Harmony in Chinese / Japanese...

調和生活 is a Japanese title that suggests that you have, or want to get your life in balance.

The first two Kanji mean harmonious or in harmony.

The second two Kanji mean “life.” More specifically this refers to your livelihood, career, and the daily activities that comprise your life or living.

This 和諧生活 title suggests that you have, or want to get your life in balance.

The first two characters regard the idea of balance, harmony, and peace.

The second two characters mean “life.” More specifically this refers to your livelihood, career, and the daily activities that comprise your life or living. Some would translate those two characters as “one's daily existence.”

Note: We have a couple of titles for this idea. This version is more of a noun, thus "The Balanced Life" verses a verb form like "Balancing [Your] Life."

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.

調和 is one of the several ways to express harmony in Chinese and Japanese.

Note: The first character means harmony but also suggests a musical meaning. It can also describe warriors marching in perfect cadence (in step) or to regulate something.
The second character carries the meaning of harmony and peace by itself.

Together, these characters create a word that can be defined as harmonious, to mediate, to reconcile, to compromise; mediation, temper, to mix, blend, blended, season, seasoning (getting the flavors of the food in balance), to placate, or be in harmonious proportion.

The meaning varies depending on the context. However, when hanging as a wall scroll, this will refer to the person (you) being balanced and in harmony while rational and under control simultaneously.

See Also:  Musician | Dance

和 is the simplest form of peace and harmony.

和 can also be translated as the peaceful ideas of gentle, mild, kind, and calm. With a more harmonious context, it can be translated as union, together with, on good terms with, or on friendly terms.

Most people would just translate this character as peace and/or harmony. 和 is a very popular character in Asian cultures - you can even call it the “peace symbol” of Asia. In fact, this peace and harmony character was seen repeatedly during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing (a major theme of the games).

In old Chinese poems and literature, you might see this used as a kind of "and." As in two things summed together. As much as you could say, "the sun and moon," you could say "the sun in harmony with the moon."

See Also:  Inner Peace | Patience | Simplicity

和諧 is a word that means harmonious, harmony, concordant, or balanced in Chinese.

In Korean Hanja, it sometimes means reconciliation or compromise.

See Also:  Peace

和美 is a word that means “harmonious” or, “in perfect harmony.”

The deeper meaning or more natural translation would be something like, “beautiful life.”

The first character means peace and harmony.

The second character means beautiful. But in this case, when combined with the first character, beautiful refers to being satisfied with what you have in your life. This can be having good relations, good feelings, comfort, and having enough (with no feeling of wanting).

Note: In Japanese, this is often used as the name "Wami." This title is probably more appropriate if your audience is Chinese.

音樂 is how to write music in most Asian languages.

It can also express the idea of a musical movement, depending on context.

The second character has morphed a bit in Japanese Kanji. If you want the specifically modern Japanese version, please click on the Kanji to the right, instead of the button above. The version shown to the left was used in ancient Japan, prior to the Japanese language reformations after WWII (so technically, it’s still Japanese).

音樂家 is how to write “musician” in most Asian languages.

There is more than one way to express “musician” in China, but this is the traditional and most respectful title.

The second character has morphed a bit in Japanese Kanji. If you want the specifically modern Japanese version, please click on the Kanji to the right, instead of the button above. The version shown to the left was used in ancient Japan, prior to the Japanese language reformations after WWII (so technically, it’s still Japanese).

See Also:  Music | Sing

和諧之家 means “harmonious family” or “happy family” in Chinese.

The first two characters relay the idea of happiness and harmony.
The third character is a connecting or possessive article (connects harmony/happiness to family).
The last character means family but can also mean home or household.

自然の調和 means “nature in harmony” in Japanese.

The first two Kanji mean nature (as in mother nature or the natural world).
The middle Hiragana is a possessive article that connects the two ideas.
The last two Kanji mean “in harmony” or “in balance.”

平和 is the Japanese and Korean order of these characters used most often to express the idea of peace, tranquility, and harmony.

It's just the reverse order of the Chinese. In this order in Chinese, it means takes the “mild” definition rather than “peace.” In Korean, the combination keeps the same meaning in either order.

The second character also means balance, so there is an element of harmony and balance along with peace.

和平 is the Chinese order for these two characters, which means peace but can also be translated as amicability, specifically, or mildness. 和平 is often translated as a simple way to say “peace of mind.” This combination is used in Korean Hanja to mean “peace and harmony.”

Alone, the first character means peace and harmony.
The second character means balance when read by itself.

Note: 和平 are often seen in the opposite order in Japanese with the same meaning (You'll sometimes find them in this order in Japan, so either way is OK).

和合 means to blend, unite, or be of one mind.

和合 is usually used as a Buddhist term. It can also be defined as harmony, concord, agreement, unity, union, and harmonize/harmonization.

葉 is the surname Yeh which is common in Taiwan.

The meaning of this character is harmony, leaf, page, lobe, or (historical) period. The context in which this character is used determines the meaning.

平和の武士 can be read as “Peaceful Warrior” or “Warrior for Peace” in Japanese. This sounds like an oxymoron in Japanese, so it's a weird title. Expect Japanese people to be perplexed when they see it.

Character breakdown:
平和 (heiwa) peace; harmony.
の (no) possessive particle.
武士 (bushi) warrior; samurai; soldier.

和, 敬, 清, 寂 or Wa, Kei, Sei, Jaku are the principles of the way of tea or 茶道.

The meanings are:
Harmony 和 (wa).
Respect 敬 (kei).
Purity 清 (sei).
Tranquility 寂 (jaku).

These principles or tenets were created by tea master Sen Rikyu (1522-1591). More about these ideas: Chanoyu

See Also:  The Way of Tea

合気道 is the modern Japanese way to write Aikido.

Aikido is often referred to as the defensive martial art.

While Aikido was born in Japan, it has become a somewhat famous form of defensive tactics taught to soldiers and Marines, as well as some law enforcement officers in the West.

Looking at the characters, the first means “union” or “harmony.”
The second character means “universal energy” or “spirit.”
The third means “way” or “method.”

Please note that while the original 合氣道 characters can be pronounced in Chinese, this word is not well-known in China and is not considered part of the Chinese lexicon.

Note: It is somewhat accepted that this is the origin of Hapkido in Korea. And other than a modern simplification to the middle Kanji of this 3-Kanji word, it is written the same in Korean Hanja.

See Also:  Martial Arts | Hapkido

力愛不二 is a proverb that literally means:
“Strength [and] Love [are] Not Two [separate ideas/concepts/things].”

You'll find this proverb translated from Japanese to English as:
Love and strength are not separate.
Power and love are indivisible.
Strength and love in harmony.
Strength and love stand together.

Old Japanese grammar is quite different than English, and so this proverb says a lot within the brevity of just 4 characters. If you just read these characters directly as “Strength Love Not Two,” you'd probably miss the real meaning.

According to the Swedish Shorinji Kempo Federation, this is the second characteristic of Shorinji Kempo.

This post really explains the concept best in my opinion: Bushido by MS: Riki Ai Fu Ni, which states: "Riki Ai Funi" is the philosophy that power (Riki) and love (Ai) are indivisible. More concretely, a person, who is powerful but does not have love, cannot control and misuse his/her power; on the other hand, a person, who has loved ones but is not powerful enough, cannot protect himself/herself nor loved ones.

合気武道 is the title Aiki-Budo or “Aiki Martial Arts” in Japanese Kanji.

合 means “union” or “harmony.”
気/氣 means “universal energy” or “spirit.”
武 means “martial” or “military.”
道 means “way” or “method.”

合気武道 is the modern Japanese way to write this. You may also see 合氣武道, where the second character is written in the older traditional (pre-1945) form. If you want this written 合氣武道, just include a note or email with your order.

合氣武道 are all Chinese characters as well, so I included the Chinese pronunciation above. However, while it can be understood in Chinese, this is not a common term in that language and is not used in any Chinese martial arts. Also, 気 is only used in Japan - Chinese will understand 気 to be the Japanese form of 氣.

See Also:  Martial Arts | Hapkido

Hapkido or 合氣道 is a mostly-defensive martial art in Korea.

Hapkido has some connection to the Aikido of Japan. They are written with the same characters in both languages. However, it should be noted that the Korean Hanja characters shown here are the traditional Chinese form - but in modern Japan, the middle character was slightly simplified.
Note: You can consider this to be the older Japanese written form of Aikido. Titles on older books and signs about Aikido use this form.

The connection between Japanese Aikido and Korean Hapkido is muddled in history. The issue is probably due to the difficult relationship between the two countries around WWII. Many Koreans became virtual slaves to the Japanese during that period. After WWII, many things in Korea were disassociated from having any Japanese origin. The relationship has greatly mellowed out now.

Looking at the characters, the first means “union” or “harmony.”
The second character means “universal energy” or “spirit.”
The third means “way” or “method.”
One way to translate this into English is the “Harmonizing Energy Method.” This makes sense, as Hapkido has more to do with redirecting energy than fighting strength against strength.

More Hapkido info

More notes:
1. Sometimes Hapkido is Romanized as “hap ki do,” “hapki-do” “hab gi do” or “hapgido.”

2. Korean Hanja characters are actually Chinese characters that usually hold the same meaning in both languages. There was a time when these characters were the standard and only written form of Korean. The development of modern Korean Hangul characters is a somewhat recent event in the greater scope of history. There was a time when Chinese characters were the written form of many languages in places known in modern times as North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, and a significant portion of Malaysia. Even today, more people in the world can read Chinese characters than English.

3. While these Korean Hanja characters can be pronounced in Chinese, this word is not well-known in China and is not considered part of the Chinese lexicon.