The Japanese word 仏蘭西 is composed of the kanji仏 (read fu) meaning "France; Buddha", 蘭 (read ran) meaning "Orchid" and 西 (read su) meaning "West."
Country names were originally translated to Japanese using a phonetic translation to kanji. These kanji were selected mainly for their pronunciation and not necessarily for their meaning. Also France is commonly written in katakana as フランス. The pronunciation is exactly the same and so we have included both designs here.
Each design is Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase's hand-brushed calligraphy of the word or phrase on this page, delivered as a PDF you can print. Every PDF includes the line art, so a tattoo artist or a craftsperson can work from the outline as well as the brushed image.
Delivery
Your PDF is available for download the moment your order completes, and a copy is attached to your emailed receipt.