Japanese has a separate writing system for writing foreign words. It’s called katakana and it’s mostly used for foreign loan words such as kōhī (coffee), pan (bread) and gorufu (golf). It’s also used for foreign names. If your name isn’t originally written in kanji (the logographic characters used in Japan, China, and to a lesserContinueContinue reading “Writing foreign names in Japanese”
Category Archives: calligraphy commissions
珈琲 (kōhī) “coffee”
Image by Rebecca (client) Japanese language students will know that “coffee” is usually written in katakana: コーヒー However it does have a kanji! (Or rather, it’s made of 2 kanji): 珈琲 These kanji are what is known as ateji – kanji which are used to phonetically represent foreign loan words. In many cases, the atejiContinueContinue reading “珈琲 (kōhī) “coffee””
重い魂… “A heavy soul…”
This was a commission for a client to give to his beloved as a Christmas present. It’s three lines from their favourite song. The song is originally in English, so before I wrote it I had the task of translating it into Japanese. I wanted my translation to: sound natural have the same “feel” asContinueContinue reading “重い魂… “A heavy soul…””
まこ “Mako”
(image by client) I was very honoured to receive a commission to create this artwork. “Mako” is the name of the client’s beloved cat. I love cats >^^< The name “Mako” is the nickname of the Japanese actor Makoto Iwamatsu. Because it is a Japanese name, I decided to render it in hiragana. Hiragana isContinueContinue reading “まこ “Mako””
Calligraphy tattoo commission – 珈琲 (kōhī) “coffee”
A recent commission of the kanji for “coffee”, to be rendered as a tattoo. I love seeing how my clients use my artwork 🙂 Japanese language students will notice that “coffee” is usually written in katakana these days: 「コーヒー」 , however the kanji is still used in situations where a traditional atmosphere is desired, forContinueContinue reading “Calligraphy tattoo commission – 珈琲 (kōhī) “coffee””
Calligraphy by Vicky 