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年年有餘 is a common proverb or wish of prosperity you'll hear around the time of Chinese New Year.
Directly translated character by character, it means “Year Year Have Surplus.” A more natural English translation including the deeper meaning would be “Every Year may you Have Abundance in your life.”
On a side note, this phrase often goes with a gift of something related to fish. This is because the last character, “yu” which means surplus or abundance, has exactly the same pronunciation in Mandarin as the word for “fish.”
This is also one of the most common titles for traditional paintings that feature koi fish.
In China, this phrase might make an odd wall scroll - a customer asked especially for this common phrase which is why it appears here. See my other abundance-related words if you want a wall scroll that will seem more comfortable in Chinese culture.
Note: This can be pronounced in Korean, but it's not a commonly used term.
See Also: Prosperity | Good Fortune
鯉 is the Japanese Kanji that created the title “koi fish.” 鯉 is pronounced “koi” in Japanese.
Here is the reality: 鯉 actually means “carp” in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja. Koi fish really are carp (by species) and were bred to obtain colorful variations in ancient China. Some generations later, some of these colorful fish were transported to Japan, where they also became vastly popular.
Note: Please see our other entry for koi fish (Nishiki Goi) which is a more normal selection for a Japanese koi fish enthusiast to have on their wall.
If you like or collect and maintain koi fish, 錦鯉 is the wall scroll for you.
Technically, this is a certain and revered species of “koi fish” in Japan, but it is the most normal selection for a wall scroll (more normal than the actual Kanji for “koi” or “fish” alone.
This literally means “brocade carp” or “embroidered carp.” This term is also used to mean the same thing in China (which is the origin of koi fish breeding and cultivation, several generations before they became popular in Japan).
For those of you that don't know, the Kanji for “koi” (which is pronounced “goi” in this entry) really means “carp.” If you want the word that means “koi fish,” it would just be the generic word for “carp fish.” That would include both colorful carp and the more mundane gray carp (the ones people eat if they don't mind lots of bones).
This in-stock artwork might be what you are looking for, and ships right away...
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your koi fish search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
丹頂 see styles |
tanchou; tanchou / tancho; tancho たんちょう; タンチョウ |
(1) (kana only) red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis); Japanese crane; (2) red-cap oranda (goldfish); (3) Tanchō (koi variety); (4) having a red crest or patch on the head (of a bird, fish, etc.); (place-name, surname) Tanchō |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Year-In Year-Out Have Abundance | 年年有餘 年年有馀 | nián nián yǒu yú nian2 nian2 you3 yu2 nian nian you yu niannianyouyu | nien nien yu yü niennienyuyü |
|
Koi Fish | 鯉 鲤 | koi | lǐ / li3 / li | |
Carp Koi Fish | 鯉魚 鲤鱼 | lǐ yú / li3 yu2 / li yu / liyu | li yü / liyü | |
Koi Fish Nishiki Goi | 錦鯉 锦鲤 | nishiki goi nishikigoi | jǐn lǐ / jin3 li3 / jin li / jinli | chin li / chinli |
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. |
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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 Koi Fish Kanji, Koi Fish Characters, Koi Fish in Mandarin Chinese, Koi Fish Characters, Koi Fish in Chinese Writing, Koi Fish in Japanese Writing, Koi Fish in Asian Writing, Koi Fish Ideograms, Chinese Koi Fish symbols, Koi Fish Hieroglyphics, Koi Fish Glyphs, Koi Fish in Chinese Letters, Koi Fish Hanzi, Koi Fish in Japanese Kanji, Koi Fish Pictograms, Koi Fish in the Chinese Written-Language, or Koi Fish in the Japanese Written-Language.
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