The name Pine Trees in Chinese / Japanese...

If you love pine trees or pine forests, 鬆 is your character. Also used to refer to fir trees.

Sometimes you’ll see a complex alternate version of this character. The meaning is still primarily pine but it can also have other meanings. If you want this special version, click on the character to the right instead of the button above.

There’s another rare alternate version of this character as shown to the right. In this case, the character’s radicals are arranged vertically instead of horizontally.

松濤館 are the Kanji characters that make up the title for Shotokan.

This should be considered a Japanese-only title. It does make sense and is pronounceable in Chinese and Korean but only as a title for a building (perhaps a martial arts hall) surrounded by pine trees. Also, the first two characters were simplified in both Japanese and Chinese. The third character was simplified in Chinese but not Japanese.

Upon request, we can offer the fully traditional Chinese version but be sure you know what you are asking for.

Note: This would be understood in Chinese and Korean Hanja by a person from those cultures who is familiar with martial arts and various schools of Japanese karate.

鬆濤館空手道 art the Japanese Kanji that make up the title for Shotokan Karate.

This should be considered a Japanese-only title. It does make sense and is pronounceable in Chinese and Korean but only as a title for a building (perhaps a martial arts hall) surrounded by pine trees - followed by the characters for “The empty hand method” (kong shou dao / Karate-do). Also, the first two characters were simplified in both Japanese and Chinese. The third character was simplified in Chinese but not Japanese.

Upon request, we can offer the fully traditional Chinese version but be sure you know what you are asking for.

Note: This would be understood in Chinese and Korean Hanja by a person from those cultures familiar with martial arts and various schools of Japanese karate.