Profound Powerful Words in Chinese / Japanese...

入木三分 is a four-character Chinese proverb that translates in English to a strong form of “profound” or “written with a forceful hand.”

But there is much more to the story...

The deep meaning behind this proverb comes from a man named Wan Xizhi, who lived in the third century.

He was a great writer and calligrapher whose writing style influenced generations of other writers and calligraphers.

He once wrote words on a piece of wood to be taken to an engraver.
When the engraver began to carve the characters into the wood, he found that Wang Xizhi's writing had penetrated the wood about 3/8 of an inch.

Thus people believed that his words were so powerful and profound that they caused the ink from his brush to penetrate the wood deeply.

The proverb literally means “penetrated wood three fen” (A fen is an ancient Chinese measurement of a little over 1/8 of an inch or almost 4mm).

一言九鼎 is an ancient Chinese proverb used in modern times to talk of profound or powerful words.

The literal meaning is “one word [worth] nine [sacred] tripods.” The tripod is a highly-prized three-legged (sometimes four-legged) metal pot or kettle of ancient China. They are often made of bronze, and the Emperor would have large ones gilded in gold. See the image to the right for an example.