Flexibility in Chinese / Japanese...

像水一樣 is a short quote from a much longer statement by Bruce Lee.

He summarized how people should be flexible to all circumstances, attacks, or situations. In the end, he exclaims, “Be like water, my friend.” 像水一樣 is the “Be like water” part alone since that seems to be what most people want.

動態 is the Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja for a word that means “dynamic state.”

This word can also mean:
movement; motion; development; trend; dynamic (science); the state of being dynamic.

This word can be used to describe someone or an organization that keeps up with cutting-edge trends. Always flexible, always changing, always moving.

靈活性 is a Chinese and Korean word that means flexibility or being open to change.

You consider others' ideas and feelings and don't insist on your own way. Flexibility gives you creative new ways to get things done. Flexibility helps you to keep changing for the better. 靈活性 could also be defined as having a “flexible nature.”

See Also:  Cooperation

柔軟性 is the Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and Korean Hanja word that means “flexibility.”

It can also mean “compatibility,” “pliability,” “softness” and “elasticity.”

See Also:  Cooperation

基督 is how to write “Christ” in Chinese characters, Korean Hanja, and Japanese Kanji.

This is the word used in the Chinese Union Bible (the only readily-available translation of the Bible into Chinese that I know of - published about 100 years ago). For Chinese Christians, this is the most common way to refer to Jesus Christ.

This is also the way that “Christ” is written in Japanese. But since the Japanese language is very flexible about the sounds that can be assigned to various Kanji, these characters have been assigned a pronunciation that sounds a lot like “Christ” or actually closer to the original “Christos.” In Japanese (if you don't know how the Romaji shown above in the gray box works), it sounds like “key ree sue toe” using English words/sounds. Say those four words fast, and you'll get it.
It should be noted that only Japanese Christians will be familiar with this word.

This is best defined, read, and understood with the characters together, but if you take this word for Christ apart, the first character means “fundamentals” or “foundation.” The second character can mean “leader” or “boss.”

柔道 is the martial art invented in Japan and known as “Judo” around the world.

Translated directly, it means “Gentle Way” or “Flexible Way"

More about Judo

柔術 has been somewhat incorrectly spelled and pronounced “Jujitsu” for some time in the English-speaking world. The correct Japanese Romaji is Jujutsu or Juujutsu.

A little background on the word: By combining the Kanji pronounced “Ju” (which means flexible, pliable, gentle, yielding) with the Kanji pronounced “Jutsu” (which means art or technique), we get a meaning that can be translated as “flexible technique,” “gentle art” or “yielding technique.”
柔術 does make sense in Chinese as well, although pronounced “rou shu” in China.

The Jujutsu system has a history in Japan that started well before the 1600s. Some see this style as a variation of the “Empty Hand Method” (Karate-do). Even the samurai of old used some Jujutsu methods in defending themselves with their unarmed hands against weapons that could pierce their heavy armor.

There are convoluted relationships between various schools and systems of martial arts, but it's generally accepted that Jujutsu led to the development of Judo and a few other variations.

忍 contains the ideas of patience, equanimity, perseverance, forbearance, and endurance. Alone, this single character can be a bit ambiguous or flexible. It can also mean to endure, to bear, to put up with, or to conceal. If you want to simply decide what this character means to you within the general meaning but keep it a mystery to others, this is a good choice.

If you want to be more direct, you may want to choose one of our other selections that mean perseverance or patience (you will see this character within those larger words/phrases).

There is a secondary meaning in Japanese since this is the first character of the word ninja.

Note that when writing this as Kanji, Japanese will tend to write it in the form shown to the right. If you select our Japanese master calligrapher, please expect this Kanji form (yes, it's just one stroke that is slightly different in location, crossing another stroke in the Japanese Kanji form).

See Also:  Perseverance | Patience | Tenacious

彈性 means resilience, flexibility, or elasticity in Chinese characters and old Korean Hanja.

弾力性 means elasticity, flexibility, adaptability, or resilience in Japanese Kanji.

以柔克剛 can be translated as “Softness Overcomes Hardness,” “Flexibility Overcomes Power,” “Flexibility Overcomes Strength,” “Overcoming Powerful Strength with Flexibility,” or “Use Softness to Conquer Strength.”

伸縮 can mean, to lengthen and shorten; flexible; adjustable; retractable; extensible; expansion and contraction; elasticity; flexibility; elastic; stretchy.

伸縮 is often romanized from Korean as “Shin Chook,” which is associated with one of the 8 key concepts of Tang Soo Do.

Being tolerant is accepting differences. You don't expect others to think, look, speak or act just like you. You are free of prejudice, knowing that all people have feelings, needs, hopes, and dreams. Tolerance is also accepting things you wish were different with patience and flexibility.

寬容 can also be translated as magnanimity, generosity, or leniency.

Note: There is a tiny deviation in the first character when written in Japanese. If you choose our Japanese master calligrapher, the little dot on the lower right of the first character will be omitted. With or without the dot, this can be read in Chinese, Japanese, and old Korean.

See Also:  Patience

This 柔 Kanji literally means flexible, pliable, gentle, or yielding.

柔 is also the first Kanji of the Japanese martial arts titles of Judo and Jujutsu (Jujitsu). In those cases, it's pronounced “ju” in Japanese. However, alone, the classic pronunciation is “yawara.” Some translate this Kanji (in the context of martial arts) as “The Heart of Judo.”

Please note that this just means pliable, gentle, and yielding in Chinese and old Korean Hanja. They do know what Judo and Jujitsu are but if this character is seen alone in China or Korea, people generally will not think of the martial arts context.

簡約 means concise; abbreviated, conciseness, brevity, or simple in Chinese and Japanese.

The meaning can be a little ambiguous until you add context, but that makes the meaning flexible for your personal meaning.

剛柔 is a term that means hardness and softness or hard and soft.

剛柔 is also the Chinese character origin of the martial arts style known as Cương Nhu.

Cương Nhu or Cuong Nhu was founded by Grandmaster Ngo Dong in 1965 in Hue, Vietnam, and brought to the U.S. in 1971.

剛 means hard, firm, strong, and just.
柔 means soft, flexible, supple, yielding, softness, and/or gentleness.

Until it was romanized in the mid-17th century by Portuguese missionaries with later influence by French missionaries, Vietnamese was exclusively written in Chinese characters. With some research, you can still figure out the original way to write most Vietnamese words and titles in Chinese characters. That is what I did here to figure out that Cuong Nhu would have been 剛柔 if established in ancient Vietnam.

Same characters are used in Japanese for various Goju schools of Okinawan martial arts, though not the same lineage as the Vietnamese style described above.

剛柔館 is the martial arts style Gojukan or Goju-Kan.

The meaning is “hardness [and] softness hall.”

剛 = Hard, firm, or strong.
柔 = Soft, softness, flexible, supple, yielding, gentleness, or pliant.
館 = Hall, building, school room, or an alternate word for a dojo.

沖縄剛柔館 is the martial arts style Okinawan Gojukan or Okinawan Goju-Kan.

The meaning is “Okinawa hardness [and] softness hall.”

沖縄 = Okinawa.
剛 = Hard, firm, or strong.
柔 = Soft, softness, flexible, supple, yielding, gentleness, or pliant.
館 = Hall, building, school room, or an alternate word for a dojo.