Updated: January 1, 2017 Home » Creative, Art, Web and Design
Chinese Tattoos vs Japanese Kanji Tattoos
The Japanese Kanji are essentially Chinese words, the ancient Japanese borrowed and adapted it into their Nippon-Go language, thus the words and meaning are the same, only the pronunciation is different. The ‘worm’ like Japanese words are originally Japanese, but not he Kanji words. As for the Koreans, they’ve totally abandoned the Chinese words and reinvented their own words and language system. The Korean words can be easily identified by their strong use of ‘box’ symbols, lots of boxes. Nippon-Go is more worm like.
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Chinese Zodiac
There are 12 Zodiac in the Chinese calendar, same goes with the Japanese. The only difference is instead of a goat, the Japanese substitute it with a sheep. Since the Chinese calendar uses a different system compared to the Georgian calendar, you will have to look up birth-date on Wikipedia (Chinese Calendar) for your Chinese Zodiac. As usual, always double check before you ink the tattoo.
Our 4 Favorite Tattoos
Below are 4 of our favorite Chinese Tattoos, they are dragon, patience, book and peace. The Dragon and Patience are all time favorite, the ‘Patience’ word is more meaningful in the sense that it is a combo of 2 Chinese word, Knife (top) and heart (down). When combined, it creates a new word and meaning – Without patience, the knife will strike the heart. Click on image for a higher resolution.
More Chinese Japanese Kanji Tattoos
Here are even more best of the best Chinese Japanese tattoos symbols for men, women, girls, and more. From love to flower, from koi to sleeves. Click on the image for the full resolution, to search for a specific word in English, hit ‘Ctrl’ + ‘F’ button on your browser. The search box will appear and you can perform a quick search for the word you’ve been searching for.
- Spirit, Men, Father, Child, Grandson, Sunrise, Sunset
- Soul, Contract, Divorce, Military, Power, Soldier, Ancestor / Clan
- Pray, Supreme Being, Immortal Being, Guard / Defend, Listen / Obey, Football, Boxing
- Holy / Sacred, Buddha / Buddhism, Temple, God, Minister, Heaven / Sky, Gate of Heaven
- Uncle, Sage, Talisman, Butterfly, Mantis, Spider, Centipede
- Husband, Elder Brother, Younger Brother, Rich, Gamble, Genius, Crown
- Laugh / Smile, Flower, Rose, Master, Teacher, Ruler / Monarch, King
- Cheerful, Eternity, Friends, Married Couple, Wife, Mother, Grandmother
- Win, Wolf
- Strong, Crazy
- Taboo, Treasure
- Shit, Battle
- Angel, Last
- Heaven, Jihad
- Space, Murder
- Sun, Doll
- Moonshine, C eschatology
- God, Goddess
- Kill, Rock
- Sound, Secret
- Evil, Daybreak
- Death, Metal
- Black, Master
- Foolish, Violate / Attack, Deceive / Bully, Mentally Deranged / Insane, Violent / Hot Tempered, Grave, Feareful / Intimidate
- Humble, Devious / Evil, Mad / Crazy, Kill, Slaughter, Strong, Fierce
- Defiance / Tough, Poison, Sinister / Secret, Interrogate, Beat / Torture, Butcher, Decapitate
- Obscene, Dirty / Filthy, Corpse, Prisoner, Execute Criminal, Fight, Barbarians / Savages
- Tragedy, Happiness, Wisdom
Top 50 Popular Japanese Kanji Tattoos
If you are looking for basic kanji characters that are popular and meaningful, here are 50 of them. To search for the calligraphy font, Google the word in bracket under Google Images. Here is an example of ‘The Code of Samurai (Bushidou)‘
- Ambition (Yabou)
- Beauty (Bi)
- Belief (Shinnen)
- Bravery (Yuukan)
- Buddhism (Bukkyou)
- Courage (Yuuki)
- The Code of Samurai (Bushidou)
- Desire (Yokubou)
- Dragon (Ryuu)
- Dream (yume)
- Enlightenment (Satori)
- Eternity (Eien)
- Freedom (Jiyuu)
- Friendship (Yuujou)
- God (Kami)
- Happiness (Koufuku)
- Honor (Meiyo)
- Hope (Kibou)
- Ideal (Risou)
- Illusion (Gensou)
- Justice (Seigi)
- Legend (Densetsu)
- Love (Ai)
- Loyalty (Chuujitsu)
- Meditation (Mokusou)
- Moon (Tsuki)
- Nature (Shizen)
- Ocean (Umi)
- Passion (Jounetsu)
- Peace (Heiwa)
- Perfect (Kanzen)
- Power (Chikara)
- Pride (Hokori)
- Promise (Yakusoku)
- Rainbow (Niji)
- Respect (Sonkei)
- Samurai
- Secret (Himitsu)
- Sky (Sora)
- Shogun
- Star (Hoshi)
- Soul (Tamashii)
- Spirit (Seishin)
- Success (Seikou)
- Sun (Taiyou)
- Truth (Shinjitsu)
- Universe (Uchuu)
- Victory (Shouri)
- Wisdom (Chie)
- Zen
Some Interesting Facts About Tattoo
Some truth, history and facts regarding tattoo.
bad handwriting
Spirit, Men, Father, Child, Grandson, Sunrise, Sunset
Soul, Contract, Divorce, Military, Power, Soldier, Ancestor / Clan
Pray, Supreme Being, Immortal Being, Guard / Defend, Listen / Obey, Football, Boxing
Holy / Sacred, Buddha / Buddhism, Temple, God, Minister, Heaven / Sky, Gate of Heaven
Uncle, Sage, Talisman, Butterfly, Mantis, Spider, Centipede
Husband, Elder Brother, Younger Brother, Rich, Gamble, Genius, Crown
Laugh / Smile, Flower, Rose, Master, Teacher, Ruler / Monarch, King
Cheerful, Eternity, Friends, Married Couple, Wife, Mother, Grandmother
Foolish, Violate / Attack, Deceive / Bully, Mentally Deranged / Insane, Violent / Hot Tempered, Grave, Feareful / Intimidate
Humble, Devious / Evil, Mad / Crazy, Kill, Slaughter, Strong, Fierce
Defiance / Tough, Poison, Sinister / Secret, Interrogate, Beat / Torture, Butcher, Decapitate
Obscene, Dirty / Filthy, Corpse, Prisoner, Execute Criminal, Fight, Barbarians / Savages
This is certainly not my writing.
I think you are mistaken in your interpretation
休=Stop(not Divorce)
帝(XX大帝、皇帝)=King(King of XX)
宗=Clan(messy writing)
蚣not good(蜈蚣is Better)
玟different玫，Rose(玫瑰)
終末(Strange 盡頭is Better)
歪、艮、淫、慘劇What a joke???not good for Tatoo
知惠is japanese
I am wonder if any body knows what (mental strength)looks like in japanese kanji
Usually you wouldn’t find good words in Japanese/Chinese that corresponding to your English words.
What you think attractive is not as attractive for Japanese. (At the same time, what Japanese think is attractive is not attractive for you, because of cultural difference.)
I would descrive ‘mental strength’ as 忍 which means patiency in both Japanese and Chinese, also is a famous Kanji (for Non-Japanese people) because it is the first charactor of Ninja/忍者(Ninja literally means ‘a patient guy’) in Japan. Japanese people would think ‘Oh that is a typical foreigner who Japanese culture’. But at least nobody would think that is stupid.
Many mistake and bad writings in 4×7 boxes
Hello,
Does anyone happen to know how “With Pain Comes Strength” would be written in kanji ?
I advice you to seek advice from a professor that is dual-lingual. Tattoo is permanent, you do not want a bad mistake.
Hi I’m new here, I do have 5 different cultures but I do have Japanese and Chinese..
Hi! Numerous opportunities to observe foreigners with kanji tattoos arise in Japan, both via the internet and when walking around town. Being Japanese, this makes me very happy and I admire their wonderful designs and the messages contained therein. However, you can also often see designs that make no sense whatsoever or contain mistakes in the characters themselves. I created this website because I think that if youʼre going to inscribe something permanently on your body, it is better to thoroughly understand the meaning of it, and to be certain that these are enduring words to live by or an important message. I will be happy if my site is even slightly helpful to anyone thinking about getting a kanji tattoo design.