What are Chinese character tattoos and their meaning in the modern fashion industry. The hieroglyph, in fact, is an illustrative result of a generalization of everything around the symbol. Figuratively, this is not an overgrown well of antiquity, which does not so much replace a certain object or concept as notify us and the environment about it. Alphabetic writing differs from hieroglyphs in that each of the hieroglyphs is assigned a certain meaning, and not only phonetic.
Alphabetic writing differs from hieroglyphs in that each of the hieroglyphs is assigned a certain meaning, and not only phonetic
Chinese characters are considered the most ancient and are used not only in their homeland, but also in Japanese and Korean writing
The number of hieroglyphs is not reliably known to anyone, since they are systematically and continuously modified
- Hieroglyphs tattoo of Chinese origin
- What are keys in Chinese characters?
- What do Chinese characters tattoo mean in Russian?
- Reasons for popularity in tattooing
- What should you know before going to a tattoo salon?
- Which salon should I go to?
- Options for applying a hieroglyph tattoo to the body
A little about Chinese writing
Chinese characters are considered the most ancient and are used not only in their homeland, but also in Japanese and Korean writing. Even before 1945, Chinese writing was widely used in Vietnam. The number of hieroglyphs is not reliably known to anyone, since they are systematically and continuously modified. Every day, people all over the world use at least several thousand hieroglyphs. The approximate number of all existing signs is 50,000 pieces. Statistics say that a thousand everyday signs cover approximately 92% of all printed materials.
Everyday people all over the world use at least several thousand hieroglyphs
The approximate number of all existing signs is 50,000 pieces
Statistics say that a thousand everyday signs cover approximately 92% of all printed materials
In China, it is considered normal to know 2 thousand characters.
- Simple signs have one dash, for example:一read and, means - one.
- The hieroglyph with the largest number of lines consists of three characters:龍, read lun, symbol - dragon.
Interesting! Researchers of writing are very surprised by the fact that hieroglyphic writing does not depend on the dialect at all. For example, if you need to say something to your interlocutor from China, and you write a hieroglyph on paper, then every resident of this country will understand you, regardless of which province he came from.
In China, it is considered normal to know 2 thousand characters
Chinese tattoo characters about character: images, interpretation, ideas
Wisdom. Like many Chinese tattoo characters, this sign consists of several meanings. This is knowledge and understanding , as well as consistency . In other words, the Chinese understand the concept of “wisdom” as daily development.
IMPORTANT: They also extremely value wit, which is also attributed to the specified term.
Tattoo symbolizing wisdom
Kindness. Chinese tattoo characters have an extremely interesting history, especially this icon. It consists of two very unexpected parts - “sheep” and “speech” . The fact is that the Chinese divided sounds from animals into evil and good. The bleating of a sheep was associated with kindness, because this animal is always docile and peaceful.
Hieroglyph kindness for tattoo
Moral. This hieroglyph is also called “de” . One part of the hieroglyph symbolizes foot , his steps - that is, actions. The other is the many eyes of a deity that look deep into the human heart.
A hieroglyph for a tattoo that speaks of a person’s strong morality
Mercy. The hieroglyph consists of two parts - love and pity . It is noteworthy that in both the first and second parts there is a component meaning heart. The Chinese believed that true mercy comes from the deepest hearts. It's not something that's on display!
Hieroglyph for tattoo meaning mercy
Courage. This sign is also composite. Its upper part signifies a person with a brave heart, as well as courage. Bottom - influence, power.
Hieroglyph for tattoos for brave people
Hieroglyphs tattoo of Chinese origin
Modern writing in China comes from ancient pictographs representing objects. It has been proven that the most ancient signs date back to the 2nd millennium BC. e. In comparison with all writing systems existing today, Chinese literacy is considered ideographic. In other words, it conveys not the sound, but the meaning of the word. This helps the Chinese understand each other and promotes unity, because this country is divided into a huge number of dialects.
Modern writing in China comes from ancient pictographs representing objects.
It has been proven that the most ancient signs date back to the 2nd millennium BC. e.
In comparison with all writing systems existing today, Chinese literacy is considered ideographic. Those. conveys not the sound, but the meaning of the word
The style of writing hieroglyphs in modern times is called kaishu - exemplary writing. Complex Chinese characters are mainly made up of keys. What is this and how to understand it?
Chinese tattoo characters about feelings: ideas, photos, meanings
Love . Chinese tattoo characters about feelings are in principle very popular, and the sign of love is the most common of them. It consists of such components as “claws”, “veil”, “heart”, “friend”. After all, this feeling clings tightly to our heart and covers it. Moreover, true love includes friendship.
IMPORTANT: It is believed that this tattoo helps to bring peace and happiness into relationships.
Hieroglyph for a tattoo that means the most wonderful feeling
This is what the Eternal Love tattoo looks like on the body
. Depicts that very “love to the grave” that every person dreams of. The sign indicates that support and mutual understanding for the owner of the tattoo and his significant other is not an empty phrase.
Tattoo with a sign of eternal love
Tattoo with this hieroglyph
Joy . It is believed that such a tattoo helps to always be in a good mood. And, most importantly, keep it for as long as possible. An excellent option for people who dream of finding harmony in their souls.
Hieroglyph meaning joy for tattoo
Sincere faith. This is the feeling that sometimes helps people survive even in difficult conditions. The tattoo just testifies to such optimism in its owner. And helps strengthen it.
A hieroglyph suitable for those who want to talk about their faith
Double Happiness. Great idea for a couple tattoo. It will indicate harmony in relationships and help implement joint plans. And if your soulmate doesn’t exist yet, such a sign will help you find her.
Tattoo hieroglyph double happiness
A tattoo with the hieroglyph of double happiness looks very elegant on the body
What are keys in Chinese characters?
These are the so-called graphic components. After all, they themselves are separate, simple signs. It helps to classify a written sign (hieroglyph), assigning it to a specific thematic group, for example:
- Key -人- a simple sign, means “person”.
- In the hieroglyph亾, it is translated as “death.”
- A means “many” or “one hundred million” .
- The same key in the hieroglyph is read as “remainder”.
- And in the sign仔“child”.
The Chinese are confident that in order to understand and speak their language well, it is enough to master 4 thousand characters
Writing hieroglyphs is actually very difficult, translating them is even more difficult
If you are planning to get a tattoo with Chinese characters, contact a tattoo artist with extensive experience.
The Chinese are confident that in order to understand and speak their language well, it is enough to master 4 thousand characters. Writing hieroglyphs is actually very difficult, translating them is even more difficult. But a certain trend has already formed in the tattoo industry.
Important! This does not mean that when choosing a tattoo, you should limit yourself only to these symbols. Each person has the right to express his desires, negative or, conversely, positive emotions, to inspire himself with some encouraging expressions, to capture some pleasant, memorable moment for the rest of his life, and so on.
It is also important to choose the right location for the future tattoo.
Often the back is chosen for these purposes.
The thighs can also be decorated with Chinese writing
What Chinese characters look like, how to distinguish them from Japanese, Korean, etc.
For a non-professional or someone who does not know any of these languages, it is almost impossible to distinguish between them. If you really want to distinguish, at least visually, then you can listen to a few tips:
- The Hangul alphabet is Korean. It is characterized by a large number of circles and ovals. Straight lines are also often used. For example: 사, 기쁨, 운, 세계, 헌신, 충, 인내. The Korean language is more expansive than Chinese and Japanese.
- To find a text in Japanese, you need to remember its three main elements, which are called katakana, kanji, higarana. Many characters in Japan are also round, but they are characterized by a slight carelessness in writing. An example is the Japanese characters: 愛, 喜び, 運がいい, 世界, 献身, 慊つｷﾂ。, 我慢. When recognizing the Japanese language, take into account that some characters were taken from Chinese, and they, in turn, are more encrypted and complex.
What do Chinese characters tattoo mean in Russian?
Perhaps the above symbols may seem intuitive to some. By and large, some of them are similar to the meanings, objects and things that they actually depict. This is easy to explain, because hieroglyphs are “descendants” of pictograms. And those, in turn, are called upon to specifically express the meaning of the drawing.
The first sign日stands for the sun. One of the oldest symbols, found in all East Asian languages.
Interesting! It was originally depicted as a circle, but over time it transformed into what you see. A similar fate affected a number of other signs. This is explained by the formation of unified traditions in the peoples where they are used. The second explanation is that rounded shapes are not very convenient for writing, and besides, they make it chaotic.
Some of the hieroglyphs are similar to the meanings, objects and things that they actually depict
This is easy to explain, because hieroglyphs are “descendants” of pictograms
And those, in turn, are called upon to specifically express the meaning of the drawing.
The symbol日is considered a key and is used in such signs as:
- 旦 – dawn;
- 旧 – past, ancient, ancient.
The next key symbol厂has two designations - “warehouse” and “break”. Included in characters such as:
- 厄 – adversity, disaster, difficulty;
- 历 – calendar, history;
- 厈 – cliff.
Key土is translated as earth. Examples of characters with his participation:
- 圥 – mushroom;
- 圹– tomb or grave ;
- 圧 – crush or press.
Hieroglyphs can be decorated or supplemented with any other design
The tattoo on the collarbone looks very interesting
Tattoos in the form of Chinese characters have always been in demand and popular. It is obvious that they will never cease to be in demand
Important! This example is given not to use these hieroglyphs in a tattoo, but to understand that one graphic component can radically change the meaning of a word symbol.
Phrases in Chinese
Before learning spoken Chinese, you should definitely understand the rules of pronunciation. Words that are identical in spelling, but have different tonality (a line above the vowel) can also have different meanings. Tones can be as follows:
- a horizontal line means even intonation;
- the rising line is used in interrogative sentences;
- the tick-shaped curve shows somewhat variable intonation;
- The falling slash is used for exclamations.
A simple rule will help you clearly tell your interlocutor everything that is required. It is worth considering that the pronunciation of phrases may vary depending on the dialects of a particular city or even region. The table shows the most common phrases, or rather Chinese characters with translation.
| № | Writing | Translation |
| 1 | 你好 | Hello! |
| 2 | 再见 | Goodbye! |
| 3 | 谢谢 | Thank you! |
| 4 | 不客气 | Please! |
| 5 | 对不起 | Sorry! |
| 6 | 没关系 | It's OK |
| 7 | 请问，到 | Please tell me how to get there |
| 8 | 请问，厕所在哪里？ | Tell me please, where is the toilet? |
| 9 | 请给我们拍一照 | Please take a photo of us |
| 10 | 多少钱？ | What is the price? |
| 11 | 太贵了！来便宜点儿 | Very expensive! Let's go a little cheaper. |
| 12 | 我把这个试一下，好吗 | Can I try it? |
| 13 | 试衣间在哪里？ | Where is the fitting room? |
| 14 | 我需要大一点儿 | I need a larger size |
| 15 | 我需要小一点儿 | I need a smaller size |
Reasons for popularity in tattooing
Tattoos in the form of Chinese characters have always been in demand and popular. Obviously, they will never cease to be in demand. Especially in countries far outside of Asia. This tattoo gives the impression of a certain mysticism and mystery. But before rushing to the salon for such a fashionable image on the body, you need to properly understand all the subtleties and meanings of the hieroglyphs.
This tattoo gives the impression of a certain mysticism and mystery.
But before you rush to the salon for such a fashionable image on the body, you need to properly understand all the subtleties and meanings of the hieroglyphs
Asians themselves often prefer to get a tattoo in the form of a hieroglyph, although for some reason it is in English and with a lot of errors
Asians themselves often prefer to get a tattoo in the form of a hieroglyph, although for some reason it is in English and with a lot of errors. As for the Europeans, they prefer to inject the hieroglyph on the body.
In our country, a certain canon and traditions in tattooing regarding hieroglyphs have long been formed. Virtually all existing salons offer clients a single standard set of characters.
Let's look at the most well-known and popular Chinese characters for tattoos about love, health, career and their meanings
| Happiness | Patronage of the Gods and Heaven. Gives happiness, luck and luck in the area where a person wants to become successful. | 福 |
| Double Happiness | It is considered a very powerful talisman. They say it even fulfills your deepest desires. But it is more advisable to use it to attract happiness and mutual understanding with your beloved half. | 喜 |
| Love | Attracts love. Endowed with powerful strength. Helps to “attract” your soulmate, gives joy and peace. | 愛 |
| Eternal love | A hieroglyph-talisman symbolizing eternal friendship, mutual understanding, sincere love. Maintains the flame of passion between loving hearts. | 永愛 |
| Luck | A good sign as an amulet, it preserves and even increases good luck. | 幸 |
| Wealth | Helps create a favorable atmosphere for business prosperity. A good amulet not only in terms of income, but also in the general situation of affairs. | 富 |
| Money | One of the most sought-after and popular Feng Shui symbols. Attracts luck and financial wealth where it is placed, if this concerns the premises. In comparison with the symbol, wealth works somewhat differently, attracting not wealth and prosperity, but the energy of money. | 錢 |
| Prosperity | Promotes career growth, helps regulate life aspects. That is why it is so often used both in tattoos and as a talisman. | 繁榮 |
| Abundance | Brings wealth to the house, and wealth of what its owner wants or wants. Just like the “Prosperity” symbol attracts luck and abundance to any field of activity. | 豐富 |
| Longevity | Symbol-amulet of health. It is also considered one of the most popular hieroglyphs. | 長壽 |
| Force | Strengthens physical and spiritual strength. Suitable for both marriage and family. | 强 |
In our country, a certain canon and traditions in tattooing regarding hieroglyphs have long been formed
Virtually all existing salons offer clients a single standard set of characters
Your main task is to be 100% sure of the correct meaning of your tattoo
Meanings of other Chinese characters in tattoos in Russian
| Luck | 运 |
| Joy | 喜 |
| Sincerity | 诚 |
| World | 和 |
| Patience | 忍 |
| Dream | 夢 |
| beauty | 美 |
| Health | 健康 |
| Fulfillment of desires | 祝福 |
This is not a complete list of Chinese symbols symbolizing growth, prosperity, love and wealth. Chinese is considered the most powerful and diverse language.
Common Chinese characters with Russian translation
There is a certain set of Chinese keys that are used most often. The table presents popular Chinese characters with translation into Russian.
| № | Hieroglyph | Translation |
| 1 | 的 | A possessive particle that can be placed between the definition and the word being defined. The hieroglyph can have the following meanings in certain combinations: the goal is, indeed, the first. |
| 2 | 一 | One, first. |
| 3 | 是 | A clarification that carries meaning: “To be or not?”, “Yes or no?”. |
| 4 | 不 | No. |
| 5 | 了 | Indicates the completion of an action. |
| 6 | 人 | Human. |
| 7 | 我 | We or I. |
| 8 | 在 | To be somewhere. |
| 9 | 有 | To have something, to possess something completely. |
| 10 | 他 | He. |
| 11 | 这 | This, this one. |
| 12 | 中 | Middle. |
| 13 | 大 | Big. |
| 14 | 来 | Come. |
| 15 | 上 | Above, on. |
| 16 | 国 | Country, state. |
| 17 | 个 | Used for counting. |
| 18 | 到 | Achieve something. |
| 19 | 说 | Speak. |
| 20 | 们 | Used to indicate the plural. |
| 21 | 为 | For. |
| 22 | 子 | Child, son. |
| 23 | 和 | Together. |
| 24 | 你 | Particle to denote the feminine gender. |
| 25 | 地 | Earth. |
| 26 | 出 | Go out. |
| 27 | 道 | Path. |
| 28 | 也 | Also, also. |
| 29 | 时 | Used to limit a period of time. |
| 30 | 年 | Year. |
| 31 | 得 | Particle to describe actions. |
| 32 | 就 | Exactly. |
| 33 | 那 | That. |
| 34 | 要 | Want. May indicate actions in the future tense. |
| 35 | 下 | From below |
| 36 | 以 | Because of, for a reason. |
| 37 | 生 | Life, birth. |
| 38 | 会 | Be able to. |
| 39 | 自 | With, starting from something. |
| 40 | 着 | Indicates the duration of action |
| 41 | 去 | Leave, go. |
| 42 | 之 | Same as. |
| 43 | 过 | Indicates a past action. |
| 44 | 家 | Home, country. |
| 45 | 学 | Study. |
| 46 | 对 | Correct towards someone. Can be used for apologies. |
| 47 | - | It's possible, it's possible. |
| 48 | 她 | She. |
| 49 | 里 | Inside. |
| 50 | 后 | Queen, the day after tomorrow. Depends on the context in which it is used. |
According to the well-known teachings of Feng Shui, written symbols are placed in different rooms of the house to attract one or another phenomenon.
What should you know before going to a tattoo salon?
Before deciding on a tattoo in the form of a Chinese character, you should very carefully study the symbol that turns out to be your priority. To prevent the trouble that one European young man got into. In his naivety, he trusted the tattoo artist, expressing his preferences and wishes. He paid a lot of money and tattooed hieroglyphs on his body, which, in his opinion, should mean: love, obey and respect.
Before deciding on a tattoo in the form of a Chinese character, you should very carefully study the symbol that turns out to be your priority.
Otherwise you might get into trouble
Getting a tattoo out is usually even more painful than getting it in.
While he was in his country, nothing happened, but when, by coincidence, he went to China, that’s where it all began. Everyone, without exception, the Chinese, paid attention to him, even turning around in surprise. The guy decided to find out what was the matter, and after asking the locals, he found out that what he had inked was not what he wanted.
In fact, he had a message knocked out of him that at the end of the day he becomes a very bad and ugly boy. Returning to Germany, he had to spend money again to remove the ill-fated tattoo with a laser.
Important! Summarizing everything that was said above, you can see that choosing a symbol for a tattoo requires special attention. The beauty of the picture takes a back seat here; the meaning of the hieroglyph plays a big role here. After all, one sign can have several meanings, and sometimes they are completely different.
Let the beauty of the picture be secondary for you, but the meaning should be paramount
After all, the same sign with only a slight difference can have different meanings
In order not to wear God knows what, it’s better to check it a hundred times
Chinese alphabet
The alphabet of any nation has its own distinctive features:
- The alphabet is a specific sequence and collection of symbols. Syllables and words are built from them.
- The number of letters is limited and cannot be added or reduced.
The Chinese set of characters completely excludes these features. There are no letters in the language. And keys and pictograms can represent not only a letter, but also a word. Sometimes they describe an entire sentence. And the number of hieroglyphs does not have an exact number at all, as it is constantly changing. And the number of elements goes into tens of thousands.
Any hieroglyph, as is known, consists of a certain number of elements. The number of the main ones reaches several thousand, but there are those that are used much more often. The element itself does not carry any meaning. The basic ones include the following:
- vertical line;
- horizontal line;
- upward stroke (ascending);
- dot;
- hook;
- broken line.
From such simple elements beautiful characters of the Chinese alphabet are built. Chinese philosophers have always compared written symbols to life. This was said back in the philosophy of Qi. Some are updated over the years, others are simply lost, since their value is no longer used. Over the years, new hieroglyphs may appear. And this will continue for many more years.
China does not have an alphabet like other countries. Everything is written in hieroglyphs, even new foreign words. But there is still a system of so-called romanization of Chinese writing. It's called Pinyin.
Pinyin contains 26 letters. And in no language can you get 23 consonants and 24 vowels from so many beech sounds. It is this writing that is often used in smartphones to write messages faster.
Most scholars are of the opinion that the Chinese alphabet simply does not exist. And Pinyain is simply an auxiliary alternative for simplifying written communication using gadgets. It was developed relatively recently - in the late 50s of the last century.
Which salon should I go to?
There are a lot of salons that will kindly provide tattooing services, including Chinese characters. But everyone who wants to wear such beauty on their body must still adhere to certain precautions.
What you need to do:
- Make a preliminary plan or drawing of the image that is preferred.
- Compare the sketch with several analogues on the Internet.
- Read as much information as possible about its meaning.
- Consult with several experienced tattoo specialists. It is desirable that they are not just masters, artists, but well versed and understand the art of the East.
- It is advisable to talk with clients who had hieroglyph tattoos done by this artist, what opinion they had about the work, and whether they were satisfied with the end result.
Make a preliminary plan or drawing of the image you prefer
Compare the sketch with several analogues on the Internet
Find as much information as possible about its meaning.
What you should absolutely not do:
- Choose a tattoo artist who, in addition to oriental art, specializes in a number of genres. A good master is one who devotes all his time to one profile and his calling - oriental art. In fact, he should have no free time for other genres, nor, indeed, any desire.
- Getting a tattoo without thinking, just for fun. The East does not tolerate thoughtlessness and frivolity. Many hieroglyphs are very similar to each other, so it’s very easy to make a mistake here; correcting a mistake will be harder, more painful and more expensive.
Consult with several experienced tattoo specialists. It is desirable that they are not just masters, artists, but well versed and understand the art of the East
It is advisable to talk with clients who have had hieroglyph tattoos done by this artist, what opinion they have about the work, and whether they were satisfied with the end result
A good master is the one who devotes all his time to one profile and his vocation - oriental art
Tattoo on the stomach and chest: Japanese characters
Girls choose collarbones and ribs for tattoos. Guys usually do them in the chest area or on the stomach. In these places you can often find individual hieroglyphs or inscriptions as parts of a separate image.
Japanese character for "love"
Cherry blossoms are a common motif associated with Asian culture. However, few people know that this tree symbolizes the transience of life and rebirth.
Japanese hieroglyph "happiness" tattoo
Japanese characters for "soul"
Cursive calligraphy tattoos are great decorations, but they can be quite difficult to read, which is why many people lean towards more conventional options.
Calligraphy style tattoo
Options for applying a hieroglyph tattoo to the body
Those who revere Chinese characters as amulets with a magical meaning, capable, for example, of protecting against evil forces, quarrels, and so on, get a tattoo in the form of a talisman, choosing prominent parts of the body so that the magic begins immediately.
Those who revere Chinese characters as amulets with a magical meaning, capable, for example, of protecting against evil forces, quarrels, and so on, get a tattoo in the form of a talisman
It is not at all necessary to wear a tattoo, for example, on the neck, hoping for goodness and wealth
It is not a fact that the Chinese hieroglyph dream tattoo, the meaning of which is to bring good luck and success, will certainly bring it and other human benefits
It is not at all necessary to wear a tattoo, for example, on the neck, hoping for goodness and wealth. It is not a fact that the Chinese hieroglyph dream tattoo, the meaning of which is to bring good luck and success, will necessarily bring it and other human benefits.
After all, inscriptions decorated in any way, for example, in three-dimensional design or woven into any image or written in several colors and on other parts of the body, look no less attractive and mysterious.
Important! Writing hieroglyphs, especially pinning them on the body, is not an easy task, and if you choose between a picture or symbols, the latter can give the body no less richness, beauty and mystery.
No less attractive and mysterious are inscriptions decorated in any way, for example, in three-dimensional design or woven into any image.
Applying Chinese characters is a whole science, which not every master can master.
When deep meaning, mystery and beauty are combined, such a combination cannot go unnoticed or appreciated.
The application of Chinese characters is a whole science, which not every master can master. After all, when deep meaning, mystery and beauty are combined, then such a combination cannot go unnoticed or appreciated. Apparently, this is why Chinese characters are in such consumer demand and popularity.
Tattoo on arm: Japanese characters
Another popular trend is to tattoo characters on the hand; Japanese characters look especially good on the wrist and forearm.
Translation: “path”
Japanese hieroglyph "love" tattoo
Thanks to many fonts, the same character can look completely different. The artist can make it thin and elegant or even imitate brush strokes, making the body a real calligraphic canvas.
Japanese character for "love"
Japanese hieroglyph "luck" tattoo
Japanese character Freedom tattoo
Translation: “even if you forget me, I won’t forget you”
In Eastern culture, everything is filled with symbolism. Therefore, those who decide to decorate their bodies with hieroglyphs add images that contain philosophical meaning to their sketches. For example, bamboo is an important element in the Asian world, symbolizing strength and resilience.
Japanese characters for "family"
Men prefer to get such tattoos on the shoulder itself.
Japanese character for "rain"
Translation: “horse”
Lovers of the Land of the Rising Sun get tattoos in the traditional Japanese style, touching on cultural motifs. For example, below is a photo of a Japanese daruma toy against the background of a famous image of waves.
Hieroglyph: "happiness"
Do characters and hiragana seem confusing? Don't forget about the third Japanese alphabet - katakana! It also looks elegant as a tattoo:
Caption: "Studio Djibli"
And to learn katakana faster, you can read our article about Japanese alphabet. Or get yourself a tattoo with the full alphabet:
Full katakana alphabet as a tattoo
Japanese characters. History and reading.
Good afternoon, dear craftsmen and buyers of the Fair! Towards the end of Japan Week, I would like to introduce you to the history of the origin of Japanese characters, the types of their reading and classification. Enjoy reading!
Japanese characters were borrowed by the Japanese in China in the 5th-6th centuries. AD To the borrowed characters were added hieroglyphs developed by the Japanese themselves (kokuji). In addition to hieroglyphs, two components of the alphabet are also used for writing in Japan: hiragana and katakana, Arabic numerals and the Latin Romaji alphabet.
Story
The Japanese term kanji translates to "signs of the (Han) Dynasty." Kanji is a hieroglyphic letter, an integral part of Japanese writing.
It is not known exactly how Chinese characters came to Japan, but today the generally accepted version is that the first Chinese texts were brought in at the beginning of the 5th century. These texts were written in Chinese, and in order for the Japanese to be able to read them using diacritics while observing the rules of Japanese grammar, the kanbun , which originally meant “classical Chinese composition.”
The Japanese language at that time did not have a written form. The Manyoshu writing system was created to record native Japanese words . The words in it were written in Chinese characters according to their sound, not their content.
Manyoshu, written in hieroglyphic cursive, evolved into hiragana , a writing system for women for whom higher education was almost inaccessible. Most of the literary works of the Heian era with female authorship were written in hiragana. katakana arose : students from monasteries simplified Manyōshū to a single meaningful element. These writing systems, katakana and hiragana, were derived from Chinese characters and subsequently developed into syllabic alphabets, which are collectively called Kana or Japanese syllabary.
Hieroglyphs in modern Japanese are mostly used to write the stems of words in nouns, adjectives and verbs. On the other hand, hiragana is used to write inflections and endings of verbs and adjectives, particles and words in which the characters are difficult to remember. Katakana is used to write onomatopoeia (onomatopoeia) and gairago (loan words).
Japanese innovation
At first, Chinese and Japanese characters were practically no different from each other: the latter were traditionally used to write Japanese text. However, nowadays there is a big difference between Chinese Hanzi and Japanese Kanji: some characters were created by the Japanese themselves, and some received different meanings. In addition, after the Second World War, many Japanese characters were simplified in writing.
Kokuji are characters of Japanese origin. Kokuji is sometimes called Wasei kanji ("Chinese characters created in Japan"). In total, there are several hundred kokuji. Most of them are rarely used, but some have become important additions to the written Japanese language.
In addition to kokuji, there are characters that have different meanings in Japanese than in Chinese. Such hieroglyphs are called kokkun - “signs of national reading”).
Old and new hieroglyphs
The same character can sometimes be written in different styles: old (kyujitai) and new (shinjitai). Old style Japanese characters were used until after World War II and are mostly the same as traditional Chinese characters. In 1946, the Japanese government legislated the new style of simplified characters into the Toyo Kanji Jitai Hyo list.
Theoretically, any Chinese character can be used in Japanese text, but in practice, many of them are not used in Japanese. Daikanwa Jiten, one of the largest dictionaries of hieroglyphs, contains about 50 thousand characters, but most of them are rarely found in Japanese texts.
Reading hieroglyphs
Depending on how the hieroglyph entered the Japanese language, it can be used to write one or different words, and even more often morphemes. From the reader's point of view, this means that hieroglyphs have one or more readings. The choice of reading a hieroglyph depends on the context, content and communication with other characters, and sometimes on the position in the sentence. Readings are divided into two: “Chinese-Japanese” and “Japanese”.
Onyomi (phonetic reading) is a Sino-Japanese reading or Japanese interpretation of the Chinese pronunciation of a character. Some characters have multiple onyomi because they were borrowed from China several times, at different times and from different areas.
Kunyomi is a Japanese reading, which is based on the pronunciation of native Japanese words, to which Chinese characters were selected according to their meaning. In other words, kunyomi is the Japanese translation of the Chinese character.
Some kanji have a little-known reading - nanori (name name), which is usually used when pronouncing personal names. As a rule, they are close in sound to kunyomi.
Gikun - reading messages of hieroglyphs that are not directly related to the kunyomi or onyomi of individual characters, but related to the content of the entire hieroglyphic combination. Gikun is often found in Japanese surnames.
Number of hieroglyphs
The total number of existing hieroglyphs is difficult to determine. The Japanese dictionary Daikanwa jiten contains about 50 thousand characters, while more complete modern Chinese dictionaries contain more than 80 thousand characters. Most of these characters are not used either in modern Japan or in modern China. To understand most Japanese texts, it is enough to know about 3 thousand characters.
Spelling reforms
After World War II, beginning in early 1946, the Japanese government began developing spelling reforms. Some hieroglyphs received simplified spellings called "Shinjitai". The number of characters used was reduced, and lists of hieroglyphs required for study at school were approved. Variant forms and rare characters were officially declared undesirable for use. The main goal of the reforms was to unify the school curriculum for the study of hieroglyphs and reduce the number of hieroglyphic signs that were used in literature and the media. These reforms were advisory in nature. Many hieroglyphs that were not included in the lists are still known and often used.
Kyoiku Kanji ("educational characters") - a list of 1006 characters that Japanese children learn in elementary school (6 years of schooling). This list is divided by year of study. Its full name is “Gakunenbetsu Kanji” (“Table of hieroglyphs by year of study”).
Jyoyo Kanji ("characters of constant use") - the list consists of 1945 characters, which includes the "Kyoiku Kanji" for primary school and 939 characters for secondary school (3 years of study).
Jinmeyo kanji (“hieroglyphs for human names”) - the list consists of 2928 hieroglyphs, 1945 characters which completely copy the list of “jyoyo kanji”, and 983 hieroglyphs are used to write names and place names.
In Japan, most parents try to give their children rare names that include very rare characters. To facilitate the work of registration and other services that do not have the necessary technical means for typing rare characters, in 1981 the “Jinmeyo Kanji” list was approved, according to which names of newborns could only be given with characters from the list, or hirigana or katakana characters. This list is regularly updated with new hieroglyphs, and the widespread introduction of computers that support Unicode has led to the fact that the Japanese government is preparing to add from 500 to 1000 new hieroglyphs to this list in the near future.
Gaiji ("external characters") are characters that are not represented in existing Japanese character sets. These include variant or obsolete forms of hieroglyphs that are needed for reference books and references, as well as non-hieroglyphic symbols.
Dictionaries
To find the desired hieroglyph in the dictionary, you need to know its key and the number of risks. A hieroglyph can be broken down into simple components called keys (less commonly “radicals”). If there are many keys in a hieroglyph, one main one is taken (it is determined according to special rules), after which the desired hieroglyph is searched in the key section by the number of risks.
Modern Japanese uses 214 classical keys. In electronic dictionaries you can search not only by main keys, but by all possible components of the hieroglyph, the number of strokes or reading.
Thank you for your attention! I hope it was useful!
Chinese tattoo characters about professions: ideas, meanings, photos
Military. Chinese tattoo hieroglyphs, indicating that their owners belong to the military profession, can often be found. The hieroglyph consists of icons such as "spear" and "stop". The Chinese perceived warfare primarily as self-defense, not attack—hence the similar terminology.
IMPORTANT: If you look closely at the icon, you will notice that it also includes the word “art”. The creative eastern people truly perceived such craft as a type of art.
Tattoo ideal for military
Lawyer, law enforcement officer. The hieroglyph meaning “law” . Previously, its outline was quite complex, but now a more simplified version is in use.
It consists of strange parts at first glance - “water”, “unicorn”, “leave”. However, everything is understandable: the surface of the water is associated with impartiality, and legends endowed the unicorn with the ability to determine who is honest.
Hieroglyph for a tattoo that means law
Doctor. People of this profession can mark themselves with the hieroglyph “medicine” . It consists of the following components - “quiver with arrows”, “hand with hook”, “dishes for alcohol”.
The fact is that previously triangular arrowheads were difficult to pull out. And they often dug into the bodies of warriors. To solve the problem, doctors used hooks. And the wound and hook were disinfected with alcohol. It was also a means of anesthesia.
Hieroglyph for tattoos for doctors
History of Chinese hieroglyphic writing
All Chinese characters are collectively called 文 wen. In modern Chinese there is a division into 文 wen - simple signs, the most ancient, and 字 zi - compound signs.
♦ Read more: Wen - pattern, writing, culture
Legendary Cang Jie
In Chinese traditional historiography, it is believed that the oldest form of Chinese writing was knotted writing, which was later replaced by hieroglyphics. Its founder was Cang Jie仓颉, who, “observing the outlines of mountains and seas, the traces of dragons and snakes, birds and animals, as well as the shadows cast by objects,” created 540 simple signs - wen 文. They became the oldest system of classification of objects and phenomena in the world.
According to tradition, Tsang Jie was the court historiographer of the legendary Emperor Huang Di (XXVII-XXVI centuries BC). He is usually depicted with four eyes, which symbolize his special insight. In the treatise “Xun Tzu” (III century BC) it is said about him: “There were numerous experiments in creating writing, but only the signs created by Tsang Jie were accepted and exist to this day.”
Cang Jie
Neolithic signs and Yin pictograms
Hieroglyphs go back to images - pictograms, which over time became more and more complex and formalized, gradually transforming into a system of signs. However, even with minimal knowledge, a hieroglyph can be “read” and see various meanings in it.
Transformation of pictogram drawings into hieroglyphs
The earliest pictographs in China were discovered in the Jiahu settlement of the Neolithic Peiligan culture, located on the Yellow River (Henan Province). 16 artifacts date back to the 6th millennium BC. It turns out that Jiahu writing is older than Sumerian cuneiform. However, now most researchers believe that although some signs from Jiahu superficially resemble modern Chinese characters for “eye” and “sun,” this similarity is deceptive, and the signs found cannot be considered the ancestor of Chinese writing.
Some Jiahu script characters
Other examples of early Chinese writing have been discovered at the Neolithic sites of Banpo (east of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province) and Jiangzhai (Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province). However, they also appear to have no genetic connection to Chinese hieroglyphic writing.
Pictographs on pottery from Banpo
The first examples of Chinese hieroglyphic writing itself date back to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. The earliest ones are from the 17th century. BC. These are Yin* divinatory inscriptions on animal bones (often buffalo) and turtle shells. They are called 甲骨文 jiaguwen (lit. “inscriptions on shells and bones”), “fortune-telling inscriptions from the capital of Yin” 殷契卜辭 yinqi buti and “inscriptions from Yin ruins” 殷墟文字 yinxu wenzi.
The symbols, which were applied with pointed sticks, turned out to be angular. Basically, these were simple pictograms - schematic images of the most universal concepts: parts of the human body, natural phenomena, household supplies, etc. A single, standard writing of hieroglyphs did not yet exist; several variants of writing the same sign were in circulation. However, due to the small number of people who were literate, this did not cause any particular problems. To date, out of more than 5,000 signs, about 1.5 thousand have been identified.
* Yin (Shang-Yin dynasty) XVII century. BC. 1045 BC is the earliest confirmed dynasty in Chinese history.
Fortune telling inscription
The first inscriptions on bones and shells were discovered in 1899 near the city of Anyang (Henan Province). However, as it turned out, local residents had been familiar with them for a long time and called them “dragon bones.” They handed over the “bones” to pharmacies, where they were ground into a powder that supposedly had medicinal properties. It is difficult to calculate how many Yin inscriptions were destroyed in this way.
♦ Read more: Origin of the concept of the dragon
The Yin believed that hieroglyphs provided a connection between people and their ancestors who had gone to Heaven, primarily between the ruler and the supreme ancestor Shang Di 上帝. Three people took part in the fortune-telling ritual: the ruler himself, the priest and the scribe. The ruler asked questions, which the scribe carved into bones with a chisel: whether the hunt would be successful, whether the harvest would be rich, whether to start a war, whether to marry, whether an heir would be born, etc. Then the bone was burned with hot sticks and the answer was guessed from the cracks that appeared.
♦ Read more: Cult of Heaven in Chinese culture: Heaven, Son of Heaven, Mandate of Heaven
Thus, in the Shang-Yin era, writing had a sacred character. The ritual-magical attitude towards the text was preserved in later eras: even a century ago in China one could meet people who collected paper covered with hieroglyphs in order to burn it in ovens specially designed for this purpose.
Hieroglyphic writing in the Zhou era
During the Zhou era (1045-221 BC), Chinese hieroglyphic writing was already quite developed. With the advent of bronze casting technology, “writing on metal” 金文 jinwen appeared - inscriptions on ritual bronze vessels. They are sometimes called "tripod and bell writing" 鐘鼎文zhongdingwen. Zhou script is found on meat tripods, grain vessels, bells, bronze wine and water vessels, as well as steles, stone drums, slabs and ceramics.
The hieroglyphs of the Zhou era became significantly more complex compared to the Yin script. Phonoideograms appeared - hieroglyphs consisting of two parts: a phonetic, which conveys an approximate reading, and a key, indicating belonging to a certain class of objects, phenomena or properties. Now more than 90% of all Chinese characters are ideograms.
At the beginning of the 8th century. BC. The court historiographer Shi Zhou compiled a list of hieroglyphs. The style in which these characters were written is called 大篆 da zhuan - "Great Seal".
Sample letter "da zhuan"
During the Zhanguo period (475-221 BC), China found itself divided into various kingdoms. Xu Shen in the preface to the hieroglyphic dictionary “Shuo wen jie zi” 說文解字 (“Explanation of simple signs and interpretation of complex ones”, turn of the 1st-2nd centuries) Fr. Several regional variants of writing were formed, among which the three largest stood out:
- the writing system of the Qin kingdom based on the Zhou script Da Zhuan;
- the script of the six major kingdoms “ancient scripts” 古文 Guwen based on the Yin and Zhou scripts;
- written language of the southern Chinese kingdom of Chu.
Reform of Chinese writing during the Qin era
With the coming to power of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, who united the country under the rule of a single centralized Qin Empire (221-206 BC), a reform of writing began: “all chariots with an axle of the same length, all hieroglyphs of standard writing.” Based on the Qin letter da zhuan, the letter 小篆 xiao zhuan (“small seal”) appeared. The “official letter” 隸書 li shu also became widespread, which, with some modifications, formed the basis of modern writing.
Sample letter "li shu"
Xu Shen in the preface to the dictionary “Shuo Wen Jie Zi” describes this time as follows:
At that time, Qin […] raised subjects and soldiers on a large scale and developed military service and forced labor. Job responsibilities in departments and courts became more complex, and the style of “formal writing” appeared for the first time, as standardization and simplicity were sought.
During the Qin era, the official list numbered 3,300 characters. At the same time, there was a process of unification of pronunciation.
Chinese characters from Han to Song periods
During the reign of the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), a list of 540 keys was formed. Since ancient times, text was written on bamboo tablets. This is probably partly why the Chinese wrote in columns from top to bottom and from right to left until the 20th century.
Sun Tzu's treatise "The Art of War", written on bamboo tablets, Han era. Copy. National Museum, Beijing
In the first centuries of our era, paper appeared, which replaced the silk and bamboo strips on which texts had previously been written. Now the brush, which has been known since the Yin Dynasty, has become increasingly used to write down hieroglyphs. The “four treasures of the cabinet” 文房四宝 wen fan si bao appeared: brush 笔 bi, ink 墨 mo, paper 纸 zhi and ink pot 砚 yang.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, Liu Deshan, based on the “official letter” of li shu, created a semi-cursive “running letter” 行書 xing shu, in which the features of the character were partially written without lifting the brush from the paper.
Sample letter "xing shu"
Liu Deshan's students created the "statutory letter" 楷書 kai shu, which was distinguished by the absence of the characteristic thickenings inherent in Han official writing. Around the same time, the cursive “herbal script” 草書 cao shu appeared, which was widely used in Chinese calligraphy.
♦ On topic: Contemporary Museum of Calligraphy in Moscow (Sokolniki Park)
Sample letter "cao shu"
During the Song era (960-1279), with the advent of woodblock printing, writing was further standardized.
♦ On the subject: Gateway to Calligraphy: Eight Principles of the Yun Character 永 Wang Xizhi
Reforms to simplify hieroglyphs in the 20th century
Over time, writing hieroglyphs became much more difficult. Some signs consisted of several dozen features, which made them difficult to remember. At the end of the 19th century, it was proposed to simplify hieroglyphic writing. It was believed that complex writing of hieroglyphs interfered with the acquisition of literacy and, as a result, exacerbated China's economic and social lag behind the Western powers. In the 1930s, the first list of simplified hieroglyphs appeared, numbering 2,400 characters. However, it did not take root.
They returned to the problem of simplifying hieroglyphs again after the formation of the People's Republic of China. In 1956, the "Character Simplification Program" 汉字简化方案 Hanzi Jianhua Fang'an was adopted. In 1964, the Summary Table of Simplified Characters 简化字总表 jianhua zi zongbiao was published, which included 2,238 simplified characters. An additional list of simplified characters was adopted in 1977, but was canceled in 1986.
Simplification of the hieroglyphic writing 简化字 jianhua zi was based on the following principles: adherence to customs and simplicity; standardization: elimination of different variants of hieroglyphs; highlighting phonetic properties; if possible, preservation of ideogram properties; stability; practicality; proper artistry. The hieroglyphs were simplified according to the following scheme: reducing the number of features of the sign, cutting off part of the hieroglyph, using cursive styles, replacing a complex sign with a simpler one.
Currently, simplified characters have become widespread in China, Singapore and Malaysia. A number of regions have retained traditional characters: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Chinese diasporas in the USA and Canada. They are called “complex characters” 繁體字 (繁体字) fantizi, “complete characters” 全體字 (全体字) quantizi, or “old characters” 老字 laozi. Japan also has its own simplified hieroglyphs, which borrowed Chinese writing in the Middle Ages. In Korea, hieroglyphs are almost completely replaced by the phonemic writing Hangul.
Calligraphy is a special genre of art. Painting in Great Hall of the People, Beijing
Pinyin phonetic alphabet
In 1958, the Chinese Pinyin phonetic alphabet 拼音字母 Pinyin Zimu was adopted and is widely used for educational purposes. It consists of letters of the Latin alphabet with diacritics to indicate tones. However, due to the widespread use of homophones, the transition from hieroglyphic writing to phonetic writing is impossible. Therefore, pinyin plays only a supporting role, indicating the reading of syllables in accordance with the normative spoken language of Putonghua, accepted as the official language.
Chinese tattoo characters about hobbies: meanings, photos, ideas
Music. Music lovers can expect their own Chinese tattoo characters. For example, in the form of a flute. In China, such instruments were once made from bamboo , which, in fact, is what the upper part of the hieroglyph means. The second component means “to guide.” That is, it is understood that melodies guide our thoughts and allow us to think about something important.
IMPORTANT: This tattoo is also perfect for those people who play music professionally.
Hieroglyph tattoo in the form of a flute
Creating jewelry. Had-made jewelry is extremely popular, and creating them is addictive. Why not perpetuate your favorite pastime? The appropriate hieroglyph consists of the roof sign - this is a house. There are also icons of jasper and amphora, where it was customary to put it. There is also a “shell” - it was previously extremely valued.
Hieroglyph for tattoos for crafters
Acting skills . Home theaters were previously very popular, but even today this type of leisure has a lot of fans. Some people also like to take acting classes for themselves. For such people, the “ image”, “likeness” . Tattoos are simply a godsend for those whose hobby is achieving maximum resemblance to someone or something.
Hieroglyph for tattoos for fans of acting
