The name The Moon in Chinese / Japanese...

太陽神 means “Sun God” in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

It's used in Chinese to mean the Greek God Apollo. This can also be used in Chinese to refer to Nasa's Apollo missions to the moon.

アポロ is the Japanese Katakana title for Apollo.

This can be the Greek God Apollo, or the title of the Nasa mission to the moon. Also the given name Apollo.

Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

This is April in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

This was originally the fourth month of the Chinese lunar year, now used for the fourth month of the Gregorian calendar (also known as the Western or Christian calendar). 四月 literally mean “fourth month” or “fourth moon.”

望 holds the ideas of ambition, hope, desire, aspiring to, expectations, looking towards, to gaze (into the distance), and in some contexts, full moon rising.

望 is one of those single characters that is vague but in that vagueness, it also means many things.

望 is a whole word in Chinese and old Korean but is seldom seen alone in Japanese. Still, it holds the meanings noted above in all three languages.

八月 is the month of August in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

八月 literally means “eighth month” or “eighth moon.”

In Japanese, this can also be the female given name, Yatsuki, in much the same way August can be a female given name in English.

月竹 is the title, “Bamboo Moon” - Technically, it's in the order of “moon bamboo,” but that's the most natural order in Chinese and Japanese.

With a little research, I found this title has been used as the name of a linen company, a band, a song title, an actual person's name, the title for a piece of artwork featuring bamboo with a moon in the background, and a few other things. I added it here because many people searched for “bamboo moon” on my website, so here it is for you.

The typical Japanese pronunciation would probably be "tsu-ki ta-ke." However, this would not be the only possible pronunciation in Japanese (especially if used as a given name).

花鳥風月 is the Japanese Kanji proverb for “Beauties of Nature.”

The dictionary definition is “the traditional themes of natural beauty in Japanese aesthetics.”

The Kanji each represents an element of nature that constitutes beauty in traditional Japanese art and culture.

The Kanji breakdown:
花 = ka = flower (also pronounced “hana”)
鳥 = chou = bird (also pronounced “tori”).
風 = fuu = wind (also pronounced “kaze”).
月 = getsu = moon (also pronounced “tsuki”)

破鏡重圓 is about a husband and wife who were separated and reunited.

About 1500 years ago in China, there lived a beautiful princess named Le Chang. She and her husband Xu De Yan loved each other very much. But when the army of the Sui Dynasty was about to attack their kingdom, disposed of all of their worldly possessions and prepared to flee into exile.

They knew that in the chaos, they might lose track of each other, so the one possession they kept was a bronze mirror which is a symbol of unity for a husband and wife. They broke the mirror into two pieces, and each of them kept half of the mirror. They decided that if separated, they would try to meet at the fair during the 15th day of the first lunar month (which is the lantern festival). Unfortunately, the occupation was brutal, and the princess was forced to become the mistress of the new commissioner of the territory, Yang Su.

At the Lantern Festival the next year, the husband came to the fair to search for his wife. He carried with him his half of the mirror. As he walked through the fair, he saw the other half of the mirror for sale at a junk market by a servant of the commissioner. The husband recognized his wife's half of the mirror immediately, and tears rolled down his face as he was told by the servant about the bitter and loveless life that the princess had endured.

As his tears dripped onto the mirror, the husband scratched a poem into his wife's half of the mirror:

You left me with the severed mirror,
The mirror has returned, but absent are you,
As I gaze in the mirror, I seek your face,
I see the moon, but as for you, I see not a trace.

The servant brought the inscribed half of the mirror back to the princess. For many days, the princess could not stop crying when she found that her husband was alive and still loved her.

Commissioner Yang Su, becoming aware of this saga, realized that he could never obtain the princess's love. He sent for the husband and allowed them to reunite.

This proverb, 破鏡重圓, is now used to describe a couple who has been torn apart for some reason (usually divorce) but have come back together (or remarried).
It seems to be more common these days in America for divorced couples to reconcile and get married to each other again. This will be a great gift if you know someone who is about to remarry their ex.

清 is a word that means clarity or clear in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

Looking at the parts of this character, you have three splashes of water on the left, “life” on the top right, and the moon on the lower right.

Because of something Confucius said about 2500 years ago, you can imagine that this character means “live life with clarity like bright moonlight piercing pure water.” The Confucian idea is something like “Keep clear what is pure in yourself, and let your pure nature show through.” Kind of like saying, “Don't pollute your mind or body, so that they remain clear.”

This might be stretching the definition of this single Chinese character but the elements are there, and “clarity” is a powerful idea.

Korean note: Korean pronunciation is given above but this character is written with a slight difference in the "moon radical" in Korean. However, anyone who can read Korean Hanja, will understand this character with no problem (this is considered an alternate form in Korean). If you want the more standard Korean Hanja form (which is an alternate form in Chinese), just let me know.

Japanese note: When reading in Japanese, this Kanji has additional meanings of pure, purify, or cleanse (sometimes to remove demons or "exorcise"). Used more in compound words in Japanese than as a stand-alone Kanji.

This is how to write “day” in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Hanja.

This can also mean “Sun,” the star in the middle of the Solar system in which we live. In Japanese, it can also mean “sunshine” or even “Sunday.”

When writing the date in modern Chinese and Japanese, putting a number in front of this character indicates the day of the month. Of course, you need to indicate the month too... The month is expressed with a number followed by the character for the moon. So “three moons ten suns” would be “March 10th” or “3/10.”

Note: This is also the first character for the proper name of Japan. Remember that Japan is “The land of the rising sun”? Well, the first character for Japan means “sun” and the second means “origin” so you get the real meaning now. Sometimes, in China, this sun character can be a short name for Japan or a suffix for something of or from Japan.

二月 is the Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja for the month of February.

This literally means the “second month” or “second moon” (of the year).

企望 is a Chinese and Japanese word that can be translated as:
to hope; to look forward; looking forward to; hoping for.

The first character means to plan. The second can mean to hope; to expect; to gaze (into the distance); to look towards. Sometimes it can mean a full moon.
Together, these characters create this word about hoping, wishing, looking forward, and dreaming about the future.

七月 is how Chinese and Japanese express July (also used in old Korean Hanja).

七月 literally means “seventh month” or “seventh moon.”

This is a common Mandarin Chinese transliteration for the female name June.

However, you might want the meaning of month June (the 6th moon of the year) instead of this.

This is the month of June in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

This was originally the sixth month of the Chinese lunar year, now used for the sixth month of the Gregorian calendar (also known as the Western or Christian calendar). 六月 literally mean “sixth month” or “sixth moon.”

花月 is a somewhat archaic Japanese word that literally means “flowers and the moon.”

Colloquially, this refers to “refined leisure,” or “an elegant pastime.”

三月 is the Chinese, Japanese, and Chinese way to write the month of March.

This literally reads as “third month” or “third moon.”

五月 is the month of May in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

This was originally the fifth month of the Chinese lunar year, now used for the fifth month of the Gregorian calendar (also known as the Western or Christian calendar). 五月 literally means “fifth month” or “fifth moon.”

Note: Sometimes Japanese parents will use this as a female given name, and use "Mei" (the sound of May in English) as the pronunciation.

月 is how to write the title for “moon” in Chinese, Korean Hanja, and Japanese Kanji.

月 is also used to refer to the month. This is because China traditionally uses a lunar calendar, so saying “next moon” is the same as saying “next month” etc.
In modern Chinese and Japanese and old Korean, the character for a number is put in front of this moon character to represent western months. So “one moon” is January “two moons” is February etc.

If you are wondering, in the east Asian way to write dates, the character for “sun” or “day” is used with a number in front of it to express the day of the month. So “ten moons, one sun” becomes “October 1st” or “10/1” (this date happens to be Chinese National Day - The equivalent of Independence Day in the USA, Canada Day, or the Queen's Birthday).

In Japanese, 月 can be a surname that romanizes as Tsuki, Tsukizaki, or Takagetsu.

月光 is the Chinese, old Korean Hanja, and Japanese Kanji title for moonlight.

This can also be used to describe a moonbeam and can be a given name in all three languages (pronounced as Rumi when used as a female given name in Japanese).

新月 literally means new moon.

This can also refer to a crescent moon or the first lunar phase that occurs every 29.53 days.

In Japanese, this can be the female given names Wakatsuki, Nidzuki, or Nitsuki. It can also be the surnames Shintsuki, Shingetsu, or Aratsuki.

十一月 is the Chinese, Japanese, and old Korean title for the month of November.

This literally means the eleventh month or moon.

十月 is how Chinese and Japanese express October (also used in old Korean Hanja).

十月 literally means “tenth month” or “tenth moon.”

This is a Japanese personal name, Rago.

The meaning can be the intersection of the Moon's orbit with the ecliptic in Vedic astronomy (from Sanskrit Rāhu). In Buddhist context, this can be, “the demon who is supposed to seize the sun and moon and thus cause eclipses.”

This is a variant of the Chinese 羅睺. It can also be written 羅護 or 羅虎. If you need the more ancient Chinese version, just let me know.

This is the Japanese name Samidare.

The meaning of the name is “early-summer rain.” Literally, it's “5th moon rain,” which means “rain in the month of May.” This may refer to an anime character, a Japanese battleship in WWII, or a place in Japan called Samidare.

神舟 is the name of the Chinese spacecraft “Shenzhou.” The name means “divine craft” or “saintly vessel.”

The name is a play on words in Chinese, as there is an alternate name for China that is pronounced “Shenzhou” but means “Divine land” or “Land of the Gods” (just the second character is different).

The first flight of a Shenzhou spacecraft was in 1999, with more missions following. The next is planned for 2008, and will include China's first “spacewalk.” The tenth Shenzhou mission is planned for 2015, when China has promised its people that a Chinese astronaut will walk on the moon (or at least orbit the moon - there are two ways to interpret the announcement made in 2005).

For those of you concerned, this word is pronounced more like “Shen Joe” (with a slightly soft “J”) than the Romanization would suggest.

2016 Update: I wrote the above in 2006. Imagine that, 10 years later, none of the promises came true.

日月星辰 is a title that encompasses all of the heavenly bodies or celestial bodies.

Namely, this includes the Sun, Moon, and Stars of our universe.

日月星 is the shortest way to write a title (or word list) that means Sun, Moon, Stars.

月の心 means “Mind like the Moon” or, more directly translated, “Moon of Mind.”

月の心 is a phrase used in Zen Buddhism and some Japanese martial arts.

陰陽 literally means yin and yang in written form (versus the common yin-yang symbol). The first character has the element of the moon, while the second character has the element of the sun so that you can see, even in written form, they suggest the balance of opposites (of night and day). You could also translate this title as “sun and moon.”

Note: This title is often misspelled as Ying Yang instead of Yin Yang.

See Also:  Taoism

鏡花水月 is an old Asian proverb that means “flowers in a mirror and the moon reflected in the lake” or “flowers reflected on a mirror and the moon reflected on the water's surface.”

Literally, 鏡花水月 reads “Mirror Flower, Water Moon.”

Figuratively this can be used to represent a lot of different ideas. It can be used to express an unrealistic rosy view or viewing things through rose-tinted spectacles. So you can use it to relay an idea about something that is visible but has no substance, something that can be seen but not touched, or something beautiful but unattainable such as dreams or a mirage.

This expression is used to describe things like the subtle and profound beauty of poems that cannot be described in words.

鏡 = Mirror (or lens)
花 = Flower(s)
水 = Water
月 = Moon

Can also be written 水月鏡花 (just a slight change in word/character order).