心燈 is the Buddhist concept of “The Lamp of the Mind” or “Inner Light.”

It's kind of the Buddhist way to express intelligence.

Directly translated, this means “heart light” or “heart lamp.”
Note: In ancient China, the ideas of heart and mind are interchangeable.

These two characters mean intelligence or intelligent.

The first character means wisdom, intellect, or knowledge.

The second means ability, talent, skill, capacity, capable, able, and can even mean competent.

Together, 知能 can mean “capacity for wisdom,” “useful knowledge,” or even “mental power.” Obviously, this translates more clearly into English as “intelligence.”

Note: This is not the same word used to mean “military intelligence.” See our other entry for that.

In modern Japan, they tend to use a version of the first character without the bottom radical. If your audience for this artwork is Japanese, please click on the Kanji to the right instead of the button above.

If you are a government spy, engaged in business espionage, or in some military intelligence department, 情報 is both the title of what you are doing and what you are collecting about your enemy.

It is suggestive by itself of military intelligence but applies to corporate intelligence if you are keeping an eye on your competition in business.

軍事情報 is the full way to say “Military Intelligence.”

The first two characters mean “military affairs.”

The second two characters mean “intelligence” or “information-gathering.”

If you work in the G2 section of your military unit, this is the wall scroll for you.

See Also:  Military

慧 is a single character that can be translated as wisdom but it has more of an “intelligent” flavor. This can also mean cleverness or wit.

Japanese note: 慧 is understood in Japanese but seldom seen as a lone Kanji.

See Also:  Knowledge | Learning | Read

賢明 is a Japanese word that refers to wisdom, intelligence, and prudence.

賢明 was originally a Chinese word that referred to a wise person or enlightened ruler. It means wise and able, sagacious now in China.

智恵 is a Japanese word that means wisdom; wit; sagacity; sense; intelligence.

In the Buddhist context, this is prajna (insight leading to enlightenment).

This can also be the Japanese female given name Norie.