Kanji for “contentment”

Being satisfied with what you already have, treated as a discipline rather than a passing mood.

知足 chisoku

Closest natural translation · misunderstanding risk Low

Reading: chisoku — Common compound reading; on-yomi
About the reading: A Buddhist term, most often met inside the longer 少欲知足 (few desires, knowing sufficiency).
Literal meaning: Knowing what is enough
What it suggests: Contentment as something practised rather than felt. The idea traces to Laozi — the one who knows sufficiency is rich — and came into Japanese through Buddhism, so it carries discipline rather than comfort. It is not about having little; it is about knowing where enough is.
When to use it: For sufficiency as a principle you hold to.
On its own: Natural in writing, though it belongs to religious and philosophical registers rather than speech.
In compounds: Natural in 少欲知足 and 知足安分.
As a tattoo: Compact and serious. It reads as a doctrine, which is either the weight you wanted or more formality than you meant.

足るを知る taru wo shiru

Related meaning, not a literal translation · misunderstanding risk Low

Reading: taru wo shiru — Mixed kanji and kana; verb phrase
About the reading: The を and る are grammar. Dropping the kana leaves 足知, which is not a word.
Literal meaning: To know what is enough
What it suggests: The same idea as 知足, but as the phrase Japanese people actually say. It turns up in ordinary conversation about money, ambition and old age, and everyone understands it without being told.
When to use it: For the living saying rather than the doctrinal term.
On its own: Very natural and immediately understood in speech and writing alike.
In compounds: A complete phrase; it is not built into longer words.
As a tattoo: Warmer and more human than 知足, and longer. Two of its five characters are kana, so it looks like a sentence someone meant rather than an emblem.

吾唯足知 ware tada taru wo shiru

Symbolic choice, not a literal translation · misunderstanding risk Medium

Reading: ware tada taru wo shiru — Four characters read as a classical sentence
About the reading: Read as a sentence, not as four separate on-yomi. The wording is deliberately archaic — 吾 for I, 唯 for only.
Literal meaning: I alone know what is enough
What it suggests: The inscription on the stone water basin at Ryōan-ji in Kyoto. In the original, all four characters share the single square 口 carved at the centre of the basin, so the design is the point as much as the words are.
When to use it: When you want the specific, recognisable phrase rather than the general idea.
On its own: Natural as a quotation. Japanese readers place it at Ryōan-ji immediately.
In compounds: A fixed inscription; it is not used as a building block.
As a tattoo: Striking and instantly recognised — which cuts both ways. Written in a line it becomes a quotation rather than the design it belongs to, and it can read as a souvenir of Kyoto rather than a belief.
Worth knowing: The four characters are meant to be arranged around a shared 口 in the centre. Set in a straight line they still read correctly, but the arrangement that makes the inscription famous is gone. If that arrangement is what you want, the artist needs a photograph of the basin, not a list of characters.

Before it is permanent: have a fluent Japanese speaker check the exact characters in the final stencil, not in an email. Fonts substitute look-alike characters, and a shop that cannot read Japanese cannot catch it.

Check characters you already have