快樂 or joyfulness is an inner sense of peace and happiness.

You appreciate the gifts each day brings. Without joyfulness, when the fun stops, our happiness stops. Joy can carry us through hard times even when we are feeling very sad.

快樂 can also mean pleasure, enjoyment, delight, cheerfulness, or merry. In some ways, this is the essence that makes someone perceived as a charming person.

See Also:  Happiness

喜 is the Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and Korean Hanja for the kind of happiness known in the west as “joy.”

喜 can also be translated as rejoice, enjoyment, delighted, pleased, or “take pleasure in.” Sometimes it can mean “to be fond of” (in a certain context).

If you write two of these happiness/joy characters side by side, you create another character known in English as “double happiness,” which is a symbol associated with weddings and happy marriages.

There is another version of this character that you will find on our website with an additional radical on the left side (exactly same meaning, just an alternate form). The version of happiness shown here is the commonly written form in China, Japan and South Korea (banned in North Korea).

See Also:  Contentment | Happiness | Joy

欣 is the type of happiness that you feel on the inside. It is the feeling of being released and delighted as well as being in a state of contentment. 欣 is more the internal happiness that perhaps only shows by the smile on your face. It can also be translated as “to take pleasure in” or “to rejoice.”

Note: 欣 is often used in compound words - especially in Korean Hanja.
As Japanese Kanji, this is so rare, that most Japanese people are not aware of its existence.

See Also:  Happiness

歡 means joyous, happy, delightful, and pleased.

歡 represents external happiness that may have you clapping and cheering.

Please note: The other happiness/joyful which looks like "喜" is more popular.

歡 is the ancient/old version in China and Japan. After WWII in Japan, they started using 歓. Just let us know if you want this modern version instead of the ancient one.

See Also:  Happiness

喜樂 means joy or delight in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

快感 is a Chinese, Japanese, and old Korean word meaning pleasure, thrill, delight, joy, pleasurable sensation, or pleasant feeling.

快 is the single character for “fast” in Chinese.

This applies to race cars, airplanes, rockets, etc.

This can also mean rapid, quick, speed, rate, soon, to make haste, clever, or sharp (of knives or wits). In some context it can mean cheerful or happy.

This is not a common choice for a wall scroll but if you're a speed freak, this may work for you.

Note: In Japanese, this usually has a meaning of pleasure, cheerful, delight, enjoyment, or the female given name Yoshi.

Here is 1st Corinthians 13:4-8 (just the first sentence of verse 8) in Japanese.

In the familiar NIV, this would read:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails...

The Japanese text is from the 新改訳聖書 (Shinkaiyaku) or New Japanese Bible. Popular among most Protestant denominations in modern Japan.

Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.