Love Hurts

愛は痛み (ai wa itami)

The Japanese phrase 愛は痛み is composed of the words 愛 (read ai) meaning "love", the grammatical element は (in this case read wa) indicating the previous word is the subject and in this case also acts like the English verb "is", and 痛み (read itami) meaning "painful; distressful". This is a complete phrase in Japanese.

Verify: 愛は痛み in the Japanese-English Dictionary

Love Hurts (愛は痛み) in Block style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Love Hurts 愛は痛み ai wa itami Block Vertical VB4C

Love Hurts (愛は痛み) in Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Love Hurts 愛は痛み ai wa itami Cursive Vertical VC5B

Love Hurts (愛は痛み) in Design style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Love Hurts 愛は痛み ai wa itami Design Vertical VD5B

Love Hurts (愛は痛み) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Love Hurts 愛は痛み ai wa itami Semi-Cursive Vertical VS5C

Love Hurts 愛は痛み ai wa itami Semi-Cursive Horizontal HS3A

愛苦痛 (ai kutsuu)

The Japanese kanji combination 愛苦痛 means "Love Hurts" consists of the words 愛 (read ai) meaning "love" and 苦痛 (read kutsuu) meaning "pain, agony, bitterness".

Love Hurts (愛苦痛) in Block style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Love Hurts 愛苦痛 ai kutsuu Block Vertical VB4C

Love Hurts (愛苦痛) in Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Love Hurts 愛苦痛 ai kutsuu Cursive Vertical VC4B

Love Hurts (愛苦痛) in Design style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Love Hurts 愛苦痛 ai kutsuu Design Vertical VD5B

Love Hurts (愛苦痛) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Love Hurts 愛苦痛 ai kutsuu Semi-Cursive Vertical VS5C

Love Hurts 愛苦痛 ai kutsuu Design Horizontal HD3A

Love Hurts 愛苦痛 ai kutsuu Semi-Cursive Horizontal HS3A

Also available as a hand-brushed Japanese scroll

Master Calligrapher Eri Takase creates each scroll personally, hand-brushed to order on traditional Japanese paper.