尊卑

尊卑 or そんぴ which might be pronounced sonpi (Hopefully one of my nihonjin buddies will correct me if I'm wrong) means something like aristocrat and plebeian.




Japanese kanji are fun! The first one making up this compound kanji, 尊, means something like revered, valuable, precious, noble or exalted. The second one, 卑, means lowly, base vile, vulgar.




So! One could translate this as aristocrat and no account common trash. :-)




Speaking of how interesting kanji can be, I was going to go into a long explanation of why the old name of Japan Wa, 倭, given to them by the Chinese, was, in the eighth century, changed to Wa, 和, as the old name for Japan. ….-but I won't. :-)




Brushed ink on 12 by 12 inch colored card stock.