Question About Japanese Characters

[Inked_Chick]

Hello,
I recently recived a robe with two beautiful dragons and some Japanese Characters I was wondering if anyone could tell me what they mean.
I did the best I could recreating them in that paint program ... hopefully they can be read :hihi:
Thank you so much
Inked_chick

[ポール]

Last one could be 寺 which could make it the name of a temple.

[nice gaijin]

The second one is most likely 福 (fuku, luck), but a photo would probably be a better idea than trying to paint them on your computer.

[Inked_Chick]

First off Thanks so much for the replies :-)
Here are some pics of the robe I mentioned from my first post

Sorry about the crappy pics ... best I could do:bluush:

Thanks

Inked Chick

[undrentide]

They are not Japanese but Chinese.

The first one is often used to represent good fortune - if I remember correctly - and I see it very often at Chinese restaurants.
I cannot type it because it does not exist among Japanese kanji.
(Also dragon is more often used on Chinese stuff than Japanese - except those specially designed for souvenir. I think dragon in China symboilze the power while in Japan it is one of the gods for something related water/rain/thunder, etc.)

The remaining three is
福禄寿
which is one of the seven lucky gods 七福神.
This concept was also introduced in Japan and you can find them here, too, but not use for clothe like they are in China.

[JimmySeal]

This is the other one http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/%7Ejwb/gif212/3671.png. It's this character 喜 (happiness) doubled so it's something like extreme happiness or marital bliss.

福禄寿 would be pronounced "fukurokuju" in Japanese and it consists of the characters for wealth, happiness, and longevity, in that order. As undrentide said, it's the name of the Japanese lucky god of those three things (happiness, wealth and long life).
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A6%8F%E7%A6%84%E5%AF%BF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukurokuju
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Lucky_Gods

However, the characters on your garment probably refer to the Chinese three star gods 福 fuk, 禄 luk, and 寿 sau, as well as the meanings of the characters themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Star_Gods


I think you did a good job recreating them in your paint program. I was able to recognize them from the sketches you drew.

[Inked_Chick]

Thank you so much Unrentide and JimmySeal.

I should of known it was Chinese and not Japanese :blush: So much for paying attention to my Art History classes in College :p

Looking at it more closely the dragon does look more Chinese then Japanese in style.

Thank you again for the translation I was talking to my roommate (The one who bought the robe for me) about how I was asking in this forum if anyone can help me figure the meaning out.

She said it was a good idea because it could mean anything. She told me about a shirt her sister bought with hindi writting on it. When she wore it to a doctors appointment her doctor (who was born in India) gave her a funny look and asked if she knew what it meant ... she said no and he never told her what it said ... i assume something embarassing to her or something crude lol

Thanks for the help

inkedchick