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Integrity is living by your highest values. It is being honest and sincere. Integrity helps you to listen to your conscience, do the right thing, and tell the truth. You act with integrity when your words and actions match. Integrity gives you self-respect and a peaceful heart.
Please note that the second Kanji sometimes has an alternate form in Japanese. Let us know if you want the alternate form shown to the right.
Note: This entry is cross-listed as “honesty” because it also fits that definition.
Beyond Integrity, this word also means "upright" and "honest" in Chinese. Means "integrity," "honesty" or "frankness" in Japanese.
正直 or honesty is being truthful and sincere. It is important because it builds trust. When people are honest, they can be relied on not to lie, cheat or steal. Being honest means that you accept yourself as you are. When you are open and trustworthy, others can believe in you.
正直 is one of the 8 key concepts of Tang Soo Do.
Note: This entry is cross-listed as "integrity" because it also fits that definition.
Please note that the second Kanji sometimes has an alternate form in Japanese. Let us know if you want the alternate form shown to the right.
八聖道 is one of two titles for the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path.
This version specifically has the “noble” idea in the middle character, which also means holy, sacred, wise and good, or upright.
The other title also romanizes as Hasshoudou or Hasshōdō in Japanese but is written 八正道.
烈 is a Chinese word that means ardent; intense; fierce; stern; upright; to give one's life for a noble cause.
In another context, this character can refer to one's exploits or achievements.
In the Buddhist context, this is burning, fierce, virtuous, and/or heroic.
While technically, it had the same meaning in Japanese, it's usually a female given name, Retsu in Japanese these days.
貞烈 is the Japanese Kanji for “Extreme Faithfulness.”
The first Kanji means “firm adherence to one's principles,” chastity (of a woman), chaste, etc.
The second Kanji means ardent, intense, fierce, stern, upright, to give one's life for a noble cause, exploits, achievements, virtuous, and in some contexts, heroic.
Now you get the idea why this refers to someone who is extremely faithful (to a cause, themselves, their religious beliefs, or their philosophy.
This is the most common version of a Chinese surname that romanizes as Fong from Taiwan or Fang from mainland China.
The meaning of this character is square, upright, honest, fair and square, direction, place, or side. Sometimes 方 can refer to a method, prescription, or way of doing things.
In Japanese, this can be the given names Michi, Masani, Masashi,Tamotsu, Tadashi. It can also be Japanese surnames Hon, Hou, Ho, Fuon, Pan, Ban, Tokukata, or Kata.
聖心会 is the Japanese martial arts title “Seishinkai” or “Seishin-Kai.”
It literally means “Sacred Heart Association” or “Pure-Heart Club.”
聖 can mean holy, sacred, saint, sage, virtuous, expert, wise and good, upright, or correct.
心 can mean heart, mind, center, core, spirit, soul, or vitality.
聖心 creates a word meaning sacred heart, or the holy mind (that of Buddha).
会 in Japanese means association, club, meeting, assembly, party, gathering, conference, athletic meet, or society.
聖 is the simple, single-character religious form of “saint” in Chinese (also holds the same meaning in Japanese and Korean, though rarely used alone like this).
This can also mean holy, sage, master, or priest.
Note: 聖 is often used in compound words (words of more than one character) to create further meanings. In compounds, it can mean holy, sacred, or divine.
聖 is also used as the first word for Spanish and English place names such as “San Diego” and “St. Louis” in Chinese (not Japanese).
In the Buddhist context, this can represent ārya or sādhu. And mean a sage; wise and good; upright, or correct in all his character; sacred, holy, or saintly.
Persistence to overcome all challenges
百折不撓 is a Chinese proverb that means “Be undaunted in the face of repeated setbacks.”
More directly translated, it reads, “[Overcome] a hundred setbacks, without flinching.” 百折不撓 is of Chinese origin but is commonly used in Japanese and somewhat in Korean (same characters, different pronunciation).
This proverb comes from a long, and occasionally tragic story of a man that lived sometime around 25-220 AD. His name was Qiao Xuan, and he never stooped to flattery but remained an upright person at all times. He fought to expose the corruption of higher-level government officials at great risk to himself.
Then when he was at a higher level in the Imperial Court, bandits were regularly capturing hostages and demanding ransoms. But when his own son was captured, he was so focused on his duty to the Emperor and the common good that he sent a platoon of soldiers to raid the bandits' hideout, and stop them once and for all even at the risk of his own son's life. While all of the bandits were arrested in the raid, they killed Qiao Xuan's son at first sight of the raiding soldiers.
Near the end of his career, a new Emperor came to power, and Qiao Xuan reported to him that one of his ministers was bullying the people and extorting money from them. The new Emperor refused to listen to Qiao Xuan and even promoted the corrupt Minister. Qiao Xuan was so disgusted that in protest, he resigned from his post as minister (something almost never done) and left for his home village.
His tombstone reads “Bai Zhe Bu Nao” which is now a proverb used in Chinese culture to describe a person of strong will who puts up stubborn resistance against great odds.
My Chinese-English dictionary defines these 4 characters as “keep on fighting despite all setbacks,” “be undaunted by repeated setbacks,” and “be indomitable.”
Our translator says it can mean “never give up” in modern Chinese.
Although the first two characters are translated correctly as “repeated setbacks,” the literal meaning is “100 setbacks” or “a rope that breaks 100 times.” The last two characters can mean “do not yield” or “do not give up.”
Most Chinese, Japanese, and Korean people will not take this absolutely literal meaning but will instead understand it as the title suggests above. If you want a single big word definition, it would be indefatigability, indomitableness, persistence, or unyielding.
See Also: Tenacity | Fortitude | Strength | Perseverance | Persistence
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The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Uprightness | 廉直 | kiyonao / kiyotada | lián zhí / lian2 zhi2 / lian zhi / lianzhi | lien chih / lienchih |
Integrity | 正直 | shoujiki / shojiki | zhèng zhí zheng4 zhi2 zheng zhi zhengzhi | cheng chih chengchih |
Honesty | 正直 | shoujiki / shojiki | zhèng zhí zheng4 zhi2 zheng zhi zhengzhi | cheng chih chengchih |
Noble Eightfold Path | 八聖道 八圣道 | hasshoudou / hashodo | bā shèng dào ba1 sheng4 dao4 ba sheng dao bashengdao | pa sheng tao pashengtao |
Clear Blue Sky | 青天 | seiten | qīng tiān qing1 tian1 qing tian qingtian | ch`ing t`ien chingtien ching tien |
Ardent Fierce | 烈 | retsu | liè / lie4 / lie | lieh |
Extreme Faithfulness | 貞烈 | tei retsu / teiretsu | ||
Fong Fang | 方 | hou / ho | fāng / fang1 / fang | |
Seishin-Kai Seishinkai | 聖心会 / 聖心會 聖心会 | sei shin kai seishinkai | ||
The Saint | 聖 圣 | sei | shèng / sheng4 / sheng | |
Undaunted After Repeated Setbacks | 百折不撓 百折不挠 | hyaku setsu su tou hyakusetsusutou hyaku setsu su to | bǎi zhé bù náo bai3 zhe2 bu4 nao2 bai zhe bu nao baizhebunao | pai che pu nao paichepunao |
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. |
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Upright Kanji, Upright Characters, Upright in Mandarin Chinese, Upright Characters, Upright in Chinese Writing, Upright in Japanese Writing, Upright in Asian Writing, Upright Ideograms, Chinese Upright symbols, Upright Hieroglyphics, Upright Glyphs, Upright in Chinese Letters, Upright Hanzi, Upright in Japanese Kanji, Upright Pictograms, Upright in the Chinese Written-Language, or Upright in the Japanese Written-Language.