Question Japanese word for honoring mother

[elias123]

Hi,

This might be a strange request but I need some help in how to spell "Mother" in japanese. You see, my mother sadly passed away in cancer last spring and since she was so precious to me I'd like to honor her with a tattoo. We both love and loved Japan and the culture it has, and how close the families seem to be there. I understand there are a lot of ways to refer to your mother in japanese and that's why I reach out for help to get the proper word and spelling. I was thinking of imprinting this on my arm: お母さん - which from I understand is pronounced "Okaasan" and is a normal and polite/honorable way to refer to your mother. Is there any better word or spelling for this? I'd really like to get this right and unfortunately I haven't studied the japanese language.

Thanks in advance!

 

[mdchachi]

I think お母さん is a good choice. But let's see what the others say.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

I don't like tattoes in general, but it seems the decision has already been made.

A more polite way to address one's mother is to say
母上
which is pronounced "Hahaue". That's Ha Ha U (Oo like in "pool") E (sounds similar to a long "a" sound).
If the intention is to use a respectful word for addressing your own mother, this can be a good choice.

Edited to add: One advantage to doing this rather than お母さん is that it's only half as many characters. If the tattooist is not quite familiar with Japanese/Chinese, the risk of a mistake grows along with the length and/or complexity of the tattoo s/he is trying to paint.