入木三分 is a four-character Chinese proverb that translates in English to a strong form of “profound” or “written with a forceful hand.”

But there is much more to the story...

The deep meaning behind this proverb comes from a man named Wan Xizhi, who lived in the third century.

He was a great writer and calligrapher whose writing style influenced generations of other writers and calligraphers.

He once wrote words on a piece of wood to be taken to an engraver.
When the engraver began to carve the characters into the wood, he found that Wang Xizhi's writing had penetrated the wood about 3/8 of an inch.

Thus people believed that his words were so powerful and profound that they caused the ink from his brush to penetrate the wood deeply.

The proverb literally means “penetrated wood three fen” (A fen is an ancient Chinese measurement of a little over 1/8 of an inch or almost 4mm).

萬歲 is the traditional Chinese, Korean Hanja, and ancient Japanese way of writing banzai.

In modern times, the first character was simplified in Japan and China. So you might want to select the other entry for universal readability.

While it has become a popular, if not an odd, thing to scream as you jump out of an airplane (preferably with a parachute attached), banzai is actually a very old Asian way to say “hooray.” The Japanese word “banzai” comes from the Chinese word “wan sui,” which means “The age of 10,000 years.” It is actually a wish that the Emperor or the Empire live that long.

Imagine long ago when the Emperor made a rare public appearance. 萬歲 is what all people would yell to their leader in respect.

So if you like it as a hooray, or you want to wish someone that they live for 10,000 years, this is the calligraphy for you.

Other translations include Cheers! (not the drinking kind), hurrah!, long live [name]!, and congratulations!

To other things with banzai in their names, I am still waiting for the promised sequel to Buckaroo Banzai.

Notes: Sometimes people confuse banzai with bonsai. A bonsai is a miniature tree. They have nothing to do with each other.

万歲 is the modern Japanese way to write banzai.

We've made two almost identical entries for this word, with just a variation on the first character. In the last century, 萬 was simplified to 万 in Japan and China. The new generation will expect it to be written as 万 but the old generation can still read the more traditional 萬 form. You must make your determination as to what version is best for you. If your audience is mostly Japanese, I suggest 万歲.

While it has become a popular, if not an odd, thing to scream as you jump out of an airplane (preferably with a parachute attached), banzai is actually a very old Asian way to say “hooray.” The Japanese word “banzai” comes from the Chinese word “wan sui” which means “The age of 10,000 years.” It is actually a wish that the Emperor or the Empire live that long.

Imagine long ago when the Emperor made a rare public appearance. This is what all of the people would yell to their leader in respect.

So if you like it as a hooray, or you want to wish someone that they live for 10,000 years, this is the calligraphy for you.

To other things with banzai in their names, I am still waiting for the promised sequel to Buckaroo Banzai.

Other translations: hurrah, long life, congratulations, cheers, live long.

Notes: Sometimes people confuse banzai with bonsai. A bonsai is a miniature tree. They have nothing to do with each other. Further, Bonzai is not a word at all - although it would make a great name for a calcium supplement for older people.

喬萬 is the name Chowan in Chinese (Mandarin).

達萬 is the name Davann in Chinese (Mandarin).

德萬 is the name Devan in Chinese (Mandarin).

德萬 is the name Devon in Chinese (Mandarin).

艾萬 is the name Erwan in Chinese (Mandarin).

艾萬 is the name Erwann in Chinese (Mandarin).

伊萬 is the name Euan in Chinese (Mandarin).

This is a common Mandarin Chinese transliteration for the male name Evan.

伊萬 is the name Ewan in Chinese (Mandarin).

格萬 is the name Gevan in Chinese (Mandarin).

晚安 is how to write “good night” in Chinese.

This literally is a wish for an “evening of peace” or “night of calm.”

晚安 is not a normal title for a calligraphy wall scroll. It might be appropriate for a hotel front desk if anything.

This is the most common Mandarin Chinese transliteration for the male Spanish/Latin name Ivan.

依萬 is another common transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the name Ivan.

伊萬 is the name Ivarn in Chinese (Mandarin).

伊婉 is the name Ivonne in Chinese (Mandarin).

伊萬 is the name Iwan in Chinese (Mandarin).

卡萬 is the name Karwan in Chinese (Mandarin).

夜晚 is a two-character word that means night in Chinese.

帕萬 is the name Pawan in Chinese (Mandarin).

完備 is a word that means perfection in Chinese, old Korean Hanja, and Japanese Kanji.

It can also be defined as faultless, complete, completion, perfect, or to leave nothing to be desired.

There are other words that have a perfection meaning in various contexts. Buddhism has many kinds of perfection (also understood to be transcendence). If you need a different kind of perfection, please contact me.

雷萬 is the name Rewan in Chinese (Mandarin).

薩萬 is the name Savan in Chinese (Mandarin).

施萬 is the name Shiwan in Chinese (Mandarin).

惋惜 is a Chinese word that means “to feel sorry for a person over something that should have happened.”

Note: This is a strange thing to write on a wall scroll for Chinese people.

緩急 is often used as a Korean martial arts term, “speed control.” It's also one of the 8 key concepts of Tang Soo Do.

In other contexts, this can mean priority, pace, tempo, or slow and fast.

斯萬 is the transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the name Swan.

If your name is Swan, I suggest using one of the titles we have that mean “swan” rather than this one that just sounds like “swan.”

斯萬 is the name Swann in Chinese (Mandarin).

頑強 means “Tenacious,” “Hard to Defeat,” or “Dogged.”

Alone, the first character means mischievous, obstinate, or stubborn. But it loses some of the mischievous meaning when the second character is added.

The second character means strength, force, power, or better.

See Also:  Determination | Dedication | Devotion | Never Give Up

萬多 is the name Vando in Chinese (Mandarin).

萬納 is the name Vanna in Chinese (Mandarin).

萬象 is the name Vientiane in Chinese (Mandarin).

萬亞 is the name Wanya in Chinese (Mandarin).

伊萬 is the name Yvaine in Chinese (Mandarin).

This is a common Mandarin Chinese transliteration for the male French name Yvan.

杰萬 is the name Jayvan in Chinese (Mandarin).

玩具 is the name Toy in Chinese (Mandarin).

賈萬 is the name Javan in Chinese (Mandarin).

萊萬 is the name Levan in Chinese (Mandarin).

科萬 is the name Cowan in Chinese (Mandarin).

肖萬 is the name Chauvin in Chinese (Mandarin).

伊萬 is the name Ioan in Chinese (Mandarin).

卡萬 is the name Kavan in Chinese (Mandarin).

安托萬 is the name Antoine in Chinese (Mandarin).

安特萬 is the name Antwan in Chinese (Mandarin).

安特萬 is the name Antwann in Chinese (Mandarin).

多諾萬 is the name Donovan in Chinese (Mandarin).

伊萬尼 is the name Ivani in Chinese (Mandarin).

伊萬卡 is the name Ivanka in Chinese (Mandarin).

伊萬諾 is the name Ivano in Chinese (Mandarin).

拉萬德 is the name Lawand in Chinese (Mandarin).

This is the Chinese name for the country of Lithuania.

See Also:  Europe

馬爾萬 is the name Marwan in Chinese (Mandarin).

帕斯萬 is the name Paswan in Chinese (Mandarin).

拉德萬 is the name Radwan in Chinese (Mandarin).

里德萬 is the name Ridwan in Chinese (Mandarin).

索利萬 is the name Solivan in Chinese (Mandarin).

塔萬蒂 is the name Tahuanty in Chinese (Mandarin).

特萬娜 is the name Twanna in Chinese (Mandarin).

萬尼亞 is the name Vanya in Chinese (Mandarin).

阿爾萬 is the name Alvan in Chinese (Mandarin).

西爾萬 is the name Sirvan in Chinese (Mandarin).

多諾萬 is the name Donavan in Chinese (Mandarin).

卡納萬 is the name Canavan in Chinese (Mandarin).

里德萬 is the name Ridhwan in Chinese (Mandarin).

萬事如意 is a Chinese and old Korean proverb that means to have all one's wishes.

When speaking to someone, it's a way to say best wishes, all the best, may all your hopes be fulfilled, or may everything go well.

On your wall as calligraphy, it's meant to inspire all your wishes, hopes, dreams, and life to go well or come true.

阿萬扎爾 is the name Avanzar in Chinese (Mandarin).

塞萬提斯 is the transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the Latin / Spanish name Cervantes.

吃喝玩樂 is the short version of, “Eat, drink, and be merry.”

This is a Chinese proverb that suggests abandoning oneself to a life of pleasure.

埃斯特萬 is the name Estevan in Chinese (Mandarin).

格萬斯基 is the name Gevanski in Chinese (Mandarin).

伊萬尼斯 is the name Ivanis in Chinese (Mandarin).

鵬程萬里 is an ancient Chinese proverb used in modern times to wish someone a long and successful career.

It's really about the 10,000 Flight of the Peng (Peng, also known as Roc is a mythical fish that can turn into a bird and take flight).

莊子
Zhuangzi or Chuang Tzu

Breaking down each character:
1. Peng or Roc (a kind of bird).
2. Journey (in this case, a flight).
3. 10,000 (Ten Thousand).
4. Li is a unit of distance often referred to as a “Chinese Mile,” though the real distance is about half a kilometer.

Direct Translation: “Peng's Journey [of] 10,000 Li.”
Literal meaning: “The 10,000-Li Flying Range Of The Roc.”
Perceived meaning: “To have a bright future” or “To go far.”

This proverb/idiom comes from the book of Zhuangzi or Chuang Tzu. It tells the tale of a huge fish that could turn into a gigantic bird. This bird was called a “peng” and was many miles long. This legendary size allowed the Peng to fly from the Northern Sea to the Southern Sea in a single bound.

Wishing someone “a Peng's Journey of 10,000 Li” will imply that they can travel far without stopping and will have great success, a long career, and a prosperous future.

奧多諾萬 is the name O’Donovan in Chinese (Mandarin).

萬夫不當 is a Chinese proverb that literally means, “Unbeatable by even 10,000 men.”

This is understood to mean extremely brave and strong.

伊萬尼亞 is the name Ivania in Chinese (Mandarin).

抓住夜晚 is means “Seize The Night” in Chinese.

伊萬諾夫 is the name Ivanov in Chinese (Mandarin).

塞萬提斯 is the name Cervantez in Chinese (Mandarin).

萬事皆因果 means “Everything happens for a reason” in Chinese.

The first two characters mean “all things” or “everything.”

The middle character kind of means “in all cases.”

The last two characters create a complex word that can be defined in many ways, such as “karma,” “cause and effect,” “fate,” and “every cause has its effect, as every effect arises from a cause.”

Keep in mind that Chinese grammar is a bit different than English, so trust me that this makes a natural-sounding proverb in Chinese.

埃萬杰里納 is the name Ewangerina in Chinese (Mandarin).

馬爾萬德拉 is the name Malwandla in Chinese (Mandarin).

This is a common Mandarin Chinese transliteration for the male French name Marc-Antoine.

台灣 is the Chinese name for the Republic of China which is more commonly known as Taiwan.

The island of Taiwan is actually considered a renegade province of mainland China. It became the last holdout of the former government of China after Chairman Mao took power during the revolution that followed WWII.

Note: There are a few ways to write Taiwan: 台湾 / 薹灣 / 台灣.

If you need a certain version, just let me know in the "Special Instructions" tab when you order.

See Also:  Asia

索萬達里斯 is the name Sovanndarith in Chinese (Mandarin).

萊萬多夫斯基 is the name Lewandowski in Chinese (Mandarin).

埃萬杰利斯塔 is the name Evangelista in Chinese (Mandarin).

千差萬別 is used to describe “manifold diversity.”

It literally means “A thousand differences and ten thousand distinctions.”

Other translations include an infinite variety of; multifarious; being extremely varied and wide-ranging.

The third character is written differently in Japanese, so if you order this from the Japanese master calligrapher it will look like 千差万別 instead of 千差萬別.

不會撐船賴河灣 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.”

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.

百万买宅千万买邻 is a Chinese proverb that literally translates as:
[It may cost a] million to buy a house, [but] ten million to find [good] neighbors.

Figuratively, this means:
Good neighbors are hard to find.
Good neighbors are even more important than the quality of one's house.

Long ago in what is now China, there were many kingdoms throughout the land. This time period is known as “The Warring States Period” by historians because these kingdoms often did not get along with each other.

Sometime around 279 B.C. the Kingdom of Chu was a large but not particularly powerful kingdom. Part of the reason it lacked power was the fact that the King was surrounded by “yes men” who told him only what he wanted to hear. Many of the King's court officials were corrupt and incompetent which did not help the situation.

The King was not blameless himself, as he started spending much of his time being entertained by his many concubines.

One of the King's ministers, Zhuang Xin, saw problems on the horizon for the Kingdom, and warned the King, “Your Majesty, you are surrounded by people who tell you what you want to hear. They tell you things to make you happy and cause you to ignore important state affairs. If this is allowed to continue, the Kingdom of Chu will surely perish, and fall into ruins.”

This enraged the King who scolded Zhuang Xin for insulting the country and accused him of trying to create resentment among the people. Zhuang Xin explained, “I dare not curse the Kingdom of Chu but I feel that we face great danger in the future because of the current situation.” The King was simply not impressed with Zhuang Xin's words.
Seeing the King's displeasure with him and the King's fondness for his court of corrupt officials, Zhuang Xin asked permission from the King that he may take leave of the Kingdom of Chu, and travel to the State of Zhao to live. The King agreed, and Zhuang Xin left the Kingdom of Chu, perhaps forever.

Five months later, troops from the neighboring Kingdom of Qin invaded Chu, taking a huge tract of land. The King of Chu went into exile, and it appeared that soon, the Kingdom of Chu would no longer exist.

The King of Chu remembered the words of Zhuang Xin and sent some of his men to find him. Immediately, Zhuang Xin returned to meet the King. The first question asked by the King was “What can I do now?”

Zhuang Xin told the King this story:

A shepherd woke one morning to find a sheep missing. Looking at the pen saw a hole in the fence where a wolf had come through to steal one of his sheep. His friends told him that he had best fix the hole at once. But the Shepherd thought since the sheep is already gone, there is no use fixing the hole.
The next morning, another sheep was missing. And the Shepherd realized that he must mend the fence at once. Zhuang Xin then went on to make suggestions about what could be done to reclaim the land lost to the Kingdom of Qin, and reclaim the former glory and integrity of the Kingdom of Chu.

The Chinese idiom shown above came from this reply from Zhuang Xin to the King of Chu almost 2,300 years ago.
It translates roughly into English as...
“Even if you have lost some sheep, it's never too late to mend the fence.”

This proverb, 亡羊补牢犹未为晚, is often used in modern China when suggesting in a hopeful way that someone change their ways, or fix something in their life. It might be used to suggest fixing a marriage, quitting smoking, or getting back on track after taking an unfortunate path in life among other things one might fix in their life.

I suppose in the same way that we might say, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life” in our western cultures to suggest that you can always start anew.

Note: This does have Korean pronunciation but is not a well-known proverb in Korean (only Koreans familiar with ancient Chinese history would know it). Best if your audience is Chinese.

讀萬卷書行萬里路 is a lifelong suggestion for expanding your horizons by gaining knowledge, experience, and seeing the world.

Of course, this was written long ago when it was hard to travel 10,000 miles (at least 1000 years before the invention of the airplane).
With air travel and the business I'm in, I often achieve that lifetime goal on a monthly basis.
However, I am a little behind in the book count.

Note: An ancient Chinese mile (里 or lǐ) referred to in this proverb is about a third of a British/American mile. However, at that time, this was a great distance to travel.

行万里路胜读万卷书 translates a few ways:
To travel ten thousand miles beats reading ten-thousand books.
Better to travel ten thousand li than to read ten thousand books. (a “li” is an ancient Chinese mile)
Traveling thousands of miles is better than reading thousands of books.

No matter how you slice it, this Chinese proverb is claiming that experience is more profound and meaningful than what you can get from a book. Go do it! Don't just read about it.

我的生命因为有你就完整 means “My life is complete because of you” in Chinese.

於是又彎著腰用指頭在地上畫字 is John 8:8 in Chinese.

This text is from the 1919 Chinese Union Bible.

You may know it from the KJV as:
And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

This poem was written almost 1200 years ago during the Tang dynasty.

It depicts traveling up a place known as Cold Mountain, where some hearty people have built their homes. The traveler is overwhelmed by the beauty of the turning leaves of the maple forest that surrounds him just as night overtakes the day, and darkness prevails. His heart implores him to stop, and take in all of the beauty around him.

First, before you get to the full translation, I must tell you that Chinese poetry is a lot different than what we have in the west. Chinese words simply don't rhyme in the same way that English or other western languages do. Chinese poetry depends on rhythm and a certain beat of repeated numbers of characters.

I have done my best to translate this poem keeping a certain feel of the original poet. But some of the original beauty of the poem in its original Chinese will be lost in translation.

Far away on Cold Mountain, a stone path leads upwards.
Among white clouds, people's homes reside.
Stopping my carriage I must, as to admire the maple forest at nights fall.
In awe of autumn leaves showing more red than even flowers of early spring.

Hopefully, this poem will remind you to stop, and “take it all in” as you travel through life.
The poet's name is “Du Mu” in Chinese that is: .
The title of the poem, “Mountain Travels” is:
You can have the title, poet's name, and even “Tang Dynasty” written as an inscription on your custom wall scroll if you like.

More about the poet:

Dumu lived from 803-852 AD and was a leading Chinese poet during the later part of the Tang dynasty.
He was born in Chang'an, a city in central China and the former capital of the ancient Chinese empire in 221-206 BC. In present-day China, his birthplace is currently known as Xi'an, the home of the Terracotta Soldiers.

He was awarded his Jinshi degree (an exam administered by the emperor's court which leads to becoming an official of the court) at the age of 25 and went on to hold many official positions over the years. However, he never achieved a high rank, apparently because of some disputes between various factions, and his family's criticism of the government. His last post in the court was his appointment to the office of Secretariat Drafter.

During his life, he wrote scores of narrative poems, as well as a commentary on the Art of War and many letters of advice to high officials.

His poems were often very realistic and often depicted everyday life. He wrote poems about everything, from drinking beer in a tavern to weepy poems about lost love.

The thing that strikes you most is the fact even after 1200 years, not much has changed about the beauty of nature, toils, and troubles of love and beer drinking.

This text is the first chapter of the Daodejing / Tao Te Ching.

The text reads:
道可道、非常道。名可名、非常名。 無名天地之始 有名萬物之母。故常無欲以觀其妙、常有欲以觀其徼。此兩者同出而異名。同謂之玄。玄之又玄、衆妙之門。

This classical Chinese passage comes from the Mawangdui (馬王堆帛書) text.