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鏡 is a Chinese character, Japanese Kanji and Korean Hanja that means mirror.
It can also mean lens or looking-glass depending on context.
In Buddhism, this is the equivalent of ādarśa from Sanskrit meaning a mirror.
While 明鏡 means mirror in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja, it's commonly used as a metaphor for something beautiful and bright or something that provides clarity and insight.
Mirror
Used in modern times for divorced couples that come back together
破鏡重圓 is about a husband and wife who were separated and reunited.
About 1500 years ago in China, there lived a beautiful princess named Le Chang. She and her husband Xu De Yan loved each other very much. But when the army of the Sui Dynasty was about to attack their kingdom, disposed of all of their worldly possessions and prepared to flee into exile.
They knew that in the chaos, they might lose track of each other, so the one possession they kept was a bronze mirror which is a symbol of unity for a husband and wife. They broke the mirror into two pieces, and each of them kept half of the mirror. They decided that if separated, they would try to meet at the fair during the 15th day of the first lunar month (which is the lantern festival). Unfortunately, the occupation was brutal, and the princess was forced to become the mistress of the new commissioner of the territory, Yang Su.
At the Lantern Festival the next year, the husband came to the fair to search for his wife. He carried with him his half of the mirror. As he walked through the fair, he saw the other half of the mirror for sale at a junk market by a servant of the commissioner. The husband recognized his wife's half of the mirror immediately, and tears rolled down his face as he was told by the servant about the bitter and loveless life that the princess had endured.
As his tears dripped onto the mirror, the husband scratched a poem into his wife's half of the mirror:
You left me with the severed mirror,
The mirror has returned, but absent are you,
As I gaze in the mirror, I seek your face,
I see the moon, but as for you, I see not a trace.
The servant brought the inscribed half of the mirror back to the princess. For many days, the princess could not stop crying when she found that her husband was alive and still loved her.
Commissioner Yang Su, becoming aware of this saga, realized that he could never obtain the princess's love. He sent for the husband and allowed them to reunite.
This proverb, 破鏡重圓, is now used to describe a couple who has been torn apart for some reason (usually divorce) but have come back together (or remarried).
It seems to be more common these days in America for divorced couples to reconcile and get married to each other again. This will be a great gift if you know someone who is about to remarry their ex.
鏡花水月 is an old Asian proverb that means “flowers in a mirror and the moon reflected in the lake” or “flowers reflected on a mirror and the moon reflected on the water's surface.”
Literally, 鏡花水月 reads “Mirror Flower, Water Moon.”
Figuratively this can be used to represent a lot of different ideas. It can be used to express an unrealistic rosy view or viewing things through rose-tinted spectacles. So you can use it to relay an idea about something that is visible but has no substance,
something that can be seen but not touched, or something beautiful but unattainable such as dreams or a mirage.
This expression is used to describe things like the subtle and profound beauty of poems that cannot be described in words.
鏡 = Mirror (or lens)
花 = Flower(s)
水 = Water
月 = Moon
Can also be written 水月鏡花 (just a slight change in word/character order).
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your 鏡 search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
鏡 镜 see styles |
jìng jing4 ching kagami かがみ |
More info & calligraphy: Mirror(1) mirror; looking-glass; (2) barrel head; (3) {finc} page added at the beginning of a document mentioning its purpose, date, author, etc.; (4) (abbreviation) (See 鏡餅・かがみもち) mirror-shaped mochi; (female given name) Mira ādarśa. A mirror. |
明鏡 明镜 see styles |
míng jìng ming2 jing4 ming ching meikyou; myoukyou; meikei / mekyo; myokyo; meke めいきょう; みょうきょう; めいけい |
More info & calligraphy: Mirror: Beautiful Claritypolished mirror; clear mirror; (personal name) Meikyō a [clear] mirror |
鏡子 镜子 see styles |
jìng zi jing4 zi5 ching tzu keiko / keko けいこ |
More info & calligraphy: Keiko(female given name) Keiko |
眼鏡蛇 眼镜蛇 see styles |
yǎn jìng shé yan3 jing4 she2 yen ching she meganehebi めがねへび |
More info & calligraphy: Cobraspectacled cobra; Indian cobra; Asian cobra (Naja naja) |
破鏡重圓 破镜重圆 see styles |
pò jìng chóng yuán po4 jing4 chong2 yuan2 p`o ching ch`ung yüan po ching chung yüan |
More info & calligraphy: Broken Mirror Rejoined |
鏡花水月 镜花水月 see styles |
jìng huā shuǐ yuè jing4 hua1 shui3 yue4 ching hua shui yüeh kyoukasuigetsu / kyokasuigetsu きょうかすいげつ |
More info & calligraphy: Flower in the Mirror, Moon on Water(yoji) flowers reflected on a mirror and the moon reflected on the water's surface; something that is visible but having no substance; the subtle and profound beauty of poems that cannot be described in words |
一鏡 一镜 see styles |
yī jìng yi1 jing4 i ching ikkyou / ikkyo いっきょう |
(surname) Ikkyō a single mirror |
上鏡 上镜 see styles |
shàng jìng shang4 jing4 shang ching kamikagami かみかがみ |
photogenic; to appear on film or in the media (place-name) Kamikagami |
中鏡 see styles |
nakagami なかがみ |
(surname) Nakagami |
主鏡 see styles |
shukyou / shukyo しゅきょう |
primary mirror (of a telescope); main mirror |
借鏡 借镜 see styles |
jiè jìng jie4 jing4 chieh ching |
(Tw) to draw on (others' experience); to learn from (how others do things); lesson to be learned (by observing others) |
倭鏡 see styles |
wakyou / wakyo わきょう |
Japanese-style mirror |
円鏡 see styles |
enkyou; marukagami / enkyo; marukagami えんきょう; まるかがみ |
round mirror; (given name) Enkyō |
冲鏡 冲镜 see styles |
chōng jìng chong1 jing4 ch`ung ching chung ching Chūkyō |
Chunggyeong |
凸鏡 凸镜 see styles |
tū jìng tu1 jing4 t`u ching tu ching tokkyou / tokkyo とっきょう |
convex mirror convex mirror |
凹鏡 凹镜 see styles |
āo jìng ao1 jing4 ao ching |
concave mirror |
出鏡 出镜 see styles |
chū jìng chu1 jing4 ch`u ching chu ching |
to appear on camera; to play a role in a film |
分鏡 分镜 see styles |
fēn jìng fen1 jing4 fen ching |
storyboard |
副鏡 see styles |
fukukyou / fukukyo ふくきょう |
secondary mirror (in a reflecting telescope) |
古鏡 古镜 see styles |
gǔ jìng gu3 jing4 ku ching kokyou / kokyo こきょう |
(given name) Kokyō ancient mirror |
名鏡 see styles |
meikyou / mekyo めいきょう |
(surname) Meikyō |
和鏡 see styles |
wakyou / wakyo わきょう |
Japanese-style mirror |
咸鏡 咸镜 see styles |
xián jìng xian2 jing4 hsien ching |
Hamgyeongdo Province of Joseon Korea, now divided into North Hamgyeong Province 咸鏡北道|咸镜北道[Xian2 jing4 bei3 dao4] and South Hamgyeong Province 咸鏡南道|咸镜南道[Xian2 jing4 nan2 dao4] of North Korea |
喉鏡 喉镜 see styles |
hóu jìng hou2 jing4 hou ching |
laryngoscope |
四鏡 四镜 see styles |
sì jìng si4 jing4 ssu ching yotsukagami よつかがみ |
(surname) Yotsukagami The four resemblances between a mirror and the bhūtatathatā in the Awakening of Faith 起信論. The bhūtatathatā, like the mirror, is independent of all beings, reveals all objects, is not hindered by objects, and serves all beings. |
圓鏡 圆镜 see styles |
yuán jìng yuan2 jing4 yüan ching en kyō |
round mirror |
墨鏡 墨镜 see styles |
mò jìng mo4 jing4 mo ching |
sunglasses; CL:隻|只[zhi1],雙|双[shuang1],副[fu4] |
大鏡 see styles |
ookagami おおかがみ |
(surname) Ookagami |
妃鏡 see styles |
kikyou / kikyo ききょう |
(female given name) Kikyō |
姫鏡 see styles |
kikyou / kikyo ききょう |
(female given name) Kikyō |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Mirror | 鏡 镜 | kagami | jìng / jing4 / jing | ching |
Mirror: Beautiful Clarity | 明鏡 明镜 | mei kyou / meikyou / mei kyo | míng jìng ming2 jing4 ming jing mingjing | ming ching mingching |
Keiko | 鏡子 镜子 | keiko | jìng zi / jing4 zi5 / jing zi / jingzi | ching tzu / chingtzu |
Cobra | 眼鏡蛇 眼镜蛇 | me gane hebi meganehebi | yǎn jìng shé yan3 jing4 she2 yan jing she yanjingshe | yen ching she yenchingshe |
Broken Mirror Rejoined | 破鏡重圓 破镜重圆 | pò jìng chóng yuán po4 jing4 chong2 yuan2 po jing chong yuan pojingchongyuan | p`o ching ch`ung yüan pochingchungyüan po ching chung yüan |
|
Flower in the Mirror, Moon on Water | 鏡花水月 镜花水月 | kyou ka sui getsu kyoukasuigetsu kyo ka sui getsu | jìng huā shuǐ yuè jing4 hua1 shui3 yue4 jing hua shui yue jinghuashuiyue | ching hua shui yüeh chinghuashuiyüeh |
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.