頑張って ganbatte Go For It

頑張って is a cheer. It asks a person to put everything into what is in front of them, and to hold on when it gets hard. English has no one word for it, and go for it and do your best between them carry what it says. On a dojo wall it is the word the dojo says. Whether you take it for your own training or for someone facing something hard is yours.

頑張って is the te-form of 頑張る, a verb written in borrowed characters that the dictionaries derive from 眼張る, to fix the eyes on, or from 我に張る, to insist on one's own way, and its sense of holding on through hardship is in print by 1905.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 頑張って.

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