Many custom options...

Tan Paper and Copper Silk Love Wall Scroll
Red Paper and Ivory Silk Love Wall Scroll
Orange Paper Love Scroll
Crazy Blue and Gold Silk Love Scroll


And formats...

Love Vertical Portrait
Love Horizontal Wall Scroll
Love Vertical Portrait

Reason for Being in Chinese / Japanese...

Buy a Reason for Being calligraphy wall scroll here!

Personalize your custom “Reason for Being” project by clicking the button next to your favorite “Reason for Being” title below...

 zhì
 chi / tomo
 
Wisdom Scroll

智 is the simplest way to write wisdom in Chinese, Korean Hanja, and Japanese Kanji.

Being a single character, the wisdom meaning is open to interpretation, and can also mean intellect, knowledge or reason, resourcefulness, or wit.

智 is also one of the five tenets of Confucius.

智 is sometimes included in the Bushido code but is usually not considered part of the seven key concepts of the code.


See our Wisdom in Chinese, Japanese and Korean page for more wisdom-related calligraphy.


See Also:  Learn From Wisdom | Confucius

 ikigai
Ikigai Scroll

生き甲斐 is a Japanese word that means something one lives for, a reason for being, a purpose in life, or French, raison d'etre.

Everyone has an ikigai. Finding it requires a deep and often lengthy search for self. Finding your Ikigai is the way to also find satisfaction and meaning in life.

Your Ikigai could be almost anything. For some, it is running for president. For others, satisfaction is found in raising children.

Ikigai is why you get up in the morning; bringing meaning to your life and pursuing your Ikigai makes life worthwhile.

Bravery / Courage

Courageous Energy

 yǒng qì
 yuuki
Bravery / Courage Scroll

勇氣 is one of several ways to express bravery and courage in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

This version is the most spiritual. This is the essence of bravery from deep within your being. This is the mental state of being brave versus actual brave behavior. You'd more likely use this to say, “He is very courageous,” rather than “He fought courageously in the battle.”

The first character also means bravery or courage when it's seen alone. With the second character added, an element of energy or spirit is added. The second character is the same “chi” or “qi” energy that Kung Fu masters focus on when they strike. For this reason, you could say this means “spirit of courage” or “brave spirit.”

This is certainly a stronger word than just the first character alone.

Beyond bravery or courage, dictionaries also translate this word as valor/valour, nerve, audacity, daring, pluck, plucky, gallantry, guts, gutsy, and boldness.

This is also one of the 8 key concepts of tang soo do.


Japanese 気 While the version shown to the left is commonly used in Chinese and Korean Hanja (and ancient Japanese Kanji), please note that the second character is written with slightly fewer strokes in modern Japanese. If you want the modern Japanese version, please click on the character to the right. Both styles would be understood by native Chinese, Japanese, and many (but not all) Korean people. You should make your selection based on the intended audience for your calligraphy artwork. Or pick the single-character form of bravery/courage which is universal.

Better Late Than Never

It's Never Too Late Too Mend

 wáng yáng bǔ láo yóu wèi wéi wǎn
Better Late Than Never Scroll

Long ago in what is now China, there were many kingdoms throughout the land. This time period is known as “The Warring States Period” by historians because these kingdoms often did not get along with each other.

Sometime around 279 B.C. the Kingdom of Chu was a large but not particularly powerful kingdom. Part of the reason it lacked power was the fact that the King was surrounded by “yes men” who told him only what he wanted to hear. Many of the King's court officials were corrupt and incompetent which did not help the situation.

The King was not blameless himself, as he started spending much of his time being entertained by his many concubines.

One of the King's ministers, Zhuang Xin, saw problems on the horizon for the Kingdom, and warned the King, “Your Majesty, you are surrounded by people who tell you what you want to hear. They tell you things to make you happy and cause you to ignore important state affairs. If this is allowed to continue, the Kingdom of Chu will surely perish, and fall into ruins.”

This enraged the King who scolded Zhuang Xin for insulting the country and accused him of trying to create resentment among the people. Zhuang Xin explained, “I dare not curse the Kingdom of Chu but I feel that we face great danger in the future because of the current situation.” The King was simply not impressed with Zhuang Xin's words.
Seeing the King's displeasure with him and the King's fondness for his court of corrupt officials, Zhuang Xin asked permission from the King that he may take leave of the Kingdom of Chu, and travel to the State of Zhao to live. The King agreed, and Zhuang Xin left the Kingdom of Chu, perhaps forever.

Five months later, troops from the neighboring Kingdom of Qin invaded Chu, taking a huge tract of land. The King of Chu went into exile, and it appeared that soon, the Kingdom of Chu would no longer exist.

The King of Chu remembered the words of Zhuang Xin and sent some of his men to find him. Immediately, Zhuang Xin returned to meet the King. The first question asked by the King was “What can I do now?”

Zhuang Xin told the King this story:

A shepherd woke one morning to find a sheep missing. Looking at the pen saw a hole in the fence where a wolf had come through to steal one of his sheep. His friends told him that he had best fix the hole at once. But the Shepherd thought since the sheep is already gone, there is no use fixing the hole.
The next morning, another sheep was missing. And the Shepherd realized that he must mend the fence at once. Zhuang Xin then went on to make suggestions about what could be done to reclaim the land lost to the Kingdom of Qin, and reclaim the former glory and integrity of the Kingdom of Chu.

The Chinese idiom shown above came from this reply from Zhuang Xin to the King of Chu almost 2,300 years ago.
It translates roughly into English as...
“Even if you have lost some sheep, it's never too late to mend the fence.”

This proverb, 亡羊补牢犹未为晚, is often used in modern China when suggesting in a hopeful way that someone change their ways, or fix something in their life. It might be used to suggest fixing a marriage, quitting smoking, or getting back on track after taking an unfortunate path in life among other things one might fix in their life.

I suppose in the same way that we might say, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life” in our western cultures to suggest that you can always start anew.

Note: This does have Korean pronunciation but is not a well-known proverb in Korean (only Koreans familiar with ancient Chinese history would know it). Best if your audience is Chinese.




This in-stock artwork might be what you are looking for, and ships right away...

Gallery Price: $300.00

Your Price: $109.88

Gallery Price: $63.00

Your Price: $34.88

Gallery Price: $63.00

Your Price: $34.88

Gallery Price: $200.00

Your Price: $88.88

Gallery Price: $50.00

Your Price: $19.95

Gallery Price: $108.00

Your Price: $59.88

Gallery Price: $61.00

Your Price: $33.88

Gallery Price: $60.00

Your Price: $36.88

Gallery Price: $60.00

Your Price: $36.88

Gallery Price: $60.00

Your Price: $36.88

Big Fish and Flower Painting

Big Fish and Flower Painting

Discounted Blemished

Gallery Price: $75.00

Your Price: $35.00

Gallery Price: $75.00

Your Price: $35.00


Not the results for reason for being that you were looking for?

Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your reason for being search...

Characters

If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese

Pronunciation
Romanization
Simple Dictionary Definition

存在理由

see styles
 sonzairiyuu / sonzairiyu
    そんざいりゆう
reason for being; raison d'être

Variations:
レーゾンデートル
レゾンデートル
レーゾン・デートル
レゾン・デートル

see styles
 reezondeetoru; rezondeetoru; reezon deetoru; rezon deetoru
    レーゾンデートル; レゾンデートル; レーゾン・デートル; レゾン・デートル
raison d'être (fre:); reason for being

The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...

Title CharactersRomaji (Romanized Japanese)Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Wisdomchi / tomozhì / zhi4 / zhichih
Ikigai生き甲斐ikigai
Bravery
Courage
勇氣
勇气 / 勇気
yuuki / yukiyǒng qì / yong3 qi4 / yong qi / yongqiyung ch`i / yungchi / yung chi
Better Late Than Never亡羊補牢猶未為晚
亡羊补牢犹未为晚
wáng yáng bǔ láo yóu wèi wéi wǎn
wang2 yang2 bu3 lao2 you2 wei4 wei2 wan3
wang yang bu lao you wei wei wan
wang yang pu lao yu wei wei wan
wangyangpulaoyuweiweiwan
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.


Dictionary

Lookup Reason for Being in my Japanese & Chinese Dictionary


Successful Chinese Character and Japanese Kanji calligraphy searches within the last few hours...

1000 Good Moves Ruined by 1 Bad5 Tenets of Taekwondo7 Virtues of BushidoA Moment of Time is as Precious as GoldAaliyahAamirAartiAbbyAbderrahimAbdulazizAbeerAbhishekAbielAbigailAbubakarAcapAchrafAdamAdapt and OvercomeAdhiAdieAdnanAdrianoAdynAerynAfonsoAftabAgathaAidanAikidoAimanAimeAiniAinsleyAkashAkimAkiraAlbertoAleighaAlexAliaAlijahAlissiaAllahAllieAllyAlmaAlmighty OmnipotentAlondraAloraAltheaAlvinAlways Be PreparedAlyaAmanAminaAmirAmmarAmnaAnabelleAnarchyAnasAndersonAnelizAngelAngelaAnimaAnishaAnkitAnkitaAnnabelleAnthonyAntonioAnyaArchangelArethaAriaAriellaAriesArisaArissaArlanArleighArlenaArlieArmanArminArmstrongAsadAshaAshantiAsheAshrafAshtonAshwinAsmaaAssiaAubreyAuraAuriAutumnAveryAyanAyleenAyraAzkaBarboraBautistaBe Like WaterBe Water My FriendBeautiful SpiritBeautiful Woman ProverbBelieve in YourselfBelindaBenevolenceBerserkerBetzaBeverlyBharathiBinitaBitnaBlacksmithBladimirBless This HouseBlessed by GodBlessingsBlood BrotherBlood Sweat and TearsBradenBrandonBraydenBreeBrendanBrennanBrentonBriannaBroken SoulBucharestBullBushido CodeCaineCaitlynCalebCamiloCantrellCardenasCarelCarlyCarolynCasioCassandraCastilloCastroCaydenCelestial DragonCeliaChandraCharismaCharlotteChelseaCherishCherry BlossomCheyenneChi EnergyChoiChop Wood Carry WaterChristiChristineChristopherClaireClarissaClarityClaudiaClear MindCocoColeConfucius Golden RuleConsciousnessCooganCoolioCooperCoralineCorumCosimaDagmarDahliaDakotaDanielDarcyDark AngelDarnellDarrenDarshanDarumaDavidDeanDeath Before DishonorDenaliDennisDenzel

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.


A nice Chinese calligraphy wall scroll

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.

A professional Chinese Calligrapher

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.

Trying to learn Chinese calligrapher - a futile effort

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.

A high-ranked Chinese master calligrapher that I met in Zhongwei

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.


Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.

Some people may refer to this entry as Reason for Being Kanji, Reason for Being Characters, Reason for Being in Mandarin Chinese, Reason for Being Characters, Reason for Being in Chinese Writing, Reason for Being in Japanese Writing, Reason for Being in Asian Writing, Reason for Being Ideograms, Chinese Reason for Being symbols, Reason for Being Hieroglyphics, Reason for Being Glyphs, Reason for Being in Chinese Letters, Reason for Being Hanzi, Reason for Being in Japanese Kanji, Reason for Being Pictograms, Reason for Being in the Chinese Written-Language, or Reason for Being in the Japanese Written-Language.

20 people have searched for Reason for Being in Chinese or Japanese in the past year.
Reason for Being was last searched for by someone else on Oct 10th, 2024