1. Love
2. Adoring Love
3. I Love You
6. Eternal Love
7. Eternal Love / Love Eternally
8. Love Forever / Love Eternal
9. True Love
10. Passionate Love / Ardent Love and Devotion
12. Divine Love
13. Forever Love
14. Greatest Love
16. Infinite Love
17. The Karma/Fate/Destiny that Brings Lovers Together
18. Love and Respect / Kindness and Respect
20. Universal Love
21. Love the House and Its Crow
24. Lover / Beloved
25. A Mother’s Love / Motherly Love
29. Pure Love
30. Benevolent Love
愛 universally means love in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, old Korean Hanja, and old Vietnamese.
愛 is one of the most recognized Asian symbols in the West and is often seen on tee shirts, coffee mugs, tattoos, and more.
愛 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.
This can also be a pet name or part of a pet name in the way we say “dear” or “honey” in English.
This can be a girl’s name “Ai” in both Chinese and Japanese.
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
愛慕 means “adoring love” in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
I suppose this is the best kind of love to have. 愛慕 has the common character for love. But the second character modifies and reinforces the meaning to become adore, adoring love, or to love and adore.
Ancient Chinese warning:
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.
It's very uncommon (some will say taboo) to say “I love you” in Japanese culture. It's especially awkward for a man to tell a woman this in Japanese. Everyone is more likely to say “Watashi wa anata ga suki desu” or “I like you” (literally, “I regarding you, have like.”
If you have to say “I love you” in Japanese, 愛してる is a selection of Kanji and Hiragana that provide a way.
Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.
愛情 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 the context, it can mean utter devotion or favorite.
永恆的愛 is the best way to write “Eternal Love” in Chinese.
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 eternal love.
See Also: Forever Love | Eternal Love (Japanese)
永遠の愛 is a great way to write “Eternal Love” in 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 eternal love.
愛永恆 is the shortest way to express the idea of “love eternally” in Chinese.
The first character here means “love”
The last two mean eternal, eternally, everlasting, and/or perpetual.
See Also: Love Forever
The first character here means “love.”
The last two mean forever, eternity, eternal, perpetuity, immortality, and/or permanence.
愛永遠 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). 愛永遠 is a great title for a romantic book, the title of a movie, the name of a perfume, or even a name for a store.
See Also: Eternal Love | Forever Love
真愛 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!
熱愛 means love passionately, ardent love, devotion, adoration.
The literal meaning is “hot love,” as the first character means heat, fervent, hot, and warm. Sometimes it can mean fever, restlessness, or zeal. The second character is, of course, love. If you adore and are devoted to someone with all your love, this is the title for you.
慈 is the simplest way to express the idea of compassion.
This can also mean love for your fellow humans, humanity, or living creatures. Sometimes this is extended to mean charity.
This term is often used in a Buddhist or Christian context. The concept was also spoken of by Laozi (Lao Tzu) in the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching).
慈 is considered the direct translation of the Sanskrit word मैत्री (maitrī) Pali word मेत्ता (mettā). In this context, it means benevolence, loving kindness, and goodwill.
This Chinese character is understood in Japanese but is usually used in compound words (not seen alone). Also used in old Korean Hanja, so it's very universal.
See Also: Mercy | Benevolence | Forgiveness | Kindness
永遠的愛 refers to love that will last forever.
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 Always
最偉大的愛 means “the greatest love” in Chinese.
Keeping in mind that Chinese is different than English, the first character is like “-est” or adding “the most” as a modifier to the next word.
The 2nd and 3rd characters mean great, mighty, and/or large.
The 4th is a possessive article.
The last is the character for love.
When you put it all together, you get a phrase that means the greatest love, enormous love, or the mightiest love.
姻緣 means “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).
This speaks to 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.
愛敬 is a Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja title that can mean “love and respect,” “kindness and respect,” “to love with reverence,” “charm,” “amiability,” “winsomeness,” “courtesy,” or “ingratiating behavior.”
Note: The wide-ranging definitions show that this word is a bit ambiguous without the context of being used in a sentence.
慈愛 refers to the kind of love and devotion you might have to your children or any loved one.
This especially applied to your children but could also be any member of your family - spouse, etc.
This can also be translated as affection, kindness, love, to love affectionately.
慈愛 is also used in a Buddhist context with the same meaning.
In Japanese, this can also be a female given name romanized as Yasue.
情定終身 is a pledge of eternal love in Chinese.
This can also be a colloquial way to refer to the act of exchanging marriage vows.
If you and your mate want to express how committed you are to your life-long love, this will be a great piece of calligraphy for your wall. Also, a nice phrase to celebrate an anniversary.
戀人 means lover, sweetheart, or beloved in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
This term is gender-neutral, so that 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 directly translates as, “First, love myself.”
While you might be looking for “Love yourself first,” there's the problem with yourself versus myself. If this is on your wall or tattooed on your arm, should it not say “myself” since it's directed at you, and not others?
See Also: Love Yourself First
This directly translates as, “First, love yourself.”
Because this uses “yourself” instead of “myself,” this is a direction for those reading it. It could be the owner of the art or those who view it.
This would be weird as a tattoo, so please avoid it since for whom the tattoo is directed would be confusing.
See Also: Love Myself First
仁慈 word is used in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Asian Buddhism to relay the important idea of loving kindness.
仁慈 can also be defined as: benevolent; charitable; kind; merciful; kind-hearted; benevolence; kindness; humanity; mercy.
In Japanese, this can also be the given name Hitoji. This would also be a good Mandarin Chinese given name romanized as Jentzu (in Taiwan) or Renci (which sounds like ren-tsuh).
身土不二 (Shindofuni) is originally a Buddhist concept or proverb referring to the inseparability of body-mind and geographical circumstances.
This reads, “Body [and] earth [are] not two.”
Other translations or matching ideas include:
Body and land are one.
Body and earth can not be separated.
Body earth sensory curation.
You are what you eat.
Indivisibility of the body and the land (because the body is made from food and food is made from the land).
Going further, this speaks of our human bodies and the land from which we get our food being closely connected. This phrase is often used when talking about natural and organic vegetables coming directly from the farm to provide the healthiest foods in Japan.
Character notes: 身(shin) in this context does not just mean your physical body but a concept including both body and mind.
土 (do) refers to the soil, earth, clay, land, or in some cases, locality. It's not the proper name of Earth, the planet. However, it can refer to the land or realm we live in.
Japanese note: This has been used in Japan, on and off, since 1907 as a slogan for a governmental healthy eating campaign (usually pronounced as shindofuji instead of the original shindofuni in this context). It may have been hijacked from Buddhism for this propaganda purpose, but at least this is “healthy propaganda.”
Korean note: The phrase 身土不二 was in use by 1610 A.D. in Korea, where it can be found in an early medical journal.
In modern South Korea, it's written in Hangul as 신토불이. Korea used Chinese characters (same source as Japanese Kanji) as their only written standard form of the language until about a hundred years ago. Therefore, many Koreans will recognize this as a native phrase and concept.
See Also: Strength and Love in Unity
愛心 literally means “loving heart.” It can also be translated as “compassion.”
In Chinese, it carries more of a compassionate meaning.
愛心 is rarely used in Japanese anymore, so best if your audience is Chinese.
See Also: Compassion
有緣千里來相會 means that fate or destiny has caused us to meet from a thousand miles away.
The 有緣 part suggests something that is connected as if by a thread due to fate, destiny, or karma.
This romantic phrase is seen in Chinese greeting cards. It relays the idea that your love was meant to be and that you were destined to meet (regardless of what distance or obstacles might have made such a meeting unlikely).
See Also: Red Thread
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The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Love | 愛 爱 | ai | ài / ai4 / ai | |
Adoring Love | 愛慕 爱慕 | ai bou / aibou / ai bo | ài mù / ai4 mu4 / ai mu / aimu | |
I Love You | 我愛你 我爱你 | wǒ ài nǐ wo3 ai4 ni3 wo ai ni woaini | ||
I Love You Aishiteru | 愛してる | ai shi te ru aishiteru | ||
Love and Affection | 愛情 爱情 | aijou / aijo | ài qíng / ai4 qing2 / ai qing / aiqing | ai ch`ing / aiching / ai ching |
Eternal Love | 永恆的愛 永恒的爱 | yǒng héng de ài yong3 heng2 de ai4 yong heng de ai yonghengdeai | yung heng te ai yunghengteai |
|
Eternal Love | 永遠の愛 | ei en no ai eiennoai | ||
Eternal Love Love Eternally | 愛永恆 爱永恒 | ài yǒng héng ai4 yong3 heng2 ai yong heng aiyongheng | ai yung heng aiyungheng |
|
Love Forever Love Eternal | 愛永遠 爱永远 | ai ei en / aieien | ài yǒng yuǎn ai4 yong3 yuan3 ai yong yuan aiyongyuan | ai yung yüan aiyungyüan |
True Love | 真愛 真爱 | shinai | zhēn ài / zhen1 ai4 / zhen ai / zhenai | chen ai / chenai |
True Love | 屋烏の愛 | okuunoai / okunoai | ||
Passionate Love Ardent Love and Devotion | 熱愛 热爱 | netsu ai / netsuai | rè ài / re4 ai4 / re ai / reai | je ai / jeai |
Mercy Compassion Love | 慈 | ji | cí / ci2 / ci | tz`u / tzu |
Divine Love | 神の愛 | kami no ai / kaminoai | ||
Forever Love | 永遠的愛 永远的爱 | yǒng yuǎn de ài yong3 yuan3 de ai4 yong yuan de ai yongyuandeai | yung yüan te ai yungyüanteai |
|
Greatest Love | 最偉大的愛 最伟大的爱 | zuì wěi dà de ài zui4 wei3 da4 de ai4 zui wei da de ai zuiweidadeai | tsui wei ta te ai tsuiweitateai |
|
Greatest Infinite Love | 無限大の愛 | bu gen dai no ai bugendainoai | ||
Infinite Love | 無限愛 无限爱 | mu gen ai / mugenai | wú xiàn ài wu2 xian4 ai4 wu xian ai wuxianai | wu hsien ai wuhsienai |
The Karma/Fate/Destiny that Brings Lovers Together | 姻緣 姻缘 | yīn yuán / yin1 yuan2 / yin yuan / yinyuan | yin yüan / yinyüan | |
Love and Respect Kindness and Respect | 愛敬 爱敬 | aikei / aikyou aikei / aikyo | ài jìng / ai4 jing4 / ai jing / aijing | ai ching / aiching |
Love and Devotion | 慈愛 慈爱 | jiai | cí ài / ci2 ai4 / ci ai / ciai | tz`u ai / tzuai / tzu ai |
Universal Love | 兼愛 兼爱 | jiān ài / jian1 ai4 / jian ai / jianai | chien ai / chienai | |
Love the House and Its Crow | 愛屋及烏 爱屋及乌 | ài wū jí wū ai4 wu1 ji2 wu1 ai wu ji wu aiwujiwu | ai wu chi wu aiwuchiwu |
|
Love Without Reason | 愛而無由 爱而无由 | ài ér wú yóu ai4 er2 wu2 you2 ai er wu you aierwuyou | ai erh wu yu aierhwuyu |
|
Love Without Reason | 愛に理由は無い | ai ni ri yuu wa na i ainiriyuuwanai ai ni ri yu wa na i | ||
Pledge of Lifelong Love | 情定終身 情定终身 | qíng dìng zhōng shēn qing2 ding4 zhong1 shen1 qing ding zhong shen qingdingzhongshen | ch`ing ting chung shen chingtingchungshen ching ting chung shen |
|
Lover Beloved | 戀人 恋人 | koi bito / koibito | liàn rén / lian4 ren2 / lian ren / lianren | lien jen / lienjen |
A Mother’s Love Motherly Love | 母愛 母爱 | mǔ ài / mu3 ai4 / mu ai / muai | ||
Together Forever in Love | 永遠愛在一起 永远爱在一起 | yǒng yuǎn ài zài yī qǐ yong3 yuan3 ai4 zai4 yi1 qi3 yong yuan ai zai yi qi yongyuanaizaiyiqi | yung yüan ai tsai i ch`i yungyüanaitsaiichi yung yüan ai tsai i chi |
|
Unconditional Love | 無條件的愛 无条件的爱 | wú tiáo jiàn de ài wu2 tiao2 jian4 de ai4 wu tiao jian de ai wutiaojiandeai | wu t`iao chien te ai wutiaochienteai wu tiao chien te ai |
|
Unconditional Love | 無條件の愛 無条件の愛 | mu jou ken no ai mujoukennoai mu jo ken no ai | ||
Love Loyalty Respect | 真愛忠誠尊敬 | zhēn ài zhōng chéng zū jìng zhen1 ai4 zhong1 cheng2 zu1 jing4 zhen ai zhong cheng zu jing zhenaizhongchengzujing | chen ai chung ch`eng tsu ching chenaichungchengtsuching chen ai chung cheng tsu ching |
|
Love Loyalty Respect | 愛忠敬 | ài zhōng jìng ai4 zhong1 jing4 ai zhong jing aizhongjing | ai chung ching aichungching |
|
Pure Love | 純愛 | jun ai / junai | ||
Benevolent Love | 仁愛 仁爱 | jinai | rén ài / ren2 ai4 / ren ai / renai | jen ai / jenai |
Love Myself First | 先愛我自己 先爱我自己 | xiān ài wǒ zì jǐ xian1 ai4 wo3 zi4 ji3 xian ai wo zi ji xianaiwoziji | hsien ai wo tzu chi hsienaiwotzuchi |
|
Love Yourself First | 先愛你自己 先爱你自己 | xiān ài nǐ zì jǐ xian1 ai4 ni3 zi4 ji3 xian ai ni zi ji xianainiziji | hsien ai ni tzu chi hsienainitzuchi |
|
Kindness Benevolence | 仁慈 | jin ji / jinji | rén cí / ren2 ci2 / ren ci / renci | jen tz`u / jentzu / jen tzu |
Body and Earth in Unity | 身土不二 | shindofuni / shindofuji | ||
Loving Heart Compassion | 愛心 爱心 | ài xīn / ai4 xin1 / ai xin / aixin | ai hsin / aihsin | |
Brought Together from 1000 Miles Away by Fate | 有緣千里來相會 有缘千里来相会 | yǒu yuán qiān lǐ lái xiāng huì you3 yuan2 qian1 li3 lai2 xiang1 hui4 you yuan qian li lai xiang hui youyuanqianlilaixianghui | yu yüan ch`ien li lai hsiang hui yu yüan chien li lai hsiang hui |
|
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. |
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.