can anyone tell me what this characters stand for?

[tauremight]

so i was looking for something to draw,

and i fall on this drawing with 4 chinese characters

can anyone translate it for me?

thanks in advance!

taure

[Guoke]

Is this Chinese or Japanese?

On the right hand: 死没

On the left hand: 息根

‘死没’ could be Japanese : しぼつ, which means 'death' but I haven't got a clue what '息根' means in Japanese.

In Chinese,

死 = die, death

没 = not, without

息 = rest, stop

根 = root

It could mean something like this:

Something has died or ceased but its root is lying dormant waiting to bring back its life when the time is ripe.

...but I'm not really sure.

[tauremight]

mhm, thanks for taking your time to help me...

i have no idea if its chinese or japanese,

and i think your explenation of the worlds, is pretty good when u look at the drawing

[HashiriKata]

It should be Japanese:

息根 (ikinone): Life

死没 (shibotsu): Death

[tauremight]

http://i26.tinypic.com/qxksd2.jpg

this is the end result, drawed by myself ^^