Buy a Monkey calligraphy wall scroll here!
Personalize your custom “Monkey” project by clicking the button next to your favorite “Monkey” title below...
Year of the Monkey / Zodiac Sign
猴 is the monkey character in Chinese.
猴 means ape in Japanese due to an error made long ago as Japan absorbed Chinese characters.
If you were born in the year of the monkey, you . . .
Are smart, brave, active, and competitive.
Like new things.
Have a good memory.
Are quick to respond
Have an easy time winning people's trust.
Are, however, not very patient.
See also our Chinese Zodiac page.
Note: This character does have the meaning of monkey in Korean Hanja but is not used very often.
猴王 is the short title for “Monkey King.” This can refer to the character made famous by the ancient novel Journey to the West.
This literally reads “Monkey King.” However, this title is open to interpretation and could be used for someone who is the boss of the primate exhibit at the zoo or certain characters in Chinese opera.
Saruken
猿拳 is the Japanese martial arts title, “Monkey Fist,” referring to Monkey-Style Kung Fu.
猿拳 is very similar to a Chinese term that uses a different first character (the characters for ape and monkey were reversed when Japan borrowed Chinese characters, so this would be “Ape Fist” if a Chinese person read it).
猴拳 literally means what you think, it's the “Monkey Fist” school of Kung Fu. A style that mimics the punches and movements of monkeys and apes.
Becoming popular during the Qing Dynasty, this style can trace its origins back to as early as the Song Dynasty. Some of the romance and popularity of this style comes from the novel “Journey to the West” which features the Monkey King and his fighting skills.
This novel and martial arts style has spawned a stream of Hong Kong movies featuring the Monkey King and other Kung Fu style variations such as “Drunken Monkey” and “Monkey Stealing Peaches” (a technique of disabling your opponent by grabbing and yanking on his testicles).
Note: This kind of makes sense in Korean Hanja and Japanese Kanji but probably unknown by all Koreans and Japanese except those who have an interest in this form of Kung Fu.
猿 is one of those cases when an error was made as Chinese characters were absorbed into the Japanese language during the 5th century.
In Japanese, this means monkey.
In Chinese, this means ape.
The Japanese word for ape means monkey in Chinese, so you can see how they were simply reversed.
Martial arts term
猴子偷桃 is a martial arts term that I find hilarious. I thought Stephen Chow had made this up for his Monkey King movie. After some research, it turns out to be real.
This can be translated as “monkey stealing peaches” or “monkey steals the peach.” It refers to distracting an opponent with one hand and seizing his testicles with the other.
In colloquial Chinese speech, this can refer to grabbing somebody by the balls (without any martial arts technique to the grabbing).
(A legitimate style of Kung Fu)
醉拳 is Drunken Fist, a traditional Chinese martial art/technique of Kung Fu.
It is a northern style of martial art that imitates a drunk person in its movements. Many staggering movements serve to deceive the opponent and keep them off-balance.
Some consider Drunken Fist to be among the more complex styles of martial arts due to the need for robust joints and fingers.
Monkey King
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).
西遊記 is the original title of the novel Journey to the West.
Written during the Ming dynasty, this novel by Wu Cheng'en (吳承恩) is one of the four classic stories of Chinese literature.
Sometimes this book is titled, Pilgrimage to the West, Monkey King, or Magic Monkey.
Many movies and TV series depict or adapt portions of this story.
Monkey King
孫悟空 is the name Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King. He is the 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.
五祖拳 is a martial arts concept (or school) known as Five Ancestors' Fist.
The first character means five.
The second means ancestor, forefather, or grandparents.
The third means fist.
The ancestors referred to by this title and whose attributes contribute to this style are as follows:
1. Grace of the White Crane.
2. Agility of the Monkey.
3. Precision and skill of Emperor Taizu (great mythical ancestor).
4. Power of Luohan (Buddhist arhat).
5. Breath of Damo (founder of Buddhism, or the first Buddha).
This in-stock artwork might be what you are looking for, and ships right away...
Discounted Blemished
Gallery Price: $63.00
Your Price: $35.00
Discounted Blemished
Gallery Price: $63.00
Your Price: $35.00
Discounted Blemished
Gallery Price: $63.00
Your Price: $35.00
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Monkey | 猴 | hóu / hou2 / hou | ||
Drunken Monkey | 醉猴 | zuì hóu / zui4 hou2 / zui hou / zuihou | tsui hou / tsuihou | |
Drunken Monkey | 酔い猿 | yo i saru / yoisaru | ||
Drunken Monkey Kung Fu | 醉猴功夫 / 醉猴功伕 醉猴功夫 | zuì hóu gōng fu zui4 hou2 gong1 fu zui hou gong fu zuihougongfu | tsui hou kung fu tsuihoukungfu |
|
Monkey King | 美猴王 | měi hóu wáng mei3 hou2 wang2 mei hou wang meihouwang | ||
Monkey King | 猴王 | hóu wáng / hou2 wang2 / hou wang / houwang | ||
Monkey Fist | 猿拳 | saruken | ||
Monkey Fist | 猴拳 | hóu quán / hou2 quan2 / hou quan / houquan | hou ch`üan / houchüan / hou chüan | |
Monkey Ape | 猿 | saru | yuán / yuan2 / yuan | yüan |
Monkey Stealing Peaches | 猴子偷桃 | hóu zi tōu táo hou2 zi5 tou1 tao2 hou zi tou tao houzitoutao | hou tzu t`ou t`ao houtzutoutao hou tzu tou tao |
|
Yaen Wild Monkey | 野猿 | yaen | ||
Drunken Fist | 醉拳 | suiken | zuì quán / zui4 quan2 / zui quan / zuiquan | tsui ch`üan / tsuichüan / tsui chüan |
Wukong Goku | 悟空 | go kuu / gokuu / go ku | wù kōng / wu4 kong1 / wu kong / wukong | wu k`ung / wukung / wu kung |
Journey to the West | 西遊記 西游记 | sei yuu ki / seiyuuki / sei yu ki | xī yóu jì xi1 you2 ji4 xi you ji xiyouji | hsi yu chi hsiyuchi |
Sun Wukong Son Goku | 孫悟空 孙悟空 | son go kuu / songokuu / son go ku | sūn wù kōng sun1 wu4 kong1 sun wu kong sunwukong | sun wu k`ung sunwukung sun wu kung |
Five Ancestors Fist | 五祖拳 | wǔ zǔ quán wu3 zu3 quan2 wu zu quan wuzuquan | wu tsu ch`üan wutsuchüan wu tsu chüan |
|
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 Monkey Kanji, Monkey Characters, Monkey in Mandarin Chinese, Monkey Characters, Monkey in Chinese Writing, Monkey in Japanese Writing, Monkey in Asian Writing, Monkey Ideograms, Chinese Monkey symbols, Monkey Hieroglyphics, Monkey Glyphs, Monkey in Chinese Letters, Monkey Hanzi, Monkey in Japanese Kanji, Monkey Pictograms, Monkey in the Chinese Written-Language, or Monkey in the Japanese Written-Language.
20 people have searched for Monkey in Chinese or Japanese in the past year.
Monkey was last searched for by someone else on Sep 20th, 2024