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Personalize your custom “草” project by clicking the button next to your favorite “草” title below...
4. Strawberry
5. Scarecrow
草 means grass or straw in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
Depending on the context, this can also mean a manuscript, draft (of a document), or rough copy. In the botany context, it can also refer to weeds, herbs, thatch, or plants.
草 is also the first character of caoshu or sōsho, the Chinese and Japanese wild cursive script style of calligraphy.
Sometimes written in variant form 艸.
This can be the surname Sou/Sō, or the given name Kusa in Japanese (there are also other romanizations for this Kanji).
This is the Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja for grassland, prairie, grass-covered plain, grasslands, meadows, Savannah, or steppe.
Sometimes also pronounced Soubaru in Japanese when used as a surname.
誰言寸草心報得三春暉 is the last line of a famous poem. It is perceived as a tribute or ode to your parents or mother from a child or children that have left home.
The poem was written by Meng Jiao during the Tang Dynasty (about 1200 years ago). The Chinese title is “You Zi Yin” which means “The Traveler's Recite.”
The last line as shown here speaks of the generous and warm spring sunlight which gives the grass far beyond what the little grass can could ever give back (except perhaps by showing its lovely green leaves and flourishing). The metaphor is that the sun is your mother or parents, and you are the grass. Your parents raise you and give you all the love and care you need to prepare you for the world. A debt that you can never repay, nor is repayment expected.
The first part of the poem (not written in the characters to the left) suggests that the thread in a loving mother's hands is the shirt of her traveling offspring. Vigorously sewing while wishing them to come back sooner than they left.
...This part is really hard to translate into English that makes any sense but maybe you get the idea. We are talking about a poem that is so old that many Chinese people would have trouble reading it (as if it was the King James Version of Chinese).
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your 草 search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
草 see styles |
cào cao4 ts`ao tsao sou / so そう |
More info & calligraphy: Cao / Kusa / Grass(1) draft; rough copy; (2) (abbreviation) (See 草書) highly cursive style (of writing Chinese characters); grass style; (female given name) Hajime Grass, herbs, plants; rough; female (of animals, birds, etc. ). |
芳草 see styles |
housou / hoso ほうそう |
More info & calligraphy: Fragrant Herb / Housou |
草原 see styles |
cǎo yuán cao3 yuan2 ts`ao yüan tsao yüan sougen(p); kusahara; kusawara / sogen(p); kusahara; kusawara そうげん(P); くさはら; くさわら |
More info & calligraphy: Savannah / Grasslands(1) grassy field; grassland; meadow; (2) (そうげん only) grass-covered plain; savannah; prairie; steppe; (surname) Soubaru |
草莓 see styles |
cǎo méi cao3 mei2 ts`ao mei tsao mei |
More info & calligraphy: Strawberry |
稻草人 see styles |
dào cǎo rén dao4 cao3 ren2 tao ts`ao jen tao tsao jen |
More info & calligraphy: Scarecrow |
艸 草 see styles |
cǎo cao3 ts`ao tsao takakusa たかくさ |
variant of 草[cao3] (1) kanji "grass radical" (radical 140); (2) grass crown; (out-dated kanji) (1) grass; weed; herb; thatch; (2) (archaism) ninja; (prefix) (3) not genuine; substandard; (surname) Takakusa |
み草 see styles |
misa みさ |
(female given name) Misa |
一草 see styles |
issou / isso いっそう |
(given name) Issou |
七草 see styles |
nanakusa ななくさ |
(1) (abbreviation) the seven spring flowers; (2) (abbreviation) the seven fall flowers; the seven autumn flowers; (3) (abbreviation) the seventh of January; Festival of Seven Herbs; (surname, female given name) Nanakusa |
万草 see styles |
kazusa かずさ |
(female given name) Kazusa |
丈草 see styles |
jousou / joso じょうそう |
(personal name) Jōsou |
三草 see styles |
sān cǎo san1 cao3 san ts`ao san tsao mitsukusa みつくさ |
(surname) Mitsukusa three grasses |
上草 see styles |
uekusa うえくさ |
(surname) Uekusa |
下草 see styles |
shitakusa; shitagusa したくさ; したぐさ |
undergrowth; weeds beneath a tree; (surname) Shimokusa |
中草 see styles |
zhōng cǎo zhong1 cao3 chung ts`ao chung tsao chūsō |
Medium-sized herbs, medium capacity, v. 三草. |
丸草 see styles |
marukusa まるくさ |
(surname) Marukusa |
乗草 see styles |
norikusa のりくさ |
(surname) Norikusa |
乳草 see styles |
rǔ cǎo ru3 cao3 ju ts`ao ju tsao chichikusa; chichikusa ちちくさ; チチクサ |
milkweeds (genus Asclepias) (See 蘿芋) Metaplexis japonica |
乾草 干草 see styles |
gān cǎo gan1 cao3 kan ts`ao kan tsao kansou / kanso かんそう |
hay (See 干し草) hay; dry grass |
井草 see styles |
igusa いぐさ |
(place-name, surname) Igusa |
亜草 see styles |
akusa あくさ |
(female given name) Akusa |
仕草 see styles |
shigusa しぐさ |
action; acting; gesture; bearing; treatment; behavior; behaviour; (female given name) Shigusa |
仙草 see styles |
xiān cǎo xian1 cao3 hsien ts`ao hsien tsao sensou; sensou / senso; senso せんそう; センソウ |
medicinal herb (genus Mesona); grass jelly Chinese mesona (Platostoma palustre); (given name) Sensou |
伊草 see styles |
igusa いぐさ |
(place-name, surname) Igusa |
佐草 see styles |
sasou / saso さそう |
(surname) Sasou |
何草 see styles |
kasou / kaso かそう |
(female given name) Kasou |
作草 see styles |
sakusou / sakuso さくそう |
(place-name) Sakusou |
依草 see styles |
ekusa えくさ |
(surname) Ekusa |
入草 see styles |
irikusa いりくさ |
(place-name) Irikusa |
八草 see styles |
yakusa やくさ |
(place-name) Yakusa |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Cao Kusa Grass | 草 | sou / kusa / so / kusa | cǎo / cao3 / cao | ts`ao / tsao |
Fragrant Herb Housou | 芳草 | housou / hoso | ||
Savannah Grasslands | 草原 | sougen / kusahara sogen / kusahara | cǎo yuán / cao3 yuan2 / cao yuan / caoyuan | ts`ao yüan / tsaoyüan / tsao yüan |
Strawberry | 草莓 | cǎo méi / cao3 mei2 / cao mei / caomei | ts`ao mei / tsaomei / tsao mei | |
Scarecrow | 稻草人 | dào cǎo rén dao4 cao3 ren2 dao cao ren daocaoren | tao ts`ao jen taotsaojen tao tsao jen |
|
Appreciation and Love for Your Parents | 誰言寸草心報得三春暉 谁言寸草心报得三春晖 | shuí yán cùn cǎo xīn bào dé sān chūn huī shui2 yan2 cun4 cao3 xin1 bao4 de2 san1 chun1 hui1 shui yan cun cao xin bao de san chun hui | shui yen ts`un ts`ao hsin pao te san ch`un hui shui yen tsun tsao hsin pao te san chun hui |
|
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.