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2. Soul Mates
6. Friend
7. Friendship
8. Eternal Friendship / Friends Forever
9. Soul Sisters
10. Shuang
13. The Red String
精神伴侶 means “Spiritual Soul Mates.” The first two characters mean “spiritual” or “soul.” The second two characters mean “mates,” “companions,” or “partners.”
This is more about the spiritual connection between partners rather than a “fate-brought-us-together” kind of soul mates.
Both halves of this title have meaning in Japanese but I've not yet confirmed that this is a commonly used title in Japan.
靈魂伴侶 is the literal translation of “Soul Mates.”
This is kind of the western way to express “soul mates” but translated into Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
The first two characters mean “soul” or “spirit.”
The second two characters mean “mate,” “companion” or “partner.”
Although not the most common title, these characters have good meaning and will be received well in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. It's a universal title!
魂の友 is one of a few ways to write “Soul Mates” in Japanese.
The first Kanji means soul, spirit, ghost, immortal soul, the mind, or conscious mind. From Sanskrit, it's Vijñāna.
The middle character is a Japanese Hiragana connecting or possessive article that links the two ideas together.
The last Kanji means friends or friendship.
It was tough to find the best way to say “soul mates” in Chinese. We settled on 天生一對 as an old way to say, “A couple selected by heaven.”
The first two characters together mean “natural” or “innate.” Separated, they mean “heaven” and “born.” The last two characters mean “couple.” So this can be translated as “A couple that is together by nature,” or “A couple brought together by heaven's decree.” With a slight stretch, you could say, “A couple born together from heaven.”
It's a struggle to find the best way to describe this idea in English but trust me, it is pretty cool, and it is a great way to say “soulmates.”
If you're in a happy relationship or marriage and think you have found your soul mate, this would be a wonderful wall scroll to hang in your home.
魂の伴侶 is a Japanese-only title for soulmates.
魂 means soul, spirit, immortal soul (the part of you that lives beyond your physical body), or the conscious mind. In the Buddhist context, this is vijñāna or viññāṇa (consciousness, life force, or mind).
の is a possessive article that connects everything here.
伴侶 means mates, companions, partners, and spouses.
心の伴侶 is a Japanese-only title for soulmates.
心 means heart, soul, mind, core, or center. In ancient times, the heart was believed to be the mind or center of your soul and being.
の is a possessive article that connects everything here.
伴侶 means mates, companions, partners, and spouses.
This Japanese version of soulmates is about two partners, coupled or joined by their hearts.
友 is the simplest way to express the idea of friends or friendship in Chinese.
It can mean friend, companion, or pal in Japanese. In Korean, it can mean friend, companion, or associate.
This single character is open to interpretation, so it can mean different things to different people (not necessarily a bad thing, as you can decide what it means to you). If you want a more concisely-defined word, you should probably pick one of our multi-character friendship-related words.
See Also: Best Friends | Friendly | Friendship
友達 is the most common way to say “friend” in Japanese.
See Also: Best Friends | Friendly | Friendship
友誼 can be defined as companionship or fellowship.
This word is common in Chinese and Korean Hanja but is seldom used in Japanese anymore.
See Also: Partnership | Friendliness
友情 can be translated as “camaraderie” or “fellowship.”
But this character combination is only used commonly in Japanese Kanji and Korean Hanja.
永遠的朋友 means friends that are eternal or a friendship that will last forever - you will remain the best of friends as long as you live.
The first two characters mean forever, eternal, eternity, perpetuity, immortality, and/or permanence.
The middle character links the words (it's a possessive article).
The last two characters represent friendship, or simply “friends.”
This is the Chinese surname “Shuang.”
This is also a word in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean that means two, double, pair, both, couple, twin, mates, or matched.
伴侶 is a Chinese, Japanese, and old Korean word that expresses the kind of partnership in which a good marriage is founded.
伴侶 could also be translated as mates or companionship or as a noun to refer to a partner or companion.
This does not have to include marriage but at least refers to a partnership with a deep relationship or bond.
Note that this is not the same as a business partner. Different words are used for various types business partnerships.
See Also: Friendship
姻緣紅線 is the legendary red string of destiny that binds all soul mates or lovers together.
In ancient Chinese culture, a mythological matchmaker named 月老 (Yuè Lǎo) was the controller of the fate that led lovers to meet. He did this by tying a celestial red string to the ankle of each person. Sometime during their life, they will meet and marry as fate dictates.
While the origin of the red string comes from China, it has spread to other parts of Asia (such as Japan, where it's known as 赤い糸).
Thread of Lover's Destiny / Fate
This literally translates as “the red string” or “the red thread” in Japanese, but the real meaning is much deeper...
In Japanese culture, it's believed that fate, destiny, or karma joins lovers by an unseen string, tied around one little finger of each. 赤い糸 is how soul mates find and are drawn to each other.
The Japanese concept of the red thread of fate, by most estimations, comes from Chinese folklore, where it's known as 姻緣紅線. The only difference is that in China, the celestial red thread is tied around the ankles of the lovers (versus what is usually represented as the pinky finger in Japan).
This in-stock artwork might be what you are looking for, and ships right away...
Gallery Price: $200.00
Your Price: $90.88
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
| Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
| Spiritual Soul Mates | 精神伴侶 精神伴侣 | sei shin han ryo seishinhanryo | jīng shén bàn lǚ jing1 shen2 ban4 lv3 jing shen ban lv jingshenbanlv | ching shen pan lü chingshenpanlü |
| Soul Mates | 靈魂伴侶 灵魂伴侣 | reikon hanryo reikonhanryo | líng hún bàn lǚ ling2 hun2 ban4 lv3 ling hun ban lv linghunbanlv | ling hun pan lü linghunpanlü |
| Soul Mates | 魂の友 | tamashii no tomo tamashiinotomo tamashi no tomo | ||
| Soul Mates | 天生一對 天生一对 | tiān shēng yí duì tian1 sheng1 yi2 dui4 tian sheng yi dui tianshengyidui | t`ien sheng i tui tienshengitui tien sheng i tui |
|
| Spiritual Soul Mates | 魂の伴侶 | tamashii no han ryo tamashiinohanryo tamashi no han ryo | ||
| Soul Mates at Heart | 心の伴侶 | kokoro no han ryo kokoronohanryo | ||
| Friend Friendship | 友 | tomo | yǒu / you3 / you | yu |
| Friend | 友達 友达 | tomo dachi / tomodachi | ||
| Friendship | 友誼 友谊 | yuugi / yugi | yǒu yì / you3 yi4 / you yi / youyi | yu i / yui |
| Friendship | 友情 | yuujou / yujo | yǒu qíng / you3 qing2 / you qing / youqing | yu ch`ing / yuching / yu ching |
| Eternal Friendship Friends Forever | 永遠的朋友 永远的朋友 | yǒng yuǎn de péng yǒu yong3 yuan3 de peng2 you3 yong yuan de peng you yongyuandepengyou | yung yüan te p`eng yu yungyüantepengyu yung yüan te peng yu |
|
| Soul Sisters | 姊妹花 | jiě mèi huā jie3 mei4 hua1 jie mei hua jiemeihua | chieh mei hua chiehmeihua |
|
| Shuang | 雙 双 | sō | shuāng / shuang1 / shuang | |
| Partnership: Marriage | 伴侶 伴侣 | hanryo | bàn lǚ / ban4 lv3 / ban lv / banlv | pan lü / panlü |
| The Red Thread of Fate | 姻緣紅線 姻缘红线 | yīn yuán hóng xiàn yin1 yuan2 hong2 xian4 yin yuan hong xian yinyuanhongxian | yin yüan hung hsien yinyüanhunghsien |
|
| The Red String | 赤い糸 | akai ito / akaiito | ||
| 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. | ||||
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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.
Some people may refer to this entry as Mates Kanji, Mates Characters, Mates in Mandarin Chinese, Mates Characters, Mates in Chinese Writing, Mates in Japanese Writing, Mates in Asian Writing, Mates Ideograms, Chinese Mates symbols, Mates Hieroglyphics, Mates Glyphs, Mates in Chinese Letters, Mates Hanzi, Mates in Japanese Kanji, Mates Pictograms, Mates in the Chinese Written-Language, or Mates in the Japanese Written-Language.