Friday, July 16

List of Japanese Symbols & Their Translations

By LeJarie Battieste-Noguchi

List of Japanese Symbols & Their Translations

The Japanese language consists of a combination of three different character, or symbol, sets: Kanji (Chinese characters) are often considered a simplified version of Chinese characters, and Hiragana and Katana are used to represent the sounds of Japanese language. The ideographic nature of Japanese symbols has lead to its popularity in graphic forms such as T-shirts and tattoos. The list below includes some popular Japanese Kanji and their translations in alphabetical order.

A Through C
1. 天使 Angel
悪 Bad
美 Beauty
大 Big
鳥 Bird
刃 Blade
仏教 Buddhism
武士道 Bushido: Code of the Samurai
子 Child
勇--- Courage
D Through H
2. 死 Death
夢 Dream
永遠 Eternity
父 Father
火 Fire
幸運 Fortune
自" Freedom
友... Friendship
神 God
良 Good
幸福 Happiness
心 Heart
J Through Sa
3. ---本 Japan
愛 Love
" Man
月 Moon
母 Mother
山 Mountain
平' Peace
力 Power
雨 Rain
武士 Samurai
Sh Through Z
4. 将軍 Shogun
空 Sky
小 Small
精神 Spirit
星 Star
成功 Success
太陽 Sun
寿司 Sushi
水 Water
風 Wind
女 Woman
... Zen

Interesting Facts
5. Most Japanese Kanji have both a Japanese and Chinese way of pronunciation.
It is estimated that there are 50,000 Japanese Kanji in existence, but on average, only about 2,000 Kanji are needed to write literature in Japanese.