R: Re: Chinese (?) translation

>> My sister has a Japanese rosary, probably a buddhist one (we'd talked
about rosaries last month, but I don't remember very well the description BP
Jonsson did about buddhist rosasies). The problem is: there are 3 ideograms
on each bead


> My guess would be that you're looking at the three ingredients of a happy
life: happiness (fu2), prosperity (lu4), and longevity (shou4). Shou4 is a
bear of a character to remember how to write even though it has only
fourteen strokes -- probably because of all the horizontal lines. If you
can't find "shou4" phonetically in whatever resource you're using, try
looking under the three-stroke "scholar" radical and then eleven additional
strokes. Together, these three are personified as deities, "The Three
Stars". "Longevity" is an old bald guy holding a staff and a peach (another
longevity symbol). I think these are Taoist deities rather than Buddhist,
but there's a lot of mixing and matching. Anyway, if that ain't it, let me
know.

Kou>

Thank you for the explanation! Yes, the third ideogram is 14 strokes long,
so I guess your translation is right : ) Now I only have to learn how to
sing them... sigh!

Luca