

Lofty Ambition 青雲大志
seiun taishi4 characters30 strokes
青雲大志 (seiun taishi) means having big, lofty dreams and goals, like clouds floating high in a blue sky.
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Meaning 意味
What 青雲大志 means
A Japanese four-character idiom, yojijukugo, read seiun taishi.
LiterallyBlue clouds, great ambition.
青雲大志 means holding great dreams and high goals, like clouds floating high in a blue sky. It expresses the wish to grow into a person of real worth.
“At graduation, our teacher wrote seiun taishi on the board and told us to dream big.”
When people write it in Japan. It suits kakizome, the first calligraphy of the New Year, or any piece about future dreams and big goals.
Japanese children know every kanji here by 5th grade.
How to write it 書き方
Brush tips for 青雲大志
Three things to watch
- In the 月 at the bottom of 青, bring the 6th stroke down the right side and finish with a flick to the upper left.
- In 大, open the 2nd stroke, a sweep to the left, and the 3rd stroke, a sweep to the right, freely to both sides.
- In the 士 at the top of 志, make the 1st stroke, a horizontal, long and the 3rd stroke, a horizontal, short. If you swap their lengths, it turns into 土 (earth).
Stroke order
Follow the vermilion stroke, frame by frame.
Stroke order data: KanjiVG by Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0.
How to practice 練習
Trace first, then copy
- PrintPrint both pages at actual size, on US Letter or A4. Page 1 is the model. Page 2 is the tracing sheet.
- TraceTrace the outlines with a brush pen. Or lay thin hanshi paper over the page and trace with brush and ink.
- CopySet the model beside your paper and copy it stroke by stroke. Look at the model more than at your own paper.
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