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The Name Foo in Japanese/Chinese on a Custom-Made Wall Scroll.

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Look up Foo in my Japanese Kanji & Chinese Character Dictionary(My dictionary is a different system then the calligraphy search you just tried)

If you want a special phrase, word, title, name, or proverb, feel free to contact me, and I will translate your custom calligraphy idea for you.


  1. Even a fool may sometimes come up with a good idea

  2. American Football

  3. Foo

  4. Food

  5. Football / Futbol

  6. Soccer / Football / Futbol

  7. Fu Dog / Foo Dog

  8. Even The 100-Foot Bamboo Can Grow One More Foot

  9. Men Die for Wealth, Birds Die for Food

10. A Wise Man Changes His Mind


Even a fool may sometimes come up with a good idea

 qiān lǜ yī dé
 senryonoittoku
Even a fool may sometimes come up with a good idea Scroll

千慮一得 means “1000 tries, one success,” or “[a] thousand tries [leads to] one success.”

This proverb is a humble way to express your success, ideas, or accomplishments. As if you are a fool who just got lucky in inventing or creating something.

Translations for this proverb include:
Even without any notable ability on my part, I may still get it right sometimes by good luck.
Even a fool may sometimes come up with a good idea.

Compare this to the English idiom, “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.”

American Football

 měi shì gǎn lǎn qiú
American Football Scroll

美式橄欖球 is the Chinese title for “American football” (not to be confused with international football known as soccer in the USA).

If you are a player or fan of American football, this will make a great wall scroll for your home.

The first two characters mean “American style.”
The last three characters mean football or rugby (a game involving an oblong or ovoid ball).
The “American” adjective is needed in this title to differentiate between Canadian football, Australian rules football, and rugby.


See Also:  Soccer

American Football

 ame futou
American Football Scroll

アメフト is a short word that means “American football” in Japanese.

It is supposed to sound like an abbreviated version, “ame futo” which sounds like “ah-may foot-oh” (American Football).

There's not a great standard way to say “football” in Japanese, as the sport is not popular in Japan. Other Japanese terms for football can be confused with soccer or rugby.


Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.


See Also:  Soccer

American Football

 a me ri kan fu tto bo ru
American Football Scroll

アメリカンフットボール is the full/long title for “American football” in Japanese Katakana.

It is “Amerikan Futtoboru” which is supposed to sound like “American Football.”


Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.


See Also:  Soccer

 fuu
Foo Scroll

フー is the name Foo in Japanese Katakana.


Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

 shí wù
 shoku motsu
Food Scroll

食物 means food in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

This can also be translated as edibles, foodstuffs, nourishment, or sustenance.

Football / Futbol

 futto bouru
Football / Futbol Scroll

フットボール is one of a few different titles for football in Japan.

This one is supposed to sound like the international word “football / futbol.”


Note: This word is seldom if ever associated with the sport of American football.


Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

Soccer / Football / Futbol

 zú qiú
Soccer / Football / Futbol Scroll

足球 is the word for football or soccer in Chinese.

As with most of the world, football is very popular in China. During the World Cup, the whole country seems to shut down to watch (regardless of whether Team China is playing or not).

Soccer is probably the 3rd most popular participation sport in China (after ping pong and badminton).

As you might expect, the first character means “foot” and the second character means “ball.”


FYI: This game would never be confused with American Football in Chinese. As with the rest of the world, there is a vague awareness of what American Football is (often described as "that game kind of like rugby").

For those familiar with American Football, there is some disgust regarding the fact that winners of the Superbowl call themselves "world champions" of a game that is only played in the USA. This is one of the reasons that jokes abound about how Americans are unaware that there is a world outside of their borders.

Soccer / Football / Futbol

 shuu kyuu
Soccer / Football / Futbol Scroll

蹴球 is the title for football or soccer in Japanese Kanji and old Korean Hanja.

The sport is very popular in both Japan and Korea (Korea and Japan co-hosted the football World Cup in 2002 - a world-class sporting event held every four years that rivals the Olympics).

In Japan, they sometimes say サッカ (sakka) or フットボール (futto bouru) in place of the pronunciation shown above. 蹴球 is supposed to sound like the English word soccer and football/futbol respectively.

The first Kanji means kick and the second means ball. So technically, this means “kick ball” in Japanese and Korean (this is just an educational note - this will always be understood as the game of soccer/football).


FYI: This game would never be confused with American Football in Japan or Korea. Unlike the game of American basketball and baseball (both quite popular in Japan and Korea), there is only a vague awareness of a rugby-like game that is also called football in the USA.

Fu Dog / Foo Dog

 shí shī zi
Fu Dog / Foo Dog Scroll

While known in the west as fu dogs or foo dogs, these are actually guardian lions.

These are the lion statues traditionally placed at the entrance of Chinese imperial palaces, imperial tombs, temples, and high-ranking officials' homes. These days, you are more likely to see them at the entrance to a fancy Chinese restaurant.

石獅子 means “stone lion(s).”

Even The 100-Foot Bamboo Can Grow One More Foot

 bǎi chǐ gān tóu gèng jìng yī bù
Even The 100-Foot Bamboo Can Grow One More Foot Scroll

百尺竿头更进一步 is a proverb that literally translates as: [Even a] one-hundred foot [tall] bamboo [can] progress even one [more] step.

Figuratively, this means: After having achieved a fair degree of success, one should try to do still better.

Men Die for Wealth, Birds Die for Food

 rén wèi cái sǐ niǎo wèi shí wáng
Men Die for Wealth, Birds Die for Food Scroll

人為財死鳥為食亡 is a Chinese proverb that literally states that human beings will die for riches, just as birds will for food.

Figuratively it means that man will do anything in his means to become rich. Personally, I think dying for food is a more noble cause.

Often translated as “Men die in pursuit of wealth, birds die in pursuit of food. The 人 in this proverb just means human, so “men” is a placeholder for human with that translation - an English language problem that we have no easy gender-neutral nouns.

This proverb is meant to serve as a warning about the follies of greed.

A Wise Man Changes His Mind (but a fool never will)

 kun shi hyou hen su
A Wise Man Changes His Mind (but a fool never will) Scroll

君子豹変す is a Japanese proverb that suggests that a wise man is willing to change his mind, but a fool will stubbornly never change his.

The first word is 君子 (kunshi), a man of virtue, a person of high rank, a wise man.

The second word is 豹変 (hyouhen), sudden change, complete change.

The last part, す (su), modifies the verb to a more humble form.

The “fool” part is merely implied or understood. So if wise and noble people are willing to change their minds, it automatically says that foolish people are unwilling to change.


The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...

Title CharactersRomaji (Romanized Japanese)Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Even a fool may sometimes come up with a good idea千慮一得
千虑一得
senryonoittokuqiān lǜ yī dé
qian1 lv4 yi1 de2
qian lv yi de
qianlvyide
ch`ien lü i te
chienlüite
chien lü i te
American Football美式橄欖球
美式橄榄球
měi shì gǎn lǎn qiú
mei3 shi4 gan3 lan3 qiu2
mei shi gan lan qiu
meishiganlanqiu
mei shih kan lan ch`iu
meishihkanlanchiu
mei shih kan lan chiu
American Footballアメフトame futou / amefutou / ame futo
American Footballアメリカンフットボールa me ri kan fu tto bo ru
amerikanfuttoboru
Fooフーfuu / fu
Food食物shoku motsu
shokumotsu
shí wù / shi2 wu4 / shi wu / shiwushih wu / shihwu
Football
Futbol
フットボールfutto bouru
futtobouru
futto boru
Soccer
Football
Futbol
足球zú qiú / zu2 qiu2 / zu qiu / zuqiutsu ch`iu / tsuchiu / tsu chiu
Soccer
Football
Futbol
蹴球shuu kyuu / shuukyuu / shu kyu
Fu Dog
Foo Dog
石獅子
石狮子
shí shī zi
shi2 shi1 zi5
shi shi zi
shishizi
shih shih tzu
shihshihtzu
Even The 100-Foot Bamboo Can Grow One More Foot百尺竿頭更進一步
百尺竿头更进一步
bǎi chǐ gān tóu gèng jìng yī bù
bai3 chi3 gan1 tou2 geng4 jing4 yi1 bu4
bai chi gan tou geng jing yi bu
baichigantougengjingyibu
pai ch`ih kan t`ou keng ching i pu
pai chih kan tou keng ching i pu
Men Die for Wealth, Birds Die for Food人為財死鳥為食亡
人为财死鸟为食亡
rén wèi cái sǐ niǎo wèi shí wáng
ren2 wei4 cai2 si3 niao3 wei4 shi2 wang2
ren wei cai si niao wei shi wang
jen wei ts`ai ssu niao wei shih wang
jen wei tsai ssu niao wei shih wang
A Wise Man Changes His Mind (but a fool never will)君子豹変すkun shi hyou hen su
kunshihyouhensu
kun shi hyo hen su
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line.
In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese.


Dictionary

Lookup Foo in my Japanese & Chinese Dictionary

All of our calligraphy wall scrolls are handmade.

When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.

Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!

When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.


A nice Chinese calligraphy wall scroll

The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.

A professional Chinese Calligrapher

Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.

There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form of art alive.

Trying to learn Chinese calligrapher - a futile effort

Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.

A high-ranked Chinese master calligrapher that I met in Zhongwei

The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.


Some people may refer to this entry as Foo Kanji, Foo Characters, Foo in Mandarin Chinese, Foo Characters, Foo in Chinese Writing, Foo in Japanese Writing, Foo in Asian Writing, Foo Ideograms, Chinese Foo symbols, Foo Hieroglyphics, Foo Glyphs, Foo in Chinese Letters, Foo Hanzi, Foo in Japanese Kanji, Foo Pictograms, Foo in the Chinese Written-Language, or Foo in the Japanese Written-Language.