What does this Japanese Symbol Mean?

Question

http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q729/vitamin-c...

I found this necklace and am wondering what the symbols mean.

I thought it was Japanese, but I did research and now I'm not sure if it's that or Chinese, but I'm fairly sure it's Japanese.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Answer 1

Favorite Answer

It means "wa." That's Japanese for "harmony." It's so important a concept in Japan that there's even a "Wa"-pedia.

In Japanese baseball, it means team spirit or unity. American Robert Whiting wrote a fascinating book called "You Gotta Have Wa."

Source(s): http://www.wa-pedia.com/culture/ http://www.amazon.com/You-Gotta-Have-Robert-Whitin...

Answer 2

和 is 'wa' in Japanese, and 'hé' in Mandarin Chinese (or 'wor' in Cantonese Chinese). In Japanese it typically means 'harmony' but along with other characters would normally signify something relating to Japan, whereas in Chinese it's mostly used to mean 'and' but can mean 'harmony' as well. Like Japanese when it's with other characters can mean other things.

By the way, I'd like to know how you were "fairly sure it's Japanese"

Source(s): Chinese person who's studied Japanese for 5 years in high school

Answer 3

In japanese 和 is used as a prefix to mean anything which is related to Japan, e.g.

和風

japanese style

和食

japanese cuisine

和菓子

japanese candies

pronunciation is wa

Answer 4

和 is read as 'wa' and it means 'harmony'. Beware, though, it may be read differently in other situations when combined with other kanji. I hope this helps.

Source(s): I understand Japanese.