Wood in Chinese / Japanese...

mù

ki

목

木 is the symbol for wood in Japanese, Korean and Chinese. This can sometimes mean "tree" depending on context. In fact, the character comes from a pictogram that is supposed to resemble a tree.

Wood is one of the five elements that ancient Chinese believed all things were composed of. These elements are also part of the cycle of Chinese astrology. Every person has both an animal sign, and one of the five elements according to the date of their birth. See also Five Elements and Chinese 12 Animals / Zodiac.

bēi shuǐ chē xīn

배수거신

杯水車薪 is a warning against a futile effort. This proverb literally refers to one who is "trying to put out a burning cart of wood with a cup of water," or "throw a cup of water on a cartload of wood." The lesson to be learned is about using the right measure or tool for the job, and not to waste your effort if you are inadequately equipped for the task at hand - in other words the postscript should be "go get a bucket or a fire hose."

jīn mù shuǐ huǒ tǔ

금목수화토

金木水火土 is a list of the Chinese characters for the five elements in a comfortable order (meaning that they simply "feel right" to a Chinese person who views this arrangement).

The order is metal, wood, water, fire, earth.

Note that sometimes the metal element is translated as gold. And earth refers to soil versus the whole planet earth.

zhú

take

죽

竹 is the character that means bamboo in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja. In Asian cultures, bamboo is often seen as a symbol of a noble gentleman (being tall, straight, and honest).

There are also some multi-character bamboo words that regard individual bamboo plants, species of bamboo, bamboo as lumber, and edible bamboo shoots. However, this single-character seems most appropriate for a wall scroll, and covers the whole category of Asian bamboo.

wǔ xíng

gogyou

오행

五行 is the title of the five elements which are: wood, fire, water, earth, and metal.

The first character means "5" and the second character is simply "elements."

According to ancient Chinese science, all matter in the world is made up of these elements. One idea presented with the five elements is that when energy is added, matter is believed to expand. When energy is removed, matter contracts. Oddly, this concept is not far from Einstein's theories, and modern science. Just a few thousand years before Einstein.

More info: Wikipedia - Five Elements (Wu Xing).

See Also:  Fire | Water | Earth | Metal | Five Elements

rù mù sān fēn

These four characters together translate in English to a strong form of "profound" or "written with a forceful hand."

But there is much more to the story...

The deep meaning behind this proverb comes from a man named Wan Xizhi who lived in the third century.

He was a great writer and calligrapher whose writing style influenced generations of other writers and calligraphers.

He once wrote words on a piece of wood to be taken to an engraver.
When the engraver began to carve the characters into the wood, he found that Wang Xizhi's writing had penetrated the wood about 3/8 of an inch.

Thus people believed that his words were so powerful, and so profound this it caused the ink from his brush to penetrate the wood deeply.

The proverb literally means "penetrated wood three fen" (fen is an ancient Chinese measurement a little over to 1/8 of an inch or almost 4mm).

mù xīng

Mokusei

목성

木星 is the planet Jupiter in Chinese characters, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

The literal meaning is "wood star."

This can also be a given name (Mokusei) or the surname (Kiboshi) in Japanese.

dì shuǐ huǒ fēng

chisuikafuu

地水火風 is a Buddhist term that means "earth, water, fire, wind." 地水火風 is often just referred to as "the four elements." There is a more common title (the five elements) which adds wood to the mix. These four elements are used in some sects of Japanese Buddhism (not so much in Chinese).