Days in Chinese / Japanese...

人生で一番大事な日は二日ある。生まれた日と、なぜ生まれたかを分かった日 is Mark Twain's quote, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why” in Japanese.

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

Nothing could be more true. When I was in the Marine Corps, we trained for years for combat that often lasts only hours.

養兵千日用兵一時 is a Chinese proverb that, also reminds me of a common phrase used in the military to describe combat: “Weeks of total boredom, punctuated with five minutes of sheer terror.”

This may have some roots in Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Though I can not find this passage in his writings.

On the subject of the Art of War, if you have a favorite passage, we can create a custom calligraphy scroll with that phrase.

挌闘 is a Japanese word that means hand-to-hand fighting, grappling, or scuffling.

In the old days, this might refer to a street fight but now it can apply to martial arts and MMA techniques or bouts.

Sometimes written as 挌闘 instead of 格闘 (first Kanji varies slightly)

滿洲 is the Chinese name for Manchuria, the homeland of the Manchu people.

滿洲 is a rarely-used term in modern China. They generally call the region “northeast China” these days.

斑馬 is how to write zebra in Chinese. It will also be understood in Japanese, though they tend to write zebra as シマウマ in Katakana in Japan these days.

The actual meaning of the characters is something like “speckled horse.”

新月 literally means new moon.

This can also refer to a crescent moon or the first lunar phase that occurs every 29.53 days.

In Japanese, this can be the female given names Wakatsuki, Nidzuki, or Nitsuki. It can also be the surnames Shintsuki, Shingetsu, or Aratsuki.

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.

責任 is the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean word for “responsibility.”

責任 can also refer to someone who is willing to take the blame when things go wrong (instead of making excuses or passing the blame to someone else). While this is a noble idea, I think it is getting rare these days in both eastern and western cultures.

Also associated with the idea of "duty."

華盛頓 is the name Washington in Chinese.

This can refer to George Washington, Washington State, Washington, D.C., or your surname.

This is old enough that it also means Washington in Japanese (likely a borrowed word from Chinese). Most modern words are written in Katakana in Japanese these days.

在家千日好出门一时难 is a Chinese proverb that literally means “At home, one can spend a thousand days in comfort but spending a day away from home can be challenging.”

Figuratively, this means “There's no place like home,” or roughly a Chinese version of “Home sweet home.”

巾幗英雄 is an excellent and somewhat ancient way to say woman hero in Chinese. 巾幗英雄 is used in modern times to refer to an outstanding woman or a woman with significant accomplishments.

In the old days, it was a title for a woman warrior (oh, did I mention that there were great female generals who led massive armies into battle in ancient China?)

靜 is the simplest way to convey the meaning of inner peace and serenity.

靜 is often translated as “serenity.” It can also be used to express the ideas of still, calm, serene, quiet, silent, stillness, not moving, or tranquility.

In the old days, Chinese, Japanese, or Korean people might hang a wall scroll with this character in their reading room to bring about a sense of peace in the room.

While they once used the same character form in Japan, they now use a slightly-simplified version in modern Japan (after WWII). This version is shown to the right, and can be selected for your wall scroll by clicking on that Kanji instead of the button above.

See Also:  Peace

烈 is a Chinese word that means ardent; intense; fierce; stern; upright; to give one's life for a noble cause.

In another context, this character can refer to one's exploits or achievements.

In the Buddhist context, this is burning, fierce, virtuous, and/or heroic.

While technically, it had the same meaning in Japanese, it's usually a female given name, Retsu in Japanese these days.

While known in the west as fu dogs or foo dogs, these are actually guardian lions.

These are the lion statues traditionally placed at the entrance of Chinese imperial palaces, imperial tombs, temples, and high-ranking officials' homes. These days, you are more likely to see them at the entrance to a fancy Chinese restaurant.

石獅子 means “stone lion(s).”

These are the “Five Reflections” of Vice Admiral Hajime Matsushita of the Japanese Imperial Navy.

These days, the Five Reflections are recited or contemplated daily by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force recruits in training. This long proverb is popularly translated into English this way:

Hast thou not gone against sincerity?
Hast thou not felt ashamed of thy words and deeds?
Hast thou not lacked vigor?
Hast thou not exerted all possible efforts?
Hast thou not become slothful?

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

鄭 is the Chinese surname Zheng, Japanese surname Tei, Korean surname Jeong, and Vietnamese surname Trịnh.

This can also refer to the state of Zheng during the Warring States period of China.

In Korea, this can be the original way to write the surname Jeong in the old days (now it's 정 in modern Korea). Can also romanize from Korean as Chung or Jung.

In Japanese, this is the surname Tei. But can romanize as the following Japanese names/surnames: Ti; Te; Tsun; Dziyon; Chiyon; Chon; Chou; Chun; Chuu; Chien; Zen; Jiyon; Jon; Jou; Jun.

In Vietnamese, this is the name Trịnh from the time before Vietnam romanized the language.

美 is often used to describe the beauty of a woman.

However, when applied to a man, it can mean handsome. It's also the first character in the word for “beauty salon” which you will see all over China and Japan.

This can be used as the given name for a girl (spell it or say it as “Mei” or “May”).

For a bit of trivia: The title for the “USA” in Chinese is “Mei Guo” which literally means “Beautiful Country.” This name was bestowed at a time before Chairman Mao came to power and decided that China didn't like the USA anymore (even though we fought together against the Japanese in WWII). But these days, Chinese people love Americans (but have a distaste for American politics and policy). But I digress...

美 is also how “Beautiful” is written in Japanese Kanji and Korean Hanja. 美 can also mean: very satisfactory; good; to be pleased with oneself; abbreviation for the USA; fine; handsome; admirable; madhura; sweet; and/or pleasant.

See Also:  Beautiful Woman | Beautiful Girl

破鏡重圓 is about a husband and wife who were separated and reunited.

About 1500 years ago in China, there lived a beautiful princess named Le Chang. She and her husband Xu De Yan loved each other very much. But when the army of the Sui Dynasty was about to attack their kingdom, disposed of all of their worldly possessions and prepared to flee into exile.

They knew that in the chaos, they might lose track of each other, so the one possession they kept was a bronze mirror which is a symbol of unity for a husband and wife. They broke the mirror into two pieces, and each of them kept half of the mirror. They decided that if separated, they would try to meet at the fair during the 15th day of the first lunar month (which is the lantern festival). Unfortunately, the occupation was brutal, and the princess was forced to become the mistress of the new commissioner of the territory, Yang Su.

At the Lantern Festival the next year, the husband came to the fair to search for his wife. He carried with him his half of the mirror. As he walked through the fair, he saw the other half of the mirror for sale at a junk market by a servant of the commissioner. The husband recognized his wife's half of the mirror immediately, and tears rolled down his face as he was told by the servant about the bitter and loveless life that the princess had endured.

As his tears dripped onto the mirror, the husband scratched a poem into his wife's half of the mirror:

You left me with the severed mirror,
The mirror has returned, but absent are you,
As I gaze in the mirror, I seek your face,
I see the moon, but as for you, I see not a trace.

The servant brought the inscribed half of the mirror back to the princess. For many days, the princess could not stop crying when she found that her husband was alive and still loved her.

Commissioner Yang Su, becoming aware of this saga, realized that he could never obtain the princess's love. He sent for the husband and allowed them to reunite.

This proverb, 破鏡重圓, is now used to describe a couple who has been torn apart for some reason (usually divorce) but have come back together (or remarried).
It seems to be more common these days in America for divorced couples to reconcile and get married to each other again. This will be a great gift if you know someone who is about to remarry their ex.

榮 relates to giving someone a tribute or praise.

It's a little odd as a gift, so this may not be the best selection for a wall scroll.

I've made this entry because this character is often misused as “honorable” or “keeping your honor.” It's not quite the same meaning, as this usually refers to a tribute or giving an honor to someone.

榮 is often found in tattoo books incorrectly listed as the western idea of personal honor or being honorable. Check with us before you get a tattoo that does not match the meaning you are really looking for. As a tattoo, this suggests that you either have a lot of pride in yourself or that you have a wish for prosperity for yourself and/or your family.

In modern Japanese Kanji, glory and honor look like the image to the right.

There is a lot of confusion about this character, so here are some alternate translations for this character: prosperous, flourishing, blooming (like a flower), glorious beauty, proud, praise, rich, or it can be the family name “Rong.” The context in which the character is used can change the meaning between these various ideas.

In the old days, this could be an honor paid to someone by the Emperor (basically a designation by the Emperor that a person has high standing).

To sum it up: 榮 has a positive meaning; however, it's a different flavor than the idea of being honorable and having integrity.