Trying to translate this from my obachama.

[espfuel815]

The image a piece of my obachama's caligraphy. My mom had a hard time describing a definite translation.

The closest phrase I got was, "The tea in the cup is full"
Meaning: find satisfaction in something as simple as a full cup of tea
or Put your full effort toward everything you do

If anyone could please tell me the direct translation and meaning of the phrase, as well as how to spell in ro-maji I would really appreciate it.


Thank you

[JohnBraden]

Please don't "bump bump bump" your previous thread if you're just going to create another one....thanks!

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by espfuel815

The image a piece of my obachama's caligraphy. My mom had a hard time describing a definite translation.

The closest phrase I got was, "The tea in the cup is full"
Meaning: find satisfaction in something as simple as a full cup of tea
or Put your full effort toward everything you do

If anyone could please tell me the direct translation and meaning of the phrase, as well as how to spell in ro-maji I would really appreciate it.

Thank you

The reason that I personally did not reply was that I could not read one of the kanji in the cursive, which is the top one in the second line.

The rest is undoubtedly 「茶満一（＿）中」. If your translation above were correct, then the kanji in question would be "cup".

The very literal translation, without even changing the word order, would be:
"Tea fills one cup inside."

Though I am not elegant and educated enough to know what the phrase implies, I would say it was along the lines of "With tea, the cup is complete." or even "With tea, the universe is complete."

How to verbalize the phrase is the big issue because it does not follow the normal Japanese grammar. If you know anything about the language, you know you cannot form a whole sentence only with kanji.

My best attempt would be "Cha ichiwan wo mitasu." This is the last time anyone would make me use romaji, too. If you are of Japanese descent, which I am certain that you are, at least learn the kana.

[espfuel815]

Thank you for the input.

I am still learning. Unfortunately my mom didn't want to teach me when I was growing up. I really wish she had.