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A simple way to wish people well is to write:

成功【せいこう】を祈【いの】ります。 Praying on success.
Wishing for your success.

However, in English at least, it has an implication that someone is not successful already. This might be bad if they are already quite accomplished. How can we write it so that it wishes for their future commercial/professional success but does not have the negative implication that they are not successful already?

The below is one attempt: wishing that success continues (続行【ぞっこう】する):

成功【せいこう】を続行【ぞっこう】するように祈【いの】ります。 Praying on the continuation of success.
Wishing for your continued success.

Note the ように construction: when we pray for a verb, it seems we nominalise with ように, hence 続行【ぞっこう】するように祈【いの】ります.

How close is the above to communicating the intended meaning?

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  • In what context are you trying to say this? As a greeting at the party of an already-successful company? Or before an important sport match?
    – naruto
    Commented Mar 12, 2020 at 2:28
  • It sounds like what you are asking for is a "set phrase" to write as the last sentence in a business or personal letter before typing your name and then signing the letter. If so, and if I remember Japanese correctly, you terminate such a letter / document with 「よろしくお願いします。」or「どうぞよろしくお願いします。」 So, IF I remember correctly, consider those 2 to be "set phrases". Likewise, "Wishing you continued success" is a set phrase, and forcing that into Japanese does not make for a natural sounding end to a Japanese letter. Obviously, I'm testing the limits of my memory on this however.
    – user312440
    Commented Mar 12, 2020 at 5:01
  • @naruto It is for an already successful company. I appreciate the possible distinction; sorry for not providing more context.
    – solidsnack
    Commented Mar 13, 2020 at 3:10

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Just a suggestion and not trying to be impertinent, but Japanese already has lots of "kimarimonku" (set phrases), so rather than trying to invent your own, why not just use the existing ones. For example,

貴殿【きでん】のますますのご活躍【かつやく】をお祈【いの】り申【もう】し上【あ】げます

I would type out more of these but you can just look on a web site or an etiquette book and find lots more. For example, this website has phrases for business letters, or here are some ideas for books. There are lots more of these, I don't have specific recommendations.

(Thanks to naruto in the comments for the suggested phrase.)

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    I basically agree with your advice, but you could have picked a set phrase closer to what OP wants to say, e.g., 貴殿のますますのご活躍をお祈り申し上げます. I'm still unsure if OP is looking for a expression for a business letter, though.
    – naruto
    Commented Mar 12, 2020 at 3:17
  • Thanks I've just gone ahead and added that to the answer.
    – user36788
    Commented Mar 12, 2020 at 5:21
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    "～のこととお慶び申し上げます" is written at the beginning of a letter or comes at the beginning of a speech in a ceremony. It is expected more phrases follow, and it also doesn't mention the future. I don't think it fits well.
    – kaboc
    Commented Mar 12, 2020 at 5:44
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    Not to be impertinent, but "... just look on a web site or an etiquette book and find lots more."? What is an example of such a website? I am not a Japanese person; I do not know the usual books or websites.
    – solidsnack
    Commented Mar 13, 2020 at 3:04
  • I've added some ideas to the answer but perhaps you can ask a separate question if you really want to know more.
    – user36788
    Commented Mar 13, 2020 at 3:18

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