Many custom options...
And formats...
剛柔 in Chinese / Japanese...
Buy an 剛柔 calligraphy wall scroll here!
Personalize your custom “剛柔” project by clicking the button next to your favorite “剛柔” title below...
Cuong Nhu
剛柔 is a term that means hardness and softness or hard and soft.
剛柔 is also the Chinese character origin of the martial arts style known as Cương Nhu.
Cương Nhu or Cuong Nhu was founded by Grandmaster Ngo Dong in 1965 in Hue, Vietnam, and brought to the U.S. in 1971.
剛 means hard, firm, strong, and just.
柔 means soft, flexible, supple, yielding, softness, and/or gentleness.
Until it was romanized in the mid-17th century by Portuguese missionaries with later influence by French missionaries, Vietnamese was exclusively written in Chinese characters. With some research, you can still figure out the original way to write most Vietnamese words and titles in Chinese characters. That is what I did here to figure out that Cuong Nhu would have been 剛柔 if established in ancient Vietnam.
Same characters are used in Japanese for various Goju schools of Okinawan martial arts, though not the same lineage as the Vietnamese style described above.
Gojukan / Goju-Kan
剛柔館 is the martial arts style Gojukan or Goju-Kan.
The meaning is “hardness [and] softness hall.”
剛 = Hard, firm, or strong.
柔 = Soft, softness, flexible, supple, yielding, gentleness, or pliant.
館 = Hall, building, school room, or an alternate word for a dojo.
Goju Ryu
剛柔流 is the title of the Goju-Ryu or Gōjū-Ryū school/style of Karate or Japanese martial arts.
Sometimes romanized as Gojo-Ryu or Gojoryu, though technically, it should be Gōjū-Ryū (the accents indicating long vowel sounds like “gou juu ryuu”).
Kanzen Goju-Ryu
完全剛柔流 is the title of the “Kanzen Goju-Ryu” or “Kanzen Gōjū-Ryū” school of Japanese martial arts.
完全 or Kanzen means complete, whole, total, or entire.
Okinawan Goju-Kan
沖縄剛柔館 is the martial arts style Okinawan Gojukan or Okinawan Goju-Kan.
The meaning is “Okinawa hardness [and] softness hall.”
沖縄 = Okinawa.
剛 = Hard, firm, or strong.
柔 = Soft, softness, flexible, supple, yielding, gentleness, or pliant.
館 = Hall, building, school room, or an alternate word for a dojo.
Goju Ryu Karate-Do
剛柔流空手道 is the title of the Goju-Ryu Karate-Do school of martial arts.
Okinawa Goju Ryu Karate-Do
沖縄剛柔流空手道 is the title of the Okinawa Goju-Ryu Karate-Do school of martial arts.
Not the results for 剛柔 that you were looking for?
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your 剛柔 search...
| Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
剛柔 see styles |
goujuu / goju ごうじゅう |
More info & calligraphy: Cuong Nhu |
剛柔流 see styles |
goujuuryuu / gojuryu ごうじゅうりゅう |
More info & calligraphy: Goju Ryu |
剛柔並濟 刚柔并济 see styles |
gāng róu bìng jì gang1 rou2 bing4 ji4 kang jou ping chi |
to couple strength and gentleness (idiom) |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
| Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
| Cuong Nhu | 剛柔 | gou juu / goujuu / go ju | gāng róu / gang1 rou2 / gang rou / gangrou | kang jou / kangjou |
| Gojukan Goju-Kan | 剛柔館 刚柔馆 | gou juu kan goujuukan go ju kan | ||
| Goju Ryu | 剛柔流 刚柔流 | gou juu ryuu goujuuryuu go ju ryu | ||
| Kanzen Goju-Ryu | 完全剛柔流 完全刚柔流 | kan zen gou juu ryuu kanzengoujuuryuu kan zen go ju ryu | ||
| Okinawan Goju-Kan | 沖縄剛柔館 沖縄刚柔馆 | okinawa gou juu kan okinawagoujuukan okinawa go ju kan | ||
| Goju Ryu Karate-Do | 剛柔流空手道 刚柔流空手道 | gou juu ryuu kara te dou goujuuryuukaratedou go ju ryu kara te do | ||
| Okinawa Goju Ryu Karate-Do | 沖縄剛柔流空手道 沖縄刚柔流空手道 | oki nawa gou juu ryuu kara te dou oki nawa go ju ryu kara te do | ||
| 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...
