# 海の男



## Da1

Hello guys,
I need to translate a concept from chinese to japanese, maybe the kanjis are the same, I don't know the language.
The chinese word is "hairen" and it's meaning is like "man of the sea".
This word not represents a sailor/seaman but it's something poetic, "a man with a special soul connection with the big sea"
I hope someone help me.

Many thanks in advance
Davide


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## SoLaTiDoberman

If the person is male gender, the perfect translation I can think of is:
*海の男 (umi no otoko) (a man of the sea)*.

He can be a sailor, a fisherman, a surfer, a diver or a swimmer, a navy soldier, or something else, and he loves the sea and spends most of his time in the sea. It sounds rather poetic.

By the way, 人 (person) can be both a man and a woman. Therefore, 人 (person) should be preferred to 男 (man) from a viewpoint of the political correctness.
Yet, 海の人（umi no hito) (a person of the sea) doesn't sound poetic at all. I do not recommend it to you.

I somehow feel that 海の男 doesn't include a pirate as a bad guy. 海の男 has a positive or good connotation.
I don't know if "Pirates of the Caribbean" (pirates as good guys or heroes) can be called 海の男 or not. ...Maybe possible.

PS) 海女（あま）(a woman of the sea) is a specific word for a professional female diver, by the way.


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## John Sebastián

Hello, I guess you are talking about the DC movie <Aquaman>.
If yes, its corresponding Chinese translation is 海王, which means The King of the Sea literally.

If there is nothing to do with the movie, to reply to your question, in Chinese it is written like 海人 "hai ren".
In Japanese, I think it is 海人 うみのひと


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## Da1

Thank to both

It's not related to a movie but to a book of a chinese writer.
The word on the book is exactly as you wrote 海人 so I need the same meaning in japanese kanji.
Anyway I like the point of view of Solatidoberman:

I'm a man. I love the sea, I love the deep, I swim in the sea only for the feeling about it, in other life I was a fish for sure ;-) 

So I would do a tribute to the sea, to the blue, to the wave and peaceful moments of the surface....

So, do you think that *海の男 (umi no otoko) could be considered as a poetry?*
*
(I want to do a wall print in my home and a small tattoo with this concept).

Another question, maybe is a stupidt thing; if a chinese person reads 海の男 (umi no otoko) what he understands?

Thaaaaanks*


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## s_y

海人（うみんちゅ UMINNCHU）という言葉があります。


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## Da1

And what does uminchu means? "Love"


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## s_y

海人 is originally a dialect of Okinawa japan.
海人 is like a fisherman who makes living by sea business. In fact I think that those who grew up while feeling the ocean nearby are included in 海人. The sea seems to be a symbol of pride for them. I think that 海人 is what he claims as himself. I think they are proud that they are 海人. And I think that the 海人 are feeling fellow consciousness. For 海人, the sea is a lovable subject, but before that it seems to me that 海人 contains the meaning "the sea is part of my existence". In that sense, I think that 海人 is similar to ethnic consciousness.

※It is personal impression.


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## s_y

Even people who like the ocean somehow, they are wearing t - shirts printed with 海人.
It is similar to wearing an unfamiliar band t shirt.
Actually, there is not so much for those who are conscious of 海人 strongly.

Although I grew up in a city where the sea is visible,
If someone asks "Are you 海人?" I think that I will answer "yes". And I think it is not such a funny thing.
I rarely hear the word 海人 on a daily basis, but there were a lot of people wearing 「海人」printed t - shirts a while ago.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

@#4:
Sorry, but I'd like to retract #2 and leave this thread because you mentioned "tattoo."
My understanding is that an advice for "tattoo" is out of the scope of this forum. 

Personally, I think neither 海の男 nor 海人 is cool for tattoo. It looks weird to me!


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## frequency

海人 is a coined word, not a word that is understandable on a daily basis.


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## Da1

frequency said:


> 海人 is a coined word, not a word that is understandable on a daily basis.


I'm sorry, what you exactly mean with "coined word"?

Ciai


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## Da1

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> @#4:
> Sorry, but I'd like to retract #2 and leave this thread because you mentioned "tattoo."
> My understanding is that an advice for "tattoo" is out of the scope of this forum.
> 
> Personally, I think neither 海の男 nor 海人 is cool for tattoo. It looks weird to me!



Please, dont misunderstood me, I don't need the translation mainly for the tattoo, I love the sea and this is a personal tribute to it.

The main use of the translation is to produce a wall scroll in japanese style that allow to me to think at the sea any time I see the print.

The reason why I chose the kanjii translation is due to my personal love with japan and kanji

If this reasons are not allowed on this forum say sorry.

Ciao


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## frequency

coined word - Traduzione in italiano  – Dizionario Linguee
I mean 海人 is not a practical/usual word, and sounds rather poetic. This is because it's a coined word, I guess.


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## Flaminius

_Uminchu_ (pace *s_y*) is a loan from the Ryūkyū language in which the word means anyone who engages in a sea-related occupation.  It probably includes seamen but seems to be used mostly for fishermen.  At least its use in the Japanese language is predominantly a reference to fishermen.

In contrast, an _umi-no otoko_ is more a seafarer than a fisherman.  It is not necessarily a poetic language, but there is some romantic connotation to it.  I am fairly confident about this judgment because it is a Japanese word.  In a more prosaic context, a person whose line is sea is sometimes called _umi-no ningen_ (海の人間).


Now, a few (hundreds) words as moderator of the JP forum.  We usually don’t answer requests about tattoos because we believe they need professional consultation, which we are unsuitable for giving.  This thread started as a regular one, and I will let it continue; but please beware that we do not guarantee that the answers given here be suitable for tattooing.

Please do not use “kanji” as the general name for the Japanese script.  I am aware this is a convention with quite some following, but it’s inaccurate and confusing.  The Japanese script consists of three glyphs that are kanji (Chinese characters in the shape and the sense as used by the Japanese people), hiragana, and katakana.  The last two glyphs represent syllables and are called syllabaries.  Now, these three glyphs are used in regular Japanese texts *all at once*.  To say that a Japanese text is written in kanji is highly misleading because there is no exclusively kanji texts of Modern Japanese.

Please capitalise proper nouns and proper adjectives such as *J*apan and *J*apanese.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

How about ”海、命！”?

It means "the sea: It's everything for me!"
You don't need to use katakana or hiragana and you only need kanji and "、"  and "!."
It may be common that you see it on a wall scroll in Japanese.
And it's more common that you see such a Japanese expression, "XX, 命,” on some cheap guy's skin. (XX is usually a name of a woman.)
(Personally, I'm laughing at him in my mind though.)


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## Da1

Hi Flaminius,
I'm really aware about all the peculiarities about the translation in/from asian languages anyway I"m grateful to all of you for your help in this tricky desire so it's not a problem to risk a bit by my side ;-)

SLTD, your new suggest it's also interesting but for this time I decided to use the simplest and "more poetic" translation: *海
(Could you confirm that this kanji alone simply is "sea"?)
*
At the end of this "romantic story"  I want to do a tribute to the sea, not to me as lover of the sea and I understood this due to the particulr systems of Japanese language, were there are many way to say something; it's great but tricky for Italians.

Davide


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