kanji

Yojijukugo is a Japanese idiom consisted of four kanji. Many are based on the ideas of Chinese traditions or classical texts.

In other words, you can also say that yojijukugo is a piece of art, of building up four kanji with individual meanings into one phrase with one meaning. As compared to the number of characters the information they carry is so much bigger, and because it can help smoothening communication between people who know the word yojijukugo is often used for promo words. There are even some new yojijukugo invented by copywriters.

I sometimes see non-Japanese people with yojijukugo tatoos, but there are some that makes me wonder if they really know the meaning.
So here, I will introduce you some yojijukugo that have good meanings and good appearance.

	[meeting only once in a lifetime]
Ichigo-Ichie [meeting only once in a lifetime] Life is full of new meetings and encounters, but treasure each meeting for it will never occur. This idiom teaches you the importance of the meeting and connection of people. "ichigo" means "lifetime" and "ichie" means "one meeting"

	[to learn new things from the old]
Onko-Chishin [to learn new things from the old] To study the old things and gain new knowledge or understanding. When starting something new, to start by fully studying the past. This idiom derived from the teachings of Confucius "on" is "to warm", "ko" is "old", "chi" is "to know" and "shin" is "new": to warm the old and know the new

	[the beauty of the nature]
Kacho-Fugetsu [the beauty of the nature] 1. the beauty of the sky, earth and nature 2. a tasteful, elegant and aesthetic leisure (reading poems and drawing pictures with the nature) To appreciate the beauty of the natural pleasures. Also to feel the beauty of natural pleasures with all your senses and to know the existing of "self" "ka" is "flower" (a living being dissimilar to human beings), "cho" is "bird" (a living being closer to human beings), "fu" is "wind" (the nature in whole), and "getsu" is "moon" (the space/ universe)

	[to pull something out of the fire]
Kishi-Kaisei [to pull something out of the fire] To save crisis (destruction, downfall) and to bring it back to a better state. Also, to save something from falling to thfugetsue very bottom.

	[a very rare happening]
Kuuzen-Zetsugo [a very rare happening] Something that has never happened before and is highly unlikely to happen in the future. An unbelievable happening. "kuu" is "sky/ empty", "zen" is "front/ before", "zetsu" is "to come to an end/ to go extinct" and "go" is "back/ after": to be empty before and to die out afterwards.

NEXT

I'd like to continue introducing you yojijukugo with good meanings and cool appearance.
Or if you have any questions, like, "what does my tatoo really mean?", don't hesitate to give us an e-mail :-)

Of course, we still welcome those who want to have their names converted in kanji. Just e-mail to samurai@jmode.co.jp