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Translation for a written passage

MrMadman

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29 Jul 2016
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Hi! I'm a worker in the UK wanting a tattoo on my forearm. Less about fashion, more about looking at it every morning so the words inspire me to do better in the day. The passage I want is:-
"Hold Hope in your Heart and Hell in your Hands"
The problem is I've been raiding the internet and contacts for an accurate translation with no avail. Can anyone please give me a translation as close as possible? If I'm getting Japanese on my arm, I at lseat want it to be the correct spelling and meaning. Many thanks.
 
Less about fashion, more about looking at it every morning so the words inspire me to do better in the day.

That being the case, wouldn't the logical solution be to do it in English?

If you get "Hold Hope in your Heart and Hell in your Hands" tattooed on yourself in Japanese, people will ask "What does that say?".

If you get "Hold Hope in your Heart and Hell in your Hands" tattooed on yourself in English, people will ask "What the hell does that even mean?"... which they're going to ask you anyway if you get in Japanese and then tell them what it says in English.
 
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[QUOTE="If you get "Hold Hope in your Heart and Hell in your Hands" tattooed on yourself in English, people will ask "What the hell does that even mean?"... which they're going to ask you anyway if you get in Japanese and then tell them what it says in English.[/QUOTE]

Fair enough. But I want it in Japanese not just because its the message I want. I like and follow Japanese culture as well as the Bushido code (for personal reasons I'd rather not disclose). That and I've studied the writing and I find it beautiful and inspiring. That's reason enough for me to have it engraved on my skin for the rest of my life. As long as the words I choose say what I want it to say.
 
Start with this. It may need some tweaking, and it should absolutely be checked and blessed by at least one native Japanese speaker (I am not).

Anyone on this forum may feel free to suggest changes (not that you needed my OK to do that...)

心に希望を、手に地獄を持とう
 
I am also from the UK originally. Like Mike I have never heard that phrase before and I am not sure what "holding hell in your hands" is supposed to mean. I googled it and came up with nothing.

So be aware that if you do get it tattooed, whether in Japanese or English, you will constantly have to explain to people what it means and why you chose it.

Also I would advise you to search this forum for other threads about kanji tattoos. If you read them and see the various results and arguments against kanji tattoos and still want to get it done... go ahead I suppose.
 
The best advice I have ever heard regarding whether to get a particular design as a tattoo or not:

Draw the design on a piece of paper and carry it in your wallet. For six months, every time you meet somebody, take it out, show it to them, and explain it to them. If after six months you're not sick to death of explaining it, then have it permanently etched into your skin.
 
Like Mike I have never heard that phrase before and I am not sure what "holding hell in your hands" is supposed to mean. I googled it and came up with nothing.
This raises an important question: how on earth did anybody get a tattoo before the days of Google? How did they confirm that their desired phrase was popular enough to be acceptable?
</facetiousness>
Tattoos are personal, not designed by committee. They can say whatever the people wearing them want them to say. It only matters that it means something to them. Anyway, if being able to be found somewhere on the Internet is to be treated as some kind of criterion for acceptability, then the OP's proposed message is fine, as it is similar to a line from the song "Truth" by the hard rock band American Pearl: "god in your soul, hell in your hands". (I found this by googling, by the way.)
For those about to rock, I salute you:
 
Tattoos are personal, not designed by committee. They can say whatever the people wearing them want them to say.

I really don't care what other people get tattoos of as long as they're not overtly offensive. However if it were a relatively well-known phrase or lyric (that I for whatever reason had been ignorant of until today), or if the meaning were very clear, then the OP would not have to explain what it means to everyone and their dog.
 
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