Buy a Custom Carpe Diem Chinese or Japanese Calligraphy Wall Scroll

We have many options to create artwork with the Chinese characters / Asian symbols / Japanese Kanji for Carpe Diem on a wall scroll or portrait.
If you want to create a cool Carpe Diem wall scroll, this is the place. Below you will find a few Asian symbols that express the idea of Carpe Diem.


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  1. Carpe Diem / Seize the Day

  2. Live For The Day

  3. Live Without Regret

  4. Die Without Regret

  5. Live For The Day / Seize The Day

  6. Live Love Die

  7. Live Laugh Love

  8. Live In The Moment / Live In The Now

  9. Live Without Regret

10. No Regrets


Carpe Diem / Seize the Day

 bǎ wò jīn rì
Carpe Diem / Seize the Day Scroll

把握今日 is the closest and most natural way to express this proverb in Chinese.

The first two characters mean “to seize” but can also be translated as “take control of.”

The last two characters mean “today.”

Live For The Day

 huó zài jīn tiān
Live For The Day Scroll

活在今天 is not an eastern concept, so it does not translate into a phrase that seems natural on a wall scroll.

However, if this is your philosophy, the characters shown here do capture your idea of living for today or living in the moment. 活在今天 says “Live in today,” and they are grammatically correct in Chinese.


Note: This kind of makes sense in Korean Hanja but the grammar is Chinese, so it’s not that natural in Korean.

Live Without Regret

 shēng ér wú huǐ
Live Without Regret Scroll

生而無悔 is how to say “live without regrets” in Mandarin Chinese.


Note: There is some debate about whether this makes sense in Japanese. It would be read, "nama ji mu ke," and be understood in Japanese. But, a Japanese person will probably think it’s Chinese (not Japanese).


See Also:  Live for Today

Die Without Regret

 sǐ ér wú huǐ
Die Without Regret Scroll

死而無悔 is how to say “die with no regrets” in Mandarin Chinese.

This proverb comes from the Analects of Confucius.


See Also:  No Regrets

Live For The Day / Seize The Day

 ima wo i ki ru
Live For The Day / Seize The Day Scroll

今を生きる is a Japanese phrase that can be translated as “live for the day,” “live for the moment,” “seize the day,” or “make the most of the present.”

You can think of this as the Japanese version of “Carpe Diem.”


Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

Live Love Die

 shēng ài sǐ
 sei ai shi
Live Love Die Scroll

This came from a customer's request, but it's not too bad.

These three simple characters suggest that you are born, you learn to love, and then exit the world.

Live Laugh Love

 xiào ài shēng huó
Live Laugh Love Scroll

In English, the word order shown in the title is the most natural or popular. In Chinese, the natural order is a little different:

The first character means laugh (sometimes means smile).

The second character means love.

The last two characters mean “live” as in “to be alive” or “pursue life.”

Please note: 笑愛生活 is not a normal phrase in that it does not have a subject, verb, or object. It is a word list. Word lists are not common in Asian languages/grammar (at least not as normal as in English). We only added this entry because so many people requested it.

We put the characters in the order shown above, as it almost makes a single word with the meaning “A life of laughter and love.” It's a made-up word, but it sounds good in Chinese.


We removed the Japanese pronunciation guide from this entry, as the professional Japanese translator deemed it "near nonsense" from a Japanese perspective. Choose this only if your audience is Chinese and you want the fewest-possible characters to express this idea.

In Korean, this would be 소애생활 or "so ae saeng hwar" but I have not confirmed that this makes sense in Korean.

Live In The Moment / Live In The Now

 xiàn shì
 gen sei
Live In The Moment / Live In The Now Scroll

現世 is a very short way to write “live in the moment” or “live in the now” in Japanese.

This short word is open to interpretation. It's used in Japanese Buddhism to mean “the current epoch” or “the current age” (the current age is but a brief moment in the greater scope of existence). In that context, this is pronounced “utsushiyo” or “ustusiyo” in Japanese. Otherwise, it's pronounced “gensei” in Japanese.

Other translation possibilities include:

Live for now
Earthly world
This world
This life
Earthly life
Present life
Present generation
Present incarnation
Current age
This existence
This (momentary) reality


Note: This is also a word in Chinese and old Korean Hanja. While the meaning is more or less the same, this is not recommended for a wall scroll if your audience is Chinese or Korean. This selection is best if your audience is Japanese.

Live Without Regret

 jinsei kui nashi
Live Without Regret Scroll

人生悔い無し is how to say “live without regrets” in Japanese.


Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.


See Also:  Live for Today

 wú huǐ
 mu ke
No Regrets Scroll

無悔 is how to say “no regrets” in Mandarin Chinese.

This also makes sense in Japanese, though not the most common way to express “no regrets” in Japanese.


See Also:  Live for Today

 kou kai na shi
No Regrets Scroll

後悔無し is how to say “no regrets” in Japanese.


See Also:  Live for Today


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

Title CharactersRomaji (Romanized Japanese)Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Carpe Diem
Seize the Day
把握今日bǎ wò jīn rì
ba3 wo4 jin1 ri4
ba wo jin ri
bawojinri
pa wo chin jih
pawochinjih
Live For The Day活在今天huó zài jīn tiān
huo2 zai4 jin1 tian1
huo zai jin tian
huozaijintian
huo tsai chin t`ien
huotsaichintien
huo tsai chin tien
Live Without Regret生而無悔
生而无悔
shēng ér wú huǐ
sheng1 er2 wu2 hui3
sheng er wu hui
shengerwuhui
sheng erh wu hui
shengerhwuhui
Die Without Regret死而無悔
死而无悔
sǐ ér wú huǐ
si3 er2 wu2 hui3
si er wu hui
sierwuhui
ssu erh wu hui
ssuerhwuhui
Live For The Day
Seize The Day
今を生きるima wo i ki ru
imawoikiru
Live Love Die生愛死
生爱死
sei ai shi / seiaishishēng ài sǐ
sheng1 ai4 si3
sheng ai si
shengaisi
sheng ai ssu
shengaissu
Live Laugh Love笑愛生活
笑爱生活
xiào ài shēng huó
xiao4 ai4 sheng1 huo2
xiao ai sheng huo
xiaoaishenghuo
hsiao ai sheng huo
hsiaoaishenghuo
Live In The Moment
Live In The Now
現世
现世
gen sei / genseixiàn shì / xian4 shi4 / xian shi / xianshihsien shih / hsienshih
Live Without Regret人生悔い無しjinsei kui nashi
jinseikuinashi
No Regrets無悔
无悔
mu ke / mukewú huǐ / wu2 hui3 / wu hui / wuhui
No Regrets後悔無しkou kai na shi
koukainashi
ko kai na shi
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.


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.