Tag Archives: Japanese words

神 (ka-mi) “divine spirit”

Often translated as “god”, a Japanese kami is closer to the concept of a spirit. They are (mostly) not considerd to be omniscient nor omnipotent, but rather they influence the human world within a certain capacity.  It is often said that in Japan there are 8 million kami. Some of the more well known are Amaterasu-o-mi-kami the sun goddess,ContinueContinue reading “神 (ka-mi) “divine spirit””

関 (kan) “barrier, connection, boundary”

This kanji character is rarely used on its own, but is often found combined with other characters. One meaning is “barrier”. There used to be many post stations along the road from Tokyo to Kyoto. At the mid-way point there was a large gate. This led to people thinking of towns in Japan as beingContinueContinue reading “関 (kan) “barrier, connection, boundary””

あおいうみ、さかなつり

(aoi umi, sakana tsuri)  “blue sea, catching fish” You might notice that the above characters are a different style to the characters I usually write.  Usually I write calligraphy in kanji, which is a logographic script in which each complex character has a meaning. The above is in hiragana, which is a syllabary – eachContinueContinue reading “あおいうみ、さかなつり”

Excerpt from the Heart Sutra

是諸法空相 = All phenomena bear the mark of Emptiness 不生不滅 = no Birth no Death 不垢不浄 = no Defilement no Purity 不増不減 = no Increasing no Decreasing (Translation by Thich Nhat Hanh) The Heart Sutra is one of the most important sutras (religious texts) in Buddhism. It celebrates the idea that all things of theContinueContinue reading “Excerpt from the Heart Sutra”