Japanese & Chinese Love Symbol - Calligraphy Wall Scrolls

This is a very universal character. It means love in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, old Korean Hanja, and old Vietnamese.

This is one of the most recognized Asian symbols in the west, and is often seen on tee-shirts, coffee mugs, tattoos, and more.

This character can also be defined as affection, to be fond of, to like, or to be keen on. It often refers to romantic love, and is found in phrases like, "I love you". But in Chinese, one can say, "I love that movie" using this character as well.

It's very common for couples to say "I love you" in Chinese. However, in Japanese, "love" is not a term used very often. In fact, a person is more likely to say "I like you" rather than "I love you" in Japanese. So this word is well-known, but seldom spoken.

More about this character:

This may be hard to imagine as a westerner, but the strokes at the top of this love character symbolize family & marriage.

The symbol in the middle is a little easier to identify. It is the character for "heart" (it can also mean "mind" or "soul"). I guess you can say that no matter if you are from the East or the West, you must put your heart into your love.

The strokes at the bottom create a modified character that means "friend" or "friendship".

I suppose you could say that the full meaning of this love character is to love your family, spouse, and friends with all of your heart, since all three elements exist in this character.

See Also...  I Love You | Caring | Benevolence | Friendliness | Double Happiness Happy Marriage Wall Scroll

The best kind of love to have I suppose. This word has the well-know character for love. But the second character modifies and/or reinforces the meaning to become adore, adoring love, or to love and adore.

I say that I suppose this is the best kind of love because adoring someone is fine, until you are in the shoes of the Prince of the Kingdom of Wu. This Prince adored a certain beautiful woman (Xi Shi) so much that he neglected his duties, and soon let the kingdom fall into ruins.

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Any woman with affection for Asian art and you will love a gift of this calligraphy on a wall scroll. She will melt in your arms as you tell her the meaning of these characters.

Contained in this phrase is a reference to the most beautiful woman in Chinese history. Her name was Xi Shi, and she was known to have good looks that need not fine robes or make up. Her charms were so powerful that she brought down an entire kingdom (in a successful effort to bring honor and pride back to her people).

This is exactly what the title suggests. The words directly translate from English to Chinese characters. This is a common phrase used between lovers in China.

Note: While the Japanese language uses the same characters, this phrase would not be spoken - it's kind of taboo in Japan. A man might tell a woman that he likes her with the phrase "Watashi wa anata ga suki-desu" (I regarding you have liking). If your audience is Japanese, avoid this "I love you" phrase. If you need something special, we have a Japanese translator on call.

This is a universal word in Japanese, Korean and Chinese which means love and affection. Some may translate this as "love between a man and a woman". Depending on context, it can mean utter devotion or favorite.

This is a slightly poetic way to express this sentiment to someone.

The meaning is "My True Love" but the characters directly translate as "I/Me/My Heart/Mind True/Real Love".

Note that Chinese grammar and construction are different, so this sounds very eloquent and artsy in Chinese.
In Korean Hanja, the third character should be written differently, just let me know when you place your order if you want that version - it will still make sense in Chinese. This phrase makes sense in Korean, but not commonly used.

The first two characters mean eternal, eternally, everlasting, and/or perpetual.

The third character is a possessive article which sort of makes this selection mean "Love of the eternal kind".

The last character is "love".

This version is best if your audience is Chinese. We also have a Japanese version of this entry.

See Also...  Forever Love | Eternal Love (japanese)

The first two characters mean eternal, eternity, perpetuity, forever, immortality, and permanence.

The third character is a possessive article which sort of makes this selection mean "Love, of the eternal kind".

The last character is "love".

Cultural note: Most of the time, it is taboo to use the word "love" in Japanese. For instance, a Japanese man will say, "I like you", rather than, "I love you", to his spouse/girlfriend. However, this entry for eternal love is acceptable because of the way it is composed.

This entry is only appropriate if your audience is Japanese. We also have a Chinese version of this phrase.

The first character here means "love"

The last two mean eternal, eternally, everlasting, and/or perpetual.

This is the shortest way to express the idea of "love eternally" in Chinese.

See Also...  Love Forever

The first character here means "love".

The last two mean forever, eternity, eternal, perpetuity, immortality, and/or permanence.

This is the shortest and most universal way to express this idea in Chinese and Japanese.

Japanese note: This sound more like a title than a phrase in Japanese (if that makes any sense). This is a great title for a romantic book, title of a movie, name of a perfume, or even a name for a store.

See Also...  Eternal Love | Forever Love

This is literally "True Love" in Chinese.

The first character means "real", "true" and "genuine". The second character means "love" and "affection".

During the customization of your calligraphy wall scroll, there is a place to add an inscription. You might want that inscription to be your names in Chinese down the side of your wall scroll, or perhaps just below these two main characters (just $9 extra). A nice gift to celebrate an anniversary or marriage!

In Chinese and Korean, this means universal fraternity, brotherhood, or universal love.

In Japanese, this means charity, benevolence, philanthropy, or love for humanity.

Please note these subtle differences and take that into account depending on your intended audience (Chinese, Korean or Japanese).

See Also...   Benevolence | Altruism

This is the love between siblings. When you love, protect, care for, and have a deep bond that only brothers or sisters can.

The actual translation is "Hand and Foot" but it is said the relationship between brothers or sisters is like that of hands and feet. They belong together, and complete the body. Even though this says "hand and foot", it will always be read with the brotherly and sisterly love meaning in Chinese.

Note: During the past 20 years, the "One child policy" in China is slowly making this term obsolete.

This is the Chinese and Japanese way to express "Peace and Love". These are two separate words, so the calligrapher will put a slight space between the first two characters which mean peace, and the last two which represent universal love. This space is not shown on the sample character images for this phrase.

A special note: Word lists may seem okay in English, but feel strange in Chinese and Japanese. We don't offer too many of them, but this one is often-requested, and feels okay in Chinese and Japanese, though a bit uncommon in Korean.

See Also...  Peace

This is how the name for Venus, Goddess of Love is written in Chinese characters.

This means love passionately, ardent love, devotion. The literal meaning is "hot love", as the first character means heat, fervent, hot and warm. Sometimes it can mean fever, restless, or zeal. The second character is, of course, love.

This can mean the best love or most sincere love of your life. This could be a romantic love such as the love you have for your spouse or a boyfriend / girlfriend. It can also apply to the extreme love you have for your children or a parent, and maybe a really good friend.

See Also...  I Love You

This Japanese word means the best love or most sincere love of your life. This could be a romantic love such as the love you have for your spouse or a boyfriend / girlfriend. It can also apply to the extreme love you have for your children or a parent, and maybe a really good friend.

This is the simplest way to express the idea of compassion. It can also mean love for your fellow humans, humanity, or living creatures. Sometimes this is extended to mean charity.

This term is often used with Buddhist or Christian context. The concept was also spoken of by Laozi (Lao Tze) in the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching).

This Chinese character is understood in Japanese, but is usually used in compound words (not seen alone). Also used in Korean Hanja, so it's very universal.

See Also...  Mercy | Benevolence | Forgiveness | Kindness

The first two characters mean forever, eternal, eternity, perpetuity, immortality, and/or permanence.

The third character is a possessive article which sort of makes this selection mean "The forever kind of love".

The last character is "love".

See Also...  Eternal Love

This is a basic way to express "God is Love" in Chinese.

These two characters mean, "Destiny that brings lovers together". It can also be translated technically as, "Predestined matrimonial affinity" (wow, talk about taking the romance out of this word - that was from the Oxford C-E dictionary).

Basically, this is talking about the fate (or karma) that brings a husband and wife together. I would translate this as "Together by fate" or "Joined by destiny", but in the context of marriage. You could use this for non-married lovers, but the first character has a suggestion that this refers to those that are married.

This is the Chinese phrase for "[your] Loving Life". Some also translate this as "Loving Life" or "Life full of Love".

This is about being a loving person (to spouse and/or family) during your life. This is not the same as loving the state of being alive - not "love of living", but rather "being loving person during your life".

Note: Korean pronunciation is included above, though use of this phrase in Korean has not been verified.

This came from a customer's request, but it's not too bad. These three simple characters suggest that you are born, you learn to love, and then exit the world.

In English, the word order shown in the title is the most natural or popular. In Chinese, the natural order is a little different:

The first character means laugh (sometimes means smile).

The second character means love.

The last two characters mean "live" as in "to be alive" or "pursue life".

Please note: This is not a normal phrase, in that it does not have a subject, verb, and object. It is a word list. Word lists are not common in Asian languages/grammar (at least not as normal as they are in English). We only added this entry because so many people requested it.

We put the characters in the order shown above, as it almost makes a single word with the meaning, "A life of laughter and love". It's a made-up word, but it sounds good in Chinese.

We removed the Japanese pronunciation guide from this entry, as the professional Japanese translator deemed it "near nonsense" from a Japanese perspective. Choose this only if your audience is Chinese and you want the fewest-possible characters to express this idea.

Whether you want to make a joke about what marriage really is, or just feel that the world in full of love and hate, this selection is for you.

These characters happen to literally translate. So the first character is love. The middle character is a connecting particle like "and" in English. The last character is hate.

Upon request, we can omit the "and" character and just put a dot to separate love and hate if you prefer.

This is a weird selection for a calligraphy wall scroll. But if you really want it, we'll do it.

This version is most appropriate if your audience is Japanese or Korean (for Koreans who can read the ancient Korean Hanja).

The first character means love or affection.
The second character means hate, dislike, detest, or loathe.

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This literally translates as, "Love [your] children in [your] heart, [but] be stern [with them] in [your] manner".

This is a little like saying "Love your child, but don't spare the switch".

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This literally translates as: if one loves a flower, [one will] love it's pot; [if one really] loves [one's] daughter, [one will also] love [one's] son-in-law.

Figuratively, is similar to the English phrases:
Love me, love my dog.
Love for a person extends even to the crows on his roof.

This means to love and honor. This is more or less the kind of thing you'd find in marriage vows.

The first character suggests emotions, passion, and feelings.
In this context, the second character means to honor your lover's wishes, and treat them justly and righteously (fairly).

This is the short and sweet form, there is also a longer poetic form (you can find it here: Love and Honor if it's not on the page you are currently viewing).

See Also...  Love And Honor

This means to love and honor. This is more or less the kind of thing you'd find in marriage vows.

The first two characters suggest deep love or deep emotions, passion, and feelings.
The last two characters mean generous justice or thick honor (the third character is an adjective that means generous or thick). It just means that you will honor your lover's wishes, and treat them justly and righteously (fairly).

This is the longer four-character version, there is also a short and sweet two character version (you can find it here: Love and Honor if it's not on the page you are currently viewing).

See Also...  Love And Honor

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Because a word list of "Live Laugh Love" is not natural in Japanese, this takes the concept and incorporates it into a proper phrase.

This can be translated as, "A life of love and laughter" or "Live life with love and laughter".

This is the Chinese phrase for "Love Life" or "Love of Life".

If you love your life, or want a reminder on your wall to keep you loving your life each day, this is the selection for you.

To clarify, this is different than "A life full of love", or "love while you live". With this phrase, you are loving the state of being alive.

Note: Korean pronunciation is included above, though use of this phrase in Korean has not been verified.

This is a nice way to say "Love and Respect" in Chinese.

This phrase is about the mutual exchange of love and respect within a good relationship.

The first two characters create a word that means, "to love each other" or "mutual love".

The third character means mutual, interlocking, or in some contexts "to dovetail" (as in the way joints are made in fine furniture).

The last character means, "to respect", "to venerate", "to salute", "reverence", or simply "respect".

This is an old Chinese idiom that suggests love and respect go together and are to be exchanged between people (especially couples).

The first two characters mean, "exchanging respect" or "mutual respect".

The last two characters create a word that means, "to love each other" or "mutual love".

You'll notice that the first and third characters are the same. So you can read this literally as something like "Exchange respect, exchange love" or "Mutual respect, mutual love". In English, we'd probably just say, "Mutual love and respect". Grammar differs in every language - So while the literal translation might sound a bit awkward in English, this phrase is very natural in Chinese.

This entry was added at the request of a customer. This is how to write "love without reason" in Mandarin Chinese (using proper grammar, etc).

This is not a commonly-used, nor ancient phrase in Chinese.

This means lover, sweetheart or beloved in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

This term is gender-neutral, so anyone can use it.

In modern Japan and China, the first character has been simplified. We suggest the traditional version, as shown above if your audience is Chinese or Korean. However, this generation of Japanese are more likely to recognize the simplified version. If you want this simple (modern Japanese) version, please click on the image shown to the right, instead of the button above.

This means lover, sweetheart or beloved in Chinese and Japanese Kanji.

This term is gender-neutral, so anyone can use it.

Please note that this term can easily be read or used to mean "mistress" or the kind of lover that you have an affair with. The context in which this word is used affects the actual meaning. Husbands and wives or boyfriends and girlfriends can also use this term for each other with no ill-meaning.

This means "one love". This is not referring to a person, but the emotion of love. It's like saying "A piece of love" or "One unit of love". There's not a perfect way to express a singular love, which is probably what you were searching for.

This is the last line of a famous poem. It is perceived as a tribute or ode to your parent's 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 sun light 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 which 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).

This phrase literally means:
"Strength [and] Love [are] Not Two [separate ideas/concepts/things]".

You'll find this phrase translated from Japanese to English as:
Love and strength are not separate.
Power and love are indivisible.
Strength and love in harmony.
Strength and love stand together.

Old Japanese grammar is quite different than English, and so this phrase says a lot within the brevity of just 4 characters. If you just read these characters directly as, "Strength Love Not Two", you'd probably miss the real meaning.

According to the Swedish Shorinji Kempo Federation, this is the second characteristic of Shorinji Kempo.

This post really explains the concept best in my opinion: Bushido by MS: Riki Ai Fu Ni, which states: "Riki Ai Funi" is the philosophy that power (Riki) and love (Ai) are indivisible. More concretely, a person, who is powerful but does not have love, cannot control and misuse his/her power; on the other hand, a person, who has loved ones but is not powerful enough, cannot protect himself/herself nor loved ones.

This is how the name for Aphrodite, Goddess of Love is written in Chinese characters.

Beyond "benevolence" word can be also be defined as "charity" or "mercy" depending on context.

The meaning suggests that one should pay alms to the poor, care for those in trouble, and take care of his fellow man (or woman).

This is one of the five tenets of Confucius. In fact, it is a subject in which Confucius spent a great deal of time explaining to his disciples.

I have also seen this benevolent-related word translated as perfect virtue, selflessness, love for humanity, humaneness, goodness, good will, or simply "love" in the non-romantic form.

This word is so important to me that I named my second daughter with this character. Her name is "Renni" which means "Benevolent Girl".
-Gary.

This is also a virtue of the Samurai Warrior
See our page with just Code of the Samurai / Bushido here

See Also...  Altruism | Kindness | Charity | Brotherhood | Confucius

This means benevolent heart, compassionate heart, or merciful heart in Japanese. This is a Japanese only phrase, and should be ordered from our Japanese master calligrapher. This is because the third character is special Hiragana.

Chances are you are into Inuyasha and are seeking the title of chapter 471 which is often translated as "Merciful Heart".

See Also...  Altruism

Caring is giving love and attention to people and things that matter to you and anyone who is in need of help. When you care about people, you help them. You do a careful job, giving your very best effort. You treat people and things gently and respectfully. Caring makes the world a safer place.

This means caring in Chinese, and is also a word in Korean Hanja, but with more of a flavor or "taking an interest" and "concern".

Note, this is also a word in Korean Hanja, but in Korean, it means taking interest or concern. In Korean it's still a good word, but it doesn't quite have the "caring for a person" meaning that it does in Chinese.

See Also...   Benevolence | Altruism

This means cherish, to treasure, or to love dearly in Chinese.

This means cherish, to treasure, or to prize in Japanese.

Compassion is caring and understanding someone is hurt or troubled (even if you don't know them). It is wanting to help, even if all you can do is listen and say kind words. You forgive mistakes. You are a friend when someone needs a friend.

These same two characters contain this meaning of compassion and sympathy in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, which makes this word universal.

See Also...  Caring | Kindness

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This is First Corinthians 13:4 written in Chinese.

Shown with large "love" character in master calligrapher Xing An-Ping's "Personal Lishu" style.

In English, this reads:

1st Corinthians 13:4 (KJV) Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up...

1st Corinthians 13:4 (NIV) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

1st Corinthians 13:4 (Basic English) Love is never tired of waiting; love is kind; love has no envy; love has no high opinion of itself, love has no pride.

The Chinese translation follows the love meaning, rather than the King James use of "charity". I was a little confused when writing this description with the significant differences between the NIV vs. KJV translations. After speaking to a Greek scholar about this, it would seem that the KJV has an almost errant translation with the use of "charity" in place of "love".

We used the most popular Christian Chinese Bible, which is the Chinese Union Version (CUV). The CUV was first published in 1919. We use this so that the Chinese translation would be as accurate and standard as possible. Any Chinese Christian worth their salt will easily be able to identify this verse when they see these characters.

If you want a big "love" character written above the verse on your artwork, just make a note in the "special instructions" tab when you are customizing your artwork. There is no extra charge for that service on this special verse.

Kindness is showing you care, doing some good to make life better for others. Be thoughtful about people's needs. Show love and compassion to someone who is sad or needs your help. When you are tempted to be cruel, to criticize or tease, decide to be kind instead.

This Chinese / Japanese / Korean word can also mean affectionate, cordial, warmly, or close (emotionally).

See Also...   Caring | Benevolence

This literally means "loving heart". It can also be translated as "compassion".

Specifically in Japanese, this can be defined as a loving heart, a mind full of desire, or a mind dominated by desire.

In Chinese, it carries more of a compassion meaning.

See Also...  Compassion

This is the true essence of sincerity. It takes strength of personality to be truly sincere without over-doing it. Speaking of strength, this is probably the strongest way to convey the idea of sincerity in the Chinese language without over-doing it.

The first character literally means true, real, and genuine. While the second character means sincere and honest.

See Also...  Honor

This is the literal translation of "Soul Mates". Meaning it is kind of the western way to express "soul mates", but translated into Chinese. The first two characters mean "soul" or "spirit". The second two characters mean "mate", "companion" or "partner".

These are also two words in Korean Hanja, but not often seen together like this - however, it does have the same good meaning in Korean.

This has good meaning in Japanese, but not a commonly-used title in Japan.