心技体 (shin-gi-tai) “mind, body, spirit”

A framed Japanese calligraphy work with the characters "heart", "skill" and "body".

A calligraphy commission for a martial arts practitioner to use as a wall decoration and also as a tattoo design.

Students of Japanese will notice that it doesn’t exactly say “mind, body, spirit”. This is because although this phrase is common in English, it’s a little different in Japanese.

Happily there is a similar phrase in Japanese – 心技体 (shin-gi-tai) – which is often used in the context of martial arts:

心 = heart/mind/spirit

技 = skill

体 = body

In other words, to success in martial arts, one has to:

  • have spirit
  • develop one’s skill
  • train one’s body

My client confirmed that this was indeed correct 🙂

If you know someone who would like a unique gift (including yourself!), feel free to contact me about commissioning a calligraphy artwork. If the original phrase is not Japanese, I’ll find a natural translation that captures both the meaning and the spirit. You can find more details on my Purchase a Work page.

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