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The invisible force that brings people together forever
緣 represents the fate that brings and bonds people together.
緣 is a complicated single character. It can mean a lot of different things depending on how you read it.
In Japanese, it can mean fate, destiny, a mysterious force that binds two people together, a relationship between two people, bond, link, connection, family ties, affinity, opportunity, or chance (to meet someone and start a relationship). It can also mean “someone to rely on,” relative, reminder, memento, or the female given name, Yori.
It's the same in Chinese, where it's defined as cause, reason, karma, fate, or predestined affinity.
In the Buddhist context, it's Pratyaya. This is the concept of indirect conditions, as opposed to direct causes. It's when something happens (meeting someone) by circumstance or a contributing environment. Instead of a direct cause or act, it is a conditioning cause without direct input or action by the involved people.
Occasionally, this character is used in a facetious way to say hem, seam, or edge of clothing. In this case, it's the seam that brings or holds the clothing together.
Note: Japanese will tend to use the variant of this Kanji shown to the right. If you want this version (and are ordering this from the Japanese master calligrapher), click on the Kanji at the right instead of the button above.
Thread of Lover's Destiny / Fate
This literally translates as “the red string” or “the red thread” in Japanese, but the real meaning is much deeper...
In Japanese culture, it's believed that fate, destiny, or karma joins lovers by an unseen string, tied around one little finger of each. 赤い糸 is how soul mates find and are drawn to each other.
The Japanese concept of the red thread of fate, by most estimations, comes from Chinese folklore, where it's known as 姻緣紅線. The only difference is that in China, the celestial red thread is tied around the ankles of the lovers (versus what is usually represented as the pinky finger in Japan).
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your fate bond search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
因縁 see styles |
innen(p); inen いんねん(P); いんえん |
(1) fate; destiny; (2) connection; tie; bond; origin; (3) pretext; justification; (4) {Buddh} hetu and prataya (direct causes and indirect conditions, which underlie the actions of all things) |
江に see styles |
eni えに |
(ateji / phonetic) (1) fate; destiny (esp. as a mysterious force that binds two people together); (2) relationship (e.g. between two people); bond; link; connection; (3) family ties; affinity |
Variations: |
en(縁); enishi(縁); eni; e(縁) えん(縁); えにし(縁); えに; え(縁) |
(1) fate; destiny (esp. as a mysterious force that binds two people together); (2) relationship (e.g. between two people); bond; link; connection; (3) family ties; affinity; (4) (えん only) opportunity; chance (to meet someone and start a relationship); (5) (えん only) {Buddh} (See 因・2) pratyaya (indirect conditions, as opposed to direct causes); (6) (えん only) (also written as 椽) narrow open-air veranda |
一河の流れを汲むも他生の縁 see styles |
ichiganonagareokumumotashounoen / ichiganonagareokumumotashonoen いちがのながれをくむもたしょうのえん |
(expression) (proverb) (See 一樹の陰一河の流れも他生の縁・いちじゅのかげいちがのながれもたしょうのえん) the events of today are destined by the past; even drawing water from the same river reveals a bond from a former life; even chance relationships can be attributed to the working of fate |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
The Mysterious Bond Between People | 緣 / 縁 缘 | en | yuán / yuan2 / yuan | yüan |
Predestined Love Love by Fate | 情緣 情缘 | qíng yuán qing2 yuan2 qing yuan qingyuan | ch`ing yüan chingyüan ching yüan |
|
The Red String | 赤い糸 | akai ito / akaiito | ||
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. |
Successful Chinese Character and Japanese Kanji calligraphy searches within the last few hours...
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 Fate Bond Kanji, Fate Bond Characters, Fate Bond in Mandarin Chinese, Fate Bond Characters, Fate Bond in Chinese Writing, Fate Bond in Japanese Writing, Fate Bond in Asian Writing, Fate Bond Ideograms, Chinese Fate Bond symbols, Fate Bond Hieroglyphics, Fate Bond Glyphs, Fate Bond in Chinese Letters, Fate Bond Hanzi, Fate Bond in Japanese Kanji, Fate Bond Pictograms, Fate Bond in the Chinese Written-Language, or Fate Bond in the Japanese Written-Language.