Translation for this sign

[me3]

Hi,

I was hoping someone can tell me what this sign means, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks.

[SiMaKe]

To shed some light on this, here is some information cobbled together from various sources.

(from http://www.quora.com...acters-mean-say):

五方五土龍神 - the "Dragon God" (龍神) of the "Five Cardinal Points" (五方) and the "Five Types of Soil" (五土)

前後地主財神 - the "God of Wealth" (財神) of the landholds in front and behind (前後地主).

The "Five Cardinal Points" (五方) refers to the ancient Chinese way of referring to the Four cardinal directions: North, South, East and West and also an additional cardinal point of Center.

The concept of the "Five Cardinal Points" is deeply intertwined with the concept of the Five Elements in Chinese mysticism of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, which originates from Taoism and the Book of Change, I-Ching.

Strictly speaking, the "Earth God" is a deity based on folk religion and is separate from Taoism but Chinese history has intertwined the practice of folk religion with Taoist philosophical/mystical concepts.

Each Cardinal Point has a corresponding Element, which is also associated with a corresponding color. The Five Types of Soil (五土) are a symbolic representation of the soil from different parts of China. For example, the South corresponds with Fire and is associated with soil that is red.

South : Fire : red

North : Water : black

East : Wood : green

West : Metal : white

Center : Earth : yellow

Hence, the stylized name "五方五土龍神" - the "Dragon God" (龍神) of the "Five Cardinal Points" (五方) and the "Five Types of Soil" (五土) - is associated with concepts that are deeply rooted in Taoist symbolism, representative of the Earth God's reach over the land.

Lastly, it is important to understand that the Earth God wasn't really a major deity but a rather minor to moderate level deity, considering the entire pantheon of Chinese deities in folk religion. However, the Earth God is one of the closest to the people since he administers the affairs of every village under their charge with regards to agriculture, wealth and weather, etc.

(from http://en.wikipedia....e_folk_religion):

Caishen (财神 "God of Wealth"), who oversees the gaining and distribution of wealth through fortune. He is often the deified manifestation of certain historical personalities such as Zhao Gongming or Bi Gan. His shape is sometimes that of a black and fierce tiger.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cai_Shen) for more details.

There is more to this than presented here but at least this gives some clues for further investigation if desired.

[me3]

Fantastic response SiMaKe, I really appreciate your time to reply. I had a couple of the words but could not piece it together.

Thanks again.