How To Write Your Name In Japanese Kanji Symbols
For Your Tattoo Design
Author: Takanori Tomita

Nowadays, just as we, Japanese people, love to use English
symbols or phrase on T-shirt, Logo or jewely design, Westerners
start to use Japanese Kanji Symbols for their own design needs
as well.

The most popular use of Japanese Symbols is for tattoo designs,
and today, this article tells you how your name is translated
into Japanese Kanji symbols.

Although there are 3 different Japanese scripts called Kanji,
Hiragana and Katakana, the most popular Japanese symbol as a
tattoo design is Kanji.

Kanji are ideographic characters.

It means that each of Kanji symbol represent not just a sound,
but an object or idea. Historically, it is imported from China.


Now, when we write names in Japanese kanji symbols, we can use
several different ways to translate. First of all, the key to
successfully rendering a name into Japanese symbol is deciding
what you want to achieve.

Today, a professional way of Japanse name translation is
disscussed. That is, the phonetic and eulogistic transcription,
and used when you want to get both the pronunciation and the
original meaning of your name.

In this case, we choose a kanji symbol according to each
character's sound, and also combine them with an appropriate
meaning.

For example, we write Emma in Japnase kanji symbols.
Emma can be written by using 2 kanji symbols.
The pronunciation becomes "e ma" in Japanese, while the meaning
is "Eternal Truth".
You see, we use the Japanese kanji symbol which has "e" sound
and "ma" sound, and in this case, we have chosen Eternal kanji
symbol whose sound is "e" and truth kanji symbol whose sound is
"ma".

Also, Kanji has 2 different ways to read and has several
different sounds.
So, let me also mentioned about the Kunyomi and the Onyomi.

The onyomi has developed from the original Chinese
pronunciation but over the centuries it has been adapted to and
become part of the Japanese language.
On the other hand, the kunyomi is native Japanese word.

To write names, we use both kunyomi and Onyomi reading.
But, English names are usually translated with Onyomi reading,
and if the sound of onyomi reading of a kanji character is the
same as the sound of your name, its kanji character is
allocated.


About The Author: Takanori Tomita, a Japanese translator who is
specializing in Japanese symbols, and operating DSFY - Japanese
Symbols Translation http://www.dsfy.com This article is (c)
Takanori Tomita 2006. Permission is given to reproduce this
article in whole with the URLs correctly hyperlinked.