Death in Chinese or Japanese Calligraphy

This is the short version of a longer Chinese phrase which means, "rather be shattered piece of jade than an unbroken piece of pottery". The characters shown above just say the "rather be a broken piece of jade" part (the second half is implied - everyone in China knows this idiom).

A little more explanation:
Death is implied with the "broken" meaning. Jade is one of the most precious materials in Chinese history, and in this case is compared with one's honor and self-worth. Pottery is just something you eat off of, it has no deep value, just as a person who has lost their honor, or had none to begin with.
Thus, this means, "better to die with honor than to live in shame" or words to that effect.

This is often translated in English as "Death Before Dishonor", the famous military slogan.

I would also compare this to the English phrase, "Better to die on your feet than live on your knees".

This is the long version of a Chinese phrase which means, "rather be shattered piece of jade than an unbroken piece of pottery".

A little more explanation:
Death is implied with the "broken" meaning. Jade is one of the most precious materials in Chinese history, and in this case is compared with one's honor and self-worth. Pottery is just something you eat off of, it has no deep value, just as a person who has lost their honor, or had none to begin with.
Thus, this means, "better to die with honor than to live in shame" or words to that effect.

This is often translated in English as "Death Before Dishonor", the famous military slogan.

I would also compare this to the English phrase, "Better to die on your feet than live on your knees".

This is an idiom. It therefore doesn't directly say exactly what it means. If you think about the English idiom, "The grass is always greener", it does not directly say "jealousy" or "envy" but everyone knows that it is implied.

This is often translated as "Death Before Dishonor". The more literal translation is more like, "Better to die than compromise". The last two characters mean "not to bend" or "not to bow down". Some might even say that it means "not to surrender". Thus, you could say this phrase means, "Better to die than live on my knees" or simply "no surrender" (with the real idea being that you would rather die than surrender).

This almost directly matches the idea of "Death Before Dishonor", while also being an ancient Chinese phrase.

The direct meaning is, "[you] can die/kill [but you] cannot [allow] dishonor/disgrace [upon yourself]". Chinese grammar, and especially ancient grammar is a little different than English. Not nearly as many articles are needed, and a lot is implied.

There are a lot of ways to express ideas similar to "Death Before Dishonor" in Chinese, and I would rate this one in the top two.

This almost directly matches the military idea of "Death Before Dishonor", while also being an ancient Chinese phrase.

The direct meaning is, "[A] soldier/warrior can die/kill [but he/she] cannot [allow] dishonor/disgrace [upon himself/herself]". Chinese grammar, and especially ancient grammar is a little different than English. Not nearly as many articles are needed, and a lot is implied.

There are a lot of ways to express ideas similar to "Death Before Dishonor" in Chinese, and I would rate this one in the top two.

This is the original form of this phrase with the character for "soldier/warrior" at the beginning. Most of the time, this character is dropped, and this becomes a five-character phrase (the soldier/warrior part is implied, even without the character being present in the phrase). We also offer the shorter version.

This was added at the request of a customer. This is not a good choice for a wall scroll unless you have a very specific and personal reason.

This means "death with dignity" or "natural death" (as opposed to extending one's life unnaturally with life support).

This ancient Chinese idiom can be translated as "Rather to die than surrender", "Prefer death over surrender", "To prefer death to surrender", or simply "No surrender".

This is probably the closest phrase to the English phrase "Better to die on your feet than live on your knees".

This ancient Japanese idiom can be translated as "The principle of honorable death and no surrender", or simply "No surrender". If you directly translate this, you get something that means "Doctrine of suicide", or "Ideology of honorable death".

This is a specifically-Japanese phrase that embraces the long history of honorable suicide or self-sacrifice for honor in Japanese culture.

This is the most sophisticated way to write "assassin" in Chinese, Korean and Japanese. The unsophisticated way just means murderer.

This phrase means "Old and ailing with little time left" or "Not long for this world".
There is a real suggestion here that someone will die soon.

This was added by special request of a customer, and is perhaps, not the most positive phrase that you could put on a wall scroll.

This would be the most offensive possible gift to give to an older person - please do not do that!

These are the last two words from John 3:16 in the Chinese Union Bible.
Although not specifically Christian, this is the way to express ever-lasting life or eternal life in Chinese.
In Japanese this can either mean eternal life or immortality.

See Also...  Eternity | Rebirth | Reincarnation | Immortality

This word can be used in many different ways. It is often used to express the next life (life in heaven or wherever your soul is bound for). So it does have a religious overtone. However, it can also be used to express your life in the future - perhaps during your present lifetime. It can also be translated as "the next world", "the next generation", "the time that is to come", "otherworld", or simply "posterity".

See Also...  Eternity | Rebirth | Reincarnation | Immortality

This is the state of being "not permanent", "not enduring", transitory, or evolving. It can also mean variable or changeable. In some context, it can refer to a ghost that is supposed to take a soul upon death. Following that, this term can also mean to pass away or die.

In Buddhist context, this is a reminder that everything in this world is ever-changing and all circumstances of your life are temporary. If you take the Buddhist philosophy further, none of your circumstances are real, and your existence is an illusion anyway.

Language notes:
In Korean Hanja, this means uncertainty, transiency, mutability, or evanescent.
In Japanese, the definition orbits closer to the state of being uncertain.

This is how to write "to kill" or "killing".

This is an absolutely shocking word to have on a wall scroll. It will bewilder, scare, and perhaps offend any Chinese, Korean, or Japanese person who sees it. I do not in any way recommend this for a piece of calligraphy artwork. This entry is only here because our calligraphy search engine received so many requests for "kill".

Note: In Korean Hanja, this character is not often used alone - see the other two-character entry for "kill".

This is how to write "kill" or "massacre".

This is an absolutely shocking word to have on a wall scroll. It will bewilder, scare, and perhaps offend any Chinese, Korean or Japanese person who sees it. I do not in any way recommend this for a piece of calligraphy artwork. This entry is only here because our calligraphy search engine received so many requests for "kill" and "massacre".

You are all a bunch of sick puppies!

This suggests "Legendary Phoenix rises from the ashes". Literally, it means, "Legendary Phoenix [reaches] Nirvana".

There is a legend in China of a great bird which is reborn once every 500 years. This bird gathers all the ill-will, suffering, desire, and other negative things of the whole world. The bird then plunges into the fire to burn away all negative things, sacrificing itself in the process (achieving Nirvana, or perhaps allowing others the opportunity to reach Nirvana).

500 years later, the phoenix is reborn from the ashes again, and the cycle repeats.

This is the Chinese word for rebirth. This can be used literally or metaphorically. As a metaphor, you could use this to say something like "We are watching the rebirth of New Orleans after the disaster of Katrina".

This is sometimes translated as "renaissance".

Note: This is not the Buddhist concept of reincarnation or re-birth.

See Also...  Reincarnation

This is the Chinese, Japanese and Korean word for resurrection or rebirth. Basically this means "return to life".

It is the term used in most Asian Bibles to refer to the resurrection of Christ. In Japanese, it is sometimes used to mean a Christian Revival. In some context it can mean resuscitation.

See Also...  Christianity | Jesus Christ | God Of Abraham

This is the Buddhist idea of reincarnation or transmigration.

Other definitions of this term: "Attainer of Nirvana from within the desire realm", "A practitioner who enters directly into Nirvana from the desire realm, without traversing the form and formless realms. One of the 27 kinds of Hinayana sages", or simply, "to return again to this life".

This is also a Japanese title, but the first Kanji was slightly simplified after WWII. Just let us know if you want the modern Japanese version when you order.

See Also...  Buddhism | Rebirth

This is a universal word in Japanese and Chinese that expresses the Buddhist idea of "reincarnation", "transmigration of souls" or "the eternal cycle of birth and death". In some context, this can also mean "karma".

The first character means wheel, ring, turn, circle, loop or rotate.
The second character can be thought of as a suffix meaning "-times". This second character can also refer to something that revolves, returns, goes back, or a counter for the number of occurrences of some event.
Together the sum supersedes the parts and it means reincarnation. But knowing the seeing the essence of each character may help you understand some of the meaning behind the word.

If you request this selection from our Japanese master calligrapher, please expect that the second Kanji will look like the one shown to the right. This is the more common way to write this in Japanese. It's an alternate form of this character in Chinese (so neither way is technically wrong in either language).

See Also...  Buddhism | Rebirth