Approximately 15 years ago, my mother's sister in Sendai sent t-shirts for all of us after our trip to Japan. She thought it would be fun for us to have a t-shirt with a different kanji that she would personally select, keeping our personalities in mind. We could hardly wait to see what she had chosen for us. Tiffany's kanji was hana which means flower. Jon's kanji was kaze for wind.
This was really special and perfect for them. Tiffany loves flowers and all beautiful things. Jon is like the wind, constantly moving around the world and rarely staying in one place very long.
My kanji on this orange t-shirt was yume which means dream. I like that. I do have dreams that I wish would come true for everybody and the world. Yesterday, Art decided to wear his t-shirt.
As we passed by the hallway he noticed a wooden plaque that his mother sent to Oahu after Art's dad passed away in 1978, just before she moved to California to live with his sister. My mother hung the plaque on the wall so Art would always have this remembrance of his dad.
After all this time, Art stopped and stared at it. "Doesn't this kanji on the plaque look familiar?" he asked. "Isn't this what's on my t-shirt?"
"No, it can't be." I told him.
We called my mom over and we all stared at it. Yes, the kanji was the same! It is wa which means harmony or peace. Out of 50,000 kanji characters, it was pretty amazing that my aunt in Sendai, who never met Art's parents would choose this particular word for Art that is identical to the one on the plaque from his childhood home in Honokaa!!! Art never knew the meaning of the kanji when he was growing up and never thought to ask.
Now, I doubt he'll ever forget it.
21 friendly comments:
From your posts Art does seem to be a person who is living in harmony and peace. Maybe his kanji picked him instead of it being picked for him.
That's fascinating Kay, I like the idea that it is Karma.
Interesting. Do you have a Japanese middle name? My Korean name is Ok Sun (pronounced Oak Son), which means Pure Jade.
The kanji 「和」("wa") means "Japan" in some instances.
The original name for "Japan" was 「大和」("Yamato")...literally "Great Peace".
Gigi: I do have a Japanese middle name. It's Natsue. It means summer. My aunt in Hawaii named me Natsue because I was born in July.
So, is Natsue pronounced Not-Soo or is it pronounced Not-Soo-Way.
NA (as in napa cabbage) TSU (as in tsunami) E (short e)
My mother never liked the name so she changed my kanji to mean something completely different which I can't even remember.
Wow, I love the way this happened!
And I like your middle name too.
PS
I don't see your "Just testing" post.
Dina: Sorry about that. This Kanji post didn't get posted for everybody so I thought I'd test it out by writing another post. It did work so I erased the test post. I don't know why this Kanji post did not go up at first.
So many things to think about here.
I love that color of orange. Isn't orange in fashion now?
Maybe we make these kinds of discoveries because we are at a place in our lives when we are ready to understand the meaning connected. Art does seem to fit his symbol.
what a nice coincidence (or Karma!)
This is one of the things that I do so love about the Japanese culture! Such a delightful story of each of your kanji and they do fit! Hope your day is going well, Kay! Enjoy!
Sylvia
Oh, now I know why the test post didn't show up when I clicked on it, Kay. But I got smart and clicked on your blog, and found this, the one you thought hadn't shown up earlier, right?
The internet is a mysterious thing.
So is life. There is obviously something about Art that resonates harmony or peace. Perhaps he acquired it from living with the kanji in his childhood home, or perhaps that kanji was chosen to reflect is father's personality. Either way, or any way, it is perfect, as are yours, Jon's, and Tif's.
-- K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
that is awesome, Kay
Warm Aloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
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I believe the Great Spirit guides people to comfort, and gently shows people that other spirits are watching out for them. Separately, my son and I have had such events occur. Karma wins. DrumMajor
Tokyo Five: I asked my mom about the Yamato kanji and she said it's true. There is an even older kanji that she thought you were talking about that was used for Japan called Wakoku. I looked on line.
http://www.uoguide.com/Wakoku
They showed the "wa" part of it. My mother showed me the koku part also which is another kanji.
Hattie: Forgot to answer your question about orange. Gosh! I don't know if it's in fashion. I don't own a lot of orange clothing. In fact, this t-shirt might be the only one I have.
>They showed the "wa" part of it. My mother showed me the koku part also which is another kanji.
「国」 (Koku) is "country".
「和国」(Wa-koku) also means "Japan"...literally though, "Peaceful country".
You may be interested...
in Japanese, "America" is 「米国」 ("Bei-koku")...literally, "Rice country".
In Chinese though, "America" is written 「美国」...which literally means "Beautiful country".
Amazing! I take it it'll have it's own plaque on the wall.
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