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1. The More We Sweat in Training, The Less We Bleed in Battle
2. Cry in the Dojo - Laugh on the Battlefield
4. Ferdinand
7. Isaac
8. Taijutsu
10. Archer
11. Destiny / Fate
12. I Need You
13. Love and Honor
16. Tai Chi Chuan / Tai Ji Quan
17. Gassho
There is more than one way to translate the ancient Chinese military proverb, 平时多流汗战时少流血. Here are a few interpretations:
A drop of sweat spent in a drill is a drop of blood saved in war.
More practice will give one a better chance of success in real situations.
The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle.
I heard this many times when I was a U.S. Marine but I had no idea at the time that it was actually an old Chinese proverb.
See Also: Blood Sweat and Tears
道場で泣き戦場で笑う is a Japanese phrase that means “Cry in the dojo, laugh on the battlefield.”
You'll see this phrase in a lot of dojos as a kind of philosophical joke.
Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.
See Also: The More We Sweat in Training the Less We Bleed in Battle
Death Match
In modern Japanese, 真剣勝負 means to take something very seriously.
The literal and historical meaning is “real sword battle.” In old times, a Samurai apprentice would practice with a wooden practice sword. Once trained and qualified, they would wield a real steel sword made for battle and killing. They were ready for a “death match” or Shinken Shobu.
真剣 is an adjective that has come to mean serious/earnest. The literal translation is “real sword.”
勝負 in the simplest terms, means match, contest, game, or bout. Depending on the context, it could also mean victory or defeat, winning and losing, or the outcome of a battle.
There is a suggestion in Shinken Shobu that you train with serious and real intent, as we should train with the same fervor and dedication as if the battle was real. “Train as we fight.”
See Also: The More We Sweat in Training the Less We Bleed in Battle | Cry in the Dojo - Laugh on the Battlefield
忠義 is another form of loyalty or devotion.
In Chinese, this is more specifically about being loyal and devoted to your friends.
In Japanese, this is more often used to mean loyalty to your country or nation.
Except for the slight difference noted above between Japanese and Chinese, this word is understood universally in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja. It can also be used to describe devotion or fidelity.
It should be noted that this Kanji combination is being used less and less in modern Japan (this is a better choice if your audience is Chinese, though any Japanese person will clearly understand it).
情義 means to love and honor in Chinese. 情義 is more or less the kind of thing you'd find in marriage vows.
The first character suggests emotions, passion, heart, humanity, sympathy, and feelings.
In this context, the second character means to honor your lover's wishes and treat them justly and righteously (fairly). That second character can also be translated as “obligation,” as in the obligation a husband and wife have to love each other even through difficult times.
In the context outside of a couple's relationship, this word can mean “comradeship.”
Japanese may see this more as “humanity and justice” than “love and honor.” It's probably best if your target is Chinese.
This is the short and sweet form, there is also a longer poetic form (you can find it here: Love and Honor if it’s not on the page you are currently viewing).
See Also: Love and Honor
Modern Chinese Version
弓箭手 is how to write “archer” in modern Chinese.
弓箭手 literally means “bow arrow hand.”
There are other ways to write “archer” in Chinese, but this is probably the most common title for modern China. The other, less-common version of “archer” is also more universal because it has the same meaning in Japanese (this one is not used in Japan).
These two characters contain the ideas of fate, destiny, fortune, and luck in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
運命 is often defined as “a person's fate” or “personal fate” in various dictionaries.
These two characters can be reversed (written in either order) and yield roughly the same meaning.
This particular character order is more common in old Korean and less common in modern Chinese.
See Also: Good Fortune | Good Luck
Some people like to say, “I love you” but others might want to say “I need you.” 貴方が必要 is “I need you” in Japanese.
The first two characters mean “You.”
The middle character is a connecting particle. In this case, it more or less means “are.”
The last two characters mean necessary, needed, essential, indispensable, or necessity.
The “I” in the title is implied. Effectively this means “I need you.”
深情厚義 means to love and honor.
This is more or less the kind of thing you'd find in marriage vows.
The first two characters suggest deep love or deep emotions, passion, and feelings.
The last two characters mean generous justice or thick honor (the third character is an adjective that means generous or thick). It just means that you will honor your lover's wishes and treat them justly and righteously (fairly).
This is the longer four-character version, there is also a short and sweet two character version.
See Also: Love and Honor
堅忍 means persistent, steadfast, fortitude, and/or perseverance.
The first character means strong, solid, firm, unyielding, or resolute.
The second character means to beat, endure, or tolerate.
Together they speak of the strength from within yourself. Some may also translate this as long-suffering in a more Biblical sense.
堅忍 is a common term in Chinese and Korean Hanja but a little less commonly used in modern Japanese Kanji. For that reason, this selection is best if your audience is Chinese or Korean.
Note that when writing this as Kanji, Japanese will tend to write the second Kanji a little differently. If you select our Japanese master calligrapher, please expect the form where the little horizontal stroke crosses the vertical stroke. See differences in the images to the right. Technically, they are both the same character, and will be read the same in either language.
無 is the simple way to express “nothing.”
However, this single character leaves a bit of mystery as to what you might really mean if you hang it as a wall scroll. I'm not saying that's a bad thing; as you can decide what it means to you, and you won't be wrong if you stay within the general context.
More info: 無 is usually used as a suffix or prefix for Chinese and Japanese words (also old Korean). It can be compared to “un-” or “-less” in English. It can also mean “not to have,” no, none, not, “to lack,” or nothingness.
太極拳 is the famous Taoist meditation and martial art exercise. The direct translation of these characters would be something like “grand ultimate fist,” but that does not quite hit the mark for what this title really means.
An early-morning walk through any city in China near a park or an open area will yield a view of Chinese people practicing this ancient technique.
A typical scene is an old man of no less than 80 years on this earth, with a wispy white beard and perhaps a sword in one hand. He makes slow moves that are impossibly smooth. He is steady-footed and always in balance. For him, time is meaningless and proper form, and technique is far more important than speed.
For the younger generation, faster moves may look impressive and seem smooth to the casual observer. But more discipline and mental strength are needed to create perfectly smooth moves in virtual slow motion.
Note: There are two ways to Romanize these Chinese characters, as seen in the title above. The pronunciation and actual characters are the same in Chinese. If you really used English sounds/words to pronounce this, it would be something like “tie jee chew-on” (make the “chew-on” one flowing syllable).
合掌 is the act of greeting someone (can also be done when departing) with hands brought together prayerfully.
In India, this would be accompanied by the verbal greeting and blessing of “Namaste.” In China, Japan, and Korea, this is how Buddhists will greet each other. Sometimes done by people who are not devout Buddhists in China, Japan, and Korea to show respect, reverence, or great thanks to someone for a gift, forgiveness, or some honor that has been bestowed.
In Japan, this is almost always associated with a deep bow. In China, where bowing is not an everyday occurrence, there may be a shallow bow, but the act will be done with deep feeling. Korean culture seems to have more bowing than China but less than Japan.
See Also: Namaste
Perhaps a pacifist view or perhaps the best kind of victory; 兵不血刃 reflect this idea:
The edges of the swords not being stained with blood.
You could also translate it as: Win victory without firing a shot.
The first character means army or force. The second character means without or none. The last two characters mean bloodstained knives. So it represents a returning victorious army without bloodstained knives. 兵不血刃 is the very literal sense of this Chinese proverb. The title definition is more accurate to the way this proverb is understood.
Asking yourself why the direct or literal translation is different?
...Think of compound words in English such as “nevertheless” if we break it apart to “never the less,” we will have trouble getting the real definition of “in spite of that.” Similar things happen when multiple characters create a compounded word in Chinese.
強 is a character that means strong, strength, force, powerful, better, stubborn, and stiff (yes, all of this in one character).
This “strong” has less to do with physical strength and more to do with having a winning attitude, or just having the ability to win at something.
Note that most of the time, this character is pronounced “qiang” but when used with the meaning of stubborn, unyielding, or stiff, it is pronounced “jiang” in Chinese.
Also, sometimes “qiang” is used in modern Chinese to describe people that do crazy things (For example: Bicycling from Beijing to Tibet alone). I sometimes can be found outside my Beijing apartment wearing nothing but shorts and a tee-shirt while eating ice cream during a snow storm, just to hear my neighbors call me “qiang.” Maybe they mean “strong” but perhaps they are using the new meaning of “crazy strong.”
強 can also be a Chinese surname that romanizes as Jiang in the mainland or Chiang if from Taiwan.
強 is a valid Korean Hanja character with the same meaning but is mostly used in compound Korean words.
強 is used in Japanese (though normally in compound words). In Japanese, it has the same meaning but in some contexts can mean “a little more than...” or “a little over [some amount].” Most Japanese would read this as tough, strength, stiff, hard, inflexible, obstinate, or stubborn.
The variant 彊 is sometimes seen in older literature.
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The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
The More We Sweat in Training, The Less We Bleed in Battle | 平時多流汗戰時少流血 平时多流汗战时少流血 | píng shí duō liú hàn zhàn shí shǎo liú xuè ping2 shi2 duo1 liu2 han4 zhan4 shi2 shao3 liu2 xue4 ping shi duo liu han zhan shi shao liu xue | p`ing shih to liu shih shao liu hsüeh ping shih to liu shih shao liu hsüeh |
|
Cry in the Dojo - Laugh on the Battlefield | 道場で泣き戦場で笑う | doujou de naki senjou de warau dojo de naki senjo de warau | ||
Shinken Shobu | 真剣勝負 | shinken shoubu shinkenshoubu shinken shobu | ||
Ferdinand | 費迪南德 费迪南德 | fèi dí nán dé fei4 di2 nan2 de2 fei di nan de feidinande | fei ti nan te feitinante |
|
Loyalty Devotion | 忠義 忠义 | chuu gi / chuugi / chu gi | zhōng yì / zhong1 yi4 / zhong yi / zhongyi | chung i / chungi |
Order From Chaos | 亂中有序 | luàn zhōng yǒu xù luan4 zhong1 you3 xu4 luan zhong you xu luanzhongyouxu | luan chung yu hsü luanchungyuhsü |
|
Isaac | 伊薩克 伊萨克 | yī sà kè yi1 sa4 ke4 yi sa ke yisake | i sa k`o isako i sa ko |
|
Taijutsu | 體術 体術 | tai jutsu / taijutsu | ||
Love and Honor | 情義 情义 | qíng yì / qing2 yi4 / qing yi / qingyi | ch`ing i / chingi / ching i | |
Archer | 弓箭手 | gōng jiàn shǒu gong1 jian4 shou3 gong jian shou gongjianshou | kung chien shou kungchienshou |
|
Destiny Fate | 運命 运命 | un mei / unmei | yùn mìng / yun4 ming4 / yun ming / yunming | yün ming / yünming |
I Need You | 貴方が必要 | ana ta ga hitsu you anatagahitsuyou ana ta ga hitsu yo | ||
Love and Honor | 深情厚義 深情厚义 | shēn qíng hòu yì shen1 qing2 hou4 yi4 shen qing hou yi shenqinghouyi | shen ch`ing hou i shenchinghoui shen ching hou i |
|
Perseverance Fortitude | 堅忍 坚忍 | ken nin / kennin | jiǎn rěn / jian3 ren3 / jian ren / jianren | chien jen / chienjen |
Nothing Nothingness | 無 无 | mu | wú / wu2 / wu | |
Tai Chi Chuan Tai Ji Quan | 太極拳 太极拳 | tai kyoku ken taikyokuken | tài jí quán tai4 ji2 quan2 tai ji quan taijiquan | t`ai chi ch`üan taichichüan tai chi chüan |
Gassho | 合掌 | gasshou / gasho | hé zhǎng / he2 zhang3 / he zhang / hezhang | ho chang / hochang |
Bloodless Victory | 兵不血刃 | bīng bù xuè rèn bing1 bu4 xue4 ren4 bing bu xue ren bingbuxueren | ping pu hsüeh jen pingpuhsüehjen |
|
Strong Powerful Force | 強 强 | kyou / kyo | qiáng / qiang2 / qiang | ch`iang / chiang |
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 Less is More Kanji, Less is More Characters, Less is More in Mandarin Chinese, Less is More Characters, Less is More in Chinese Writing, Less is More in Japanese Writing, Less is More in Asian Writing, Less is More Ideograms, Chinese Less is More symbols, Less is More Hieroglyphics, Less is More Glyphs, Less is More in Chinese Letters, Less is More Hanzi, Less is More in Japanese Kanji, Less is More Pictograms, Less is More in the Chinese Written-Language, or Less is More in the Japanese Written-Language.