`ao chiu
putaochiu
pu tao chiu
Perfect Harmony琴瑟和鳴
琴瑟和鸣
qín sè hé míng
qin2 se4 he2 ming2
qin se he ming
qinseheming
ch`in se ho ming
chinsehoming
chin se ho ming
Polo馬球
马球
mǎ qiú / ma3 qiu2 / ma qiu / maqiuma ch`iu / machiu / ma chiu
Moderation
Temperance
節制
节制
sessei / seseijié zhì / jie2 zhi4 / jie zhi / jiezhichieh chih / chiehchih
Nana-Dan
7th Degree Black Belt
七段nana dan / nanadan
Shenzhou Spacecraft神舟shén zhōu
shen2 zhou1
shen zhou
shenzhou
shen chou
shenchou
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 Play in my Japanese & Chinese Dictionary


Successful Chinese Character and Japanese Kanji calligraphy searches within the last few hours...

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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.


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.


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 Play Kanji, Play Characters, Play in Mandarin Chinese, Play Characters, Play in Chinese Writing, Play in Japanese Writing, Play in Asian Writing, Play Ideograms, Chinese Play symbols, Play Hieroglyphics, Play Glyphs, Play in Chinese Letters, Play Hanzi, Play in Japanese Kanji, Play Pictograms, Play in the Chinese Written-Language, or Play in the Japanese Written-Language.

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