力 · Strength
chikara — “strength, power”
Strength in its most direct form — raw power, and the force to act on it.
What it means
力 (chikara) is strength in its most direct form — physical power, energy, the force to do. It is the character hiding inside 努力 (effort), 体力 (stamina), 権力 (authority); on its own it is the pure idea of power. Simple and bold, it sits well on skin.
Be clear which kind of strength you mean:
Strong — the quality of being strong, an adjective. It describes a person or thing that is tough, not the force itself.
Power and force as a thing you have and use. The right choice for strength as energy and capability.
Watch for
力 is so simple it is hard to misdraw — but in Japanese it usually lives inside a compound rather than standing entirely alone. Inked solo it reads as a bare “power,” which may be exactly what you want, or may feel unfinished. Mirror-reversed, or stretched into a phrase, it gives itself away. Choosing it deliberately is the whole point.
In different scripts
The character carries the meaning; the brush style carries the mood. 力 in three of the most common scripts:
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