Japanese Dragon in Japanese...

龍 is the character for dragon in Chinese, old Korean Hanja, and Japanese Kanji.

The dragon is the creature of myth and legend that dominates Chinese, Japanese, and even European folklore. In China, the dragon is the symbol of the Emperor, strength and power, and the Chinese dragon is known as the god of water.

From the Chinese Zodiac, if you were born in the year of the Dragon, you . . .

Have a strong body and spirit.
Are full of energy.
Have vast goals.
Have a deep level of self-awareness.
Will do whatever you can to "save face".

See also our Chinese Zodiac or Dragon Calligraphy pages.

This Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja title can mean, "dragon god", "dragon king", or "dragon spirit".

In the context of Buddhism, this is one of eight kinds of spiritual beings found in Mahāyāna texts.

This title for water dragon is the hornless or scaled dragon. 蛟龍 is the king of all aquatic animals with the ability to control rain and floods.

In Japanese, the rain dragon can represent hidden genius. This dragon's domain is the deep murky water, thus with hidden potential. This can also be the Japanese given name Kouryuu.

青龍 is a scholarly title for "Blue Dragon" or "Azure Dragon".

You'll find this title used in ancient Chinese literature and astronomy. This dragon has dominion over the eastern sky or eastern heavens. The Azure Dragon is also noted for representing the spring season. Also seen as an auspicious omen.

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty canonized the five colored dragons as "kings". The Azure Dragon representing the most compassionate of kings.

In Japanese, this title is known with the same meaning but can also be a given name, Seiryuu.

Note, the first character can be written as OR . Same character, just two ways to write it.

李小龍 is the real full name of Bruce Lee.

Many people have no idea that Bruce Lee had a "real" Chinese name. In Mandarin and Cantonese, he is known as "Lǐ XiǎoLóng" and "Léi SíuLùng" respectively.

He kept his family name pronunciation (Li = Lee). 李 is a common family name that also means "plum".

His given name 小龍 (Xiao-Long) literally means "little dragon". 李小龍 is why you often see the character for dragon associated with Bruce Lee on various posters etc.

For a pronunciation lesson, the "X" in Romanized Mandarin is pronounced like a "sh" sound but with your tongue at the bottom of your mouth. The vowel sound in "Long" is like the English "oh", not like the "ah" sound in the English word "long".

If you are a big Bruce Lee fan, you should know this information, and you should have this wall scroll hanging in your room or martial arts studio.

Note: Japanese use these same exact Chinese characters / Kanji to write Bruce Lee's real name (with different pronunciation - which is a bit like how the name "Bruce Lee" sounds in English).

See Also:  Kung Fu | Marital Arts

竜 is an alternate form of dragon.

Still pronounced the same in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

This particular Kanji is often associated as an imperial symbol as well as representing the mythical Asian dragon. You may have seen it on the chest or flag of the emperor in old Japanese and Chinese movies.

Note: I would rate this as a non-universal alternate form. The other dragon character is by far more common, and universally understood.

We strongly recommend if you are looking for the symbol of dragon.

See Also:  Phoenix | Emperor | King

龍虎精神 means the spirit of the dragon and tiger.

It speaks to the vitality and vigor that is the nature of these two creatures.

Beyond "spirit", the second two characters can also mean mind, soul, or heart. Therefore, you can also say this means "Heart of the Dragon and Tiger", etc.

龍虎精神 is often titled as "Ryukoseishin" in many Japanese martial arts.

火龍 is how to write "Fire Dragon" in Chinese and Japanese Kanji.

This title is used more often in Chinese; a little lesser-known in Japanese.

龍鳳 is the simplest way to express "Dragon and Phoenix" in Chinese and Japanese.

This title can be used to represent, "The emperor and empress", or a metaphor for an outstanding personage.

It should be noted that this is most often used as a given name "Ryuuhou" in Japanese. It may be read more as the name than by meaning in Japanese.

五形拳 is "Wu Xing Fist" or "Five Form Fist".

The forms refer to Dragon, Snake, Tiger, Crane, and Leopard.

This term is used in Kung Fu, and is recognized by both Chinese and Japanese practitioners of martial arts.

孫悟空 is the name, Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King. He is a main character with supernatural powers in the ancient Chinese novel Journey to the West.

This title is also known as the real name of the Monkey King in Japanese. This can also be the Son Goku better known as simply Goku, a fictional character of the Dragon Ball Japanese manga series.

悟空 is the short name or given name of, Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, from the ancient Chinese novel Journey to the West.

This title is also known as the given name of the Monkey King in Japanese. This can also be Goku, short for Son Goku, a fictional character of the Dragon Ball Japanese manga series (also based loosely on the Monkey King).

麒麟 is the title of a mythical beast of Asia.

The animal is thought to be related to the giraffe, and in some ways, it is a giraffe. However, it is often depicted with the horns of a dragon or deer and sometimes with the body like a horse but many variations exist.

In Japanese it is pronounced "Kirin" as in "Kirin Ichiban" beer.


Notes:

1. 麒麟 is sometimes spelled as "kylin".

2. In Japanese, this is the only Kanji word for giraffe. Therefore in Japan, this word needs context to know whether you are talking about the mythical creature or the long-necked giraffe of Africa.

3. Apparently, this was the first word used for regular giraffes in China (some were brought from Africa to China during the Ming Dynasty - probably around the year 1400). Though the mythical creature may have existed before, the name "qilin" was given to the "new giraffe". 麒麟 is because, more than 600 years ago, giraffes somewhat matched the mythical creature's description when Chinese people saw them for the first time. Later, to avoid such an ambiguous title, a three-character word was devised to mean a "giraffe of Africa". The characters for "qilin" shown here are only for the mythological version in modern Chinese.

4. More information about the qilin / kirin from Wikipedia.

5. This creature is sometimes translated as the "Chinese Unicorn", even though it is generally portrayed with two horns. I think this is done more for the fantasy aspect of the unicorn and because most westerners don't know what a qilin or kirin is (this avoids a long explanation by the translator).

6. In Korean, this can mean kirin or simply giraffe (usually the mythological creature is what they would think of when seeing these characters alone on a wall scroll).