japanese tattoo: haha or okaasan?
 

Hii^^
I want a tattoo on my wrist in japanese characters saying: mom, but I dont know if it should be Haha or Okaasan, talking about my own mother.
I want this tattoo because I dont see her that often, so she is always with me on my wrist.. just as a sign of love for her =)
I googled it and I cant find a good explaination, I rly hope someone can help me here!

So: お母さん (okaasan) or 母 (haha) on my wrist? :quesballoon: :confused:

My opinions about getting words written in a language you don't understand tattooed into your skin are clearly documented on this site, but at least you got the Japanese text on there. Best of luck.

but wich one would you choose looking at my discription of the way I want the word "mom" tattooed?

When you talk to someone outside of your family about your mother, you say "Haha"
When you talk to someone inside your family about your mother, you say "Okaasan"

EDIT: Make yourself a favor and don't pick any, the second you bumped into the fact you didn't knew which one of these you should get pretty much is where you should've decided not to get it tattooed.

Don't get a tattoo in a language you do not speak.

I rly want the tattoo because my mom is sick, and I want it in japanese because I love everything about japan. I dont want everyone to know what it means on first sight, but just my family and close friends, so I guess I'll go for okaasan..

I dont want to have a tattoo saying just "mom" in english because that just doesnt look as nice as japanese characters and most ppl think: Omg that is lame, why would you go for a tattoo saying "mom". And when ppl see it they'll ask what it means, and I like that because I can explain why I did it and why in japanese.

Thanks for the answer m4x30000, that is useful info.. And I dont need ppl telling me to not get it in japanese because I dont know the language, I am going to learn japanese asap so.. and I know some japanese already, just wasn't sure of this word.. please tell me something about what m4x30000 said^^

Does it matter if it looks silly to a native Japanese speaker?

I suggest to be more creative if you don't like the word "mom" and don't speak Japanese. Unless your mom is Japanese or is interested in Japan, it wouldn't be a representation of her at all.

Find something that symbolizes your mom. Her favorite colors, favorite items, something that you recall from her when you were really young, etc. Those will be more appropriate tattoes than a language that you don't understand and your mom doesn't have any idea about.

お母さん is mom. 母 is mother. 母 looks less bad to me. Sorry to hear your mom is sick.

But don't go for either unless you plan to never meet Japanese or Chinese people. 母 tattoo would look a lot worse to Japanese and Chinese people than mom tattoo would to English speakers.

yeah but I want to combine two things I rly love: my mom and japan.. it doesn't have to symbolize her.. did I make it sound like it had?

why would it look silly? if it is the correct character for "mom" what is wrong with it than? I am dutch, so I'll not meet many japanese or english ppl in my everyday life, maybe on holidays or so..

If you need it that bad take 母, for sure. It's not like you are writing a full sentence or anything; basically the meaning of this kanji is mother, which is what you want.

Now please be creative and dont have this kanji tattooed black in a red dot.

I dislike tattoos in general, but please don't get one in a language you don't speak. You will probably regret it, if your interest in Japan ever fades you'll be stuck with it forever, and it will look silly to Japanese people/Japanese speakers.

If you love Japan, then don't you intend to go there? Wouldn't you rather not look silly to the people you meet?

If you don't want it to symbolize her, then get a tattoo for Japan. It sounds like you really just want a Japanese tattoo rather than one for your mother.

It's hard to explain. Probably because the word is too ordinary for us and so it looks cheap. Kanji is kinda cool in the states because it's something arcane, but to us it's a word that is very very basic, it'll look like tattooing "woman" in lame block letters, or worse. If you have to do it, find a good 草書 (cursive). for example,
孝経１２幅対（その３）----自然の形 - 中林梧竹の書
number 1 here may be passable to my eyes if done correctly.

I'm against Kanji tattoos because 99% of them are pretty bad, some even to the point Japanese people have to suppress laughing when they see them.

I just want something that looks nice and reminds me of her, so everytime I look at it I'll think of her.. I like the way japanese looks, and not everybody needs to know what it means at first sight in my opinion, its something personal.

what do you mean with this part? is it about how the characters look and stuff?

Well, it's hard to explain again, and it's a combination of everything, but Japan and China have a long history, over a thousand years, of calligraphy which is perceived "artistic".

You don't want to tattoo yourself with childish handwriting right? It's kind of like the difference between handwriting of a 10 year old and a set of good looking artistic font. Tiny details matter to native users of a language.

I think that is what cranks means. Think about it in terms of type-face. If you want to be taken seriously in your font choice you use something clear and standard like Helvetica and not Comic Sans. The way a thing is written can convey just as much as what is written. I think he is suggesting a more artistic approach to how it is written to perhaps elevate the look of this common word. The choice of written appearance will hopefully convey something more meaningful and will look slightly less like a foreigner with a random word slapped on their wrist.

Agreeing with this being a generally poorly thought out tattoo. It has nothing to do with your mother and everything to do with you and your interest in Japan. It seems like a selfish tattoo IMHO. If I wanted to commemorate my mother in ink, especially if she were to pass away, I would think about her favorite flowers, favorite birds/animals, colors, something related to her birth-date or birthplace and make it personal. The tattoo about your mom should be separate from your tattoo reflecting an interest in Japan unless your mother holds the exact same interest. And later on when you get a tattoo about your love of all things Japanese, use images and not text.

If you won't listen to anyone else about this at least try to find someone of Japanese descent or training to do your inkwork. Be selective.

ahh ok that way, I'll just go to a rly good tattoo artist and I'll print some examples from nice looking fonts for him. ty for the info mate=D

You still need to take this info to an artist that is familiar with the language. Font of a language you don't know is a very tricky thing to explain. Otherwise they could not understand and still use the wrong looking "typeface". It can't just be a tattoo artist who is really good, they need to understand it.

I can think of a great Japanese artist here living here in San Francisco, he is doing beautiful full sleeves on a friend of mine right now. If you ever plan to travel here I can give you his name.

In the end it's your body, do whatever you want. Taking some of this advice can only help you.

ty.. this rly got me thinking.. I dont wanna look selfish cause I am not, and I just thought about this totally different.. more like: mom+japan=okaasan, can you understand? I've wanted a japanese tattoo for a long time now and never knew what words, and last week I heard my mom has breastcancer. so my first thought was: okaasan.. I hope I don't sound selfish anymore because my love for my mom is ofcourse the main reason for the tattoo =D

Thank you. I don't have anything to add to this.

The thing is Kanji calligraphy is an art and you can't find a font for that. So you can't take an off-the-shelf approach. Finding a decent artist is good. Have them morph the character into something that looks more artistic. Don't just copy and paste a font off a computer printout.

thanks again, you seem like a rly nice person^^

hahaha, no I meant for inspiration ofcourse.. I would never just copy and past stuff on my body =P I didn't think of this aspect of a tattoo before I posted this thread tho, so ty^^

All right, wish the best for you, your mom and all.

Arigatou Gozaimasu (_ _)