http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A50106/high/bmegl005455.jpg
I don't understand why this person decided to have all the strokes in each characters to be various width.
Out of nine characters, two of them 義 are repeats, and both were still wrong. One would think the tattoo artist used the first one as a practice trial.
Starting from the left upper corner and descending:
1. 義 (right conduct, righteousness) has broken one stroke into two dots in the bottom partial of 我.
2. 礼 (social custom; manners; courtesy) is correct.
3. 仁 (humaneness, benevolence, kindness) is correct.
4. 忠 (loyalty, devotion, fidelity) is correct.
5. 義 (right conduct, righteousness) is missing one horizontal stroke as well as has broken one stroke into two dots in the bottom partial of 我.
6. 真 (real, actual, true, genuine) is correct.
7. 勇 (brave, courageous, fierce) is correct.
8. 名 (name, rank, title, position) appears to be missing a small dot in the 夕 partial.
9. 誉 (fame, reputation; praise) is correct.
Six out of the nine characters are correct, this tattoo has earned a grade of "D+".
It seems that these words were used in Ads of the movie "The Last Samurai"
ReplyDeleteSomehow this tattoo looks really painful to me.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention that the characters, when put together like that, don't make much sense.
Dude. You're hilarious. Way to do a good service for the world by warning people of the stupidly incorrect tattoos they choose to submit themselves to. :) I love it. (chinese pride! hahahaha)
ReplyDelete.laura.
The two characters in the center (忠義 chûgi "loyalty") and the two at bottom right (名誉 meiyo "honor") are stuck together in compounds. Read top-to-bottm, right-to-left, it's a pile of "cool words" meaning courage, honor, benevolence, loyalty, sincerity, righteousness, propriety.
ReplyDeleteD+ where the '+' from ?
ReplyDeletei was wondering why all of them together were so familiar to me, and pig is absolutely rite.
ReplyDeleteHow is honor translated to 名誉 in the Last Samurai cover? 名誉 means "reputation".
ReplyDeleteSandkan:
ReplyDeleteSix out of nine is approximately 67%. Usually a "D" grade is ranged from 60&% to 69%. "D-" is about 60% to 63%, and "D+" is from 67% to 69%.
Are we also taking points off for incorrect mixtures of full-form and short-form characters? Because if so, 礼 is wrong; it should be 禮.
ReplyDelete(Though maybe it's simplified so in Japanese, as well, in which case it'd be correct -- Japanese-speakers?)
As for grades: given the number of woeful tattoos we see on the site, surely we should be grading on a curve.
I noticed that some of the characters come from the common Chinese character set representing the Eight Virtues:
ReplyDelete忠孝仁愛信義和平 (loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, love, faith, righteousness, harmony, peace).
If he had chosen these, at least Chinese people he meets would know that he knows something about their culture.
I thought it was the Boy Scout Law. You know, "A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly..."
ReplyDeleteMeng- "reputation" in Japanese would usually be either 評判 or 名声. Surely you can imagine situations where 名誉 would be translated as "honor?"
ReplyDeleteBrendan- 礼 is full-form in Japan now, and I'm pretty sure it was that way in the very late Edo period as well.
actually, looks like he tried to copy Erik Takase's wonderful Japanese kanji. This is a copy of his kanji for the Seven Virtues of Bushido.....it really is too bad that he just threw them on anywhere.....Erik will do personal flash on request.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.takase.com/MartialArts/
Bushido/Bushido.htm
Hanzi....love your site!!!
BIG oops.....it is Eri Takase....not Erik.....sorry Eri!
ReplyDelete