7/25/2017

Kanji study - 止 stop

Have you ever seen the kanji character "止"?
It means "stop", and the origin of this character is a footprint.
Please take a look at the picture below.

In this post, I'll introduce some kanji characters that are related to the character "止".

歩 walk

The origin of this character is a pair of footprints.

足 leg

I already introduced this kanji in the previous post.
This kanji is a combination of "口" and "止".
The "口" stands for the shape of a kneecap.

走 run

This kanji is a combination of a footprint and a person.
The upper part represents the shape of a person who is running.

此 here

The left part is a footprint, and the right part is a woman who is turning sideways.(There are a couple of different theories though.)

Kanji practice sheet

I prepared a practice sheet.
If you are interested, please download it.

7/04/2017

Kanji study - colors

This time, I'll show you some kanji characters that are related to colors.

The kanji origins of colors

The origin of red 赤

It's a combination of the two pictographs.
The upper part indicates a person who is spreading his arms and legs, the origin of the kanji "大 big".
The bottom part stands for "火 fire".
The kanji "赤 red" comes from "big fire".

The origin of blue 青

It might sound strange, but this character consist of the kanji character "生 life" and "丼 water in a well".
(By the way, the kanji "丼" is usually used for "a bowl of rice" nowadays.)
So the bottom part is not "月 moon".

The origin of yellow 黄

There are 2 different theories to the origin of this character.
The first theory is from the shape of a torch.
According to another theory, it represents an arrow with fire.

The origin of black 黒

The upper part is a kiln.
The bottom part is fire.
When they made sumi ink, they put fire in a kiln to collect soot.
The shape of a kiln and fire became the kanji "黒 black".

The origin of white 白

As I introduced in this post, although there are some different theories, the origin of the kanji "白" is the shape of a skull.

The origin of green 緑

It's a combination of "糸 thread" and the old kanji "彔 peel".
The origin of the right part, "彔" is a peeled bamboo with a knife.
The color of a bamboo is green, so this kanji means green.

The origin of purple 紫

It's a combination of "糸 thread" and "此 here".
The character "此" also implies the meaning "between", so this kanji stands for the color between blue and red.
As seen above, some kanji characters that represent colors contain "糸 thread".
According to a researcher, it is because cloths can be dyed.

Kanji practice sheet

I prepared a practice sheet.
If you are interested, please download it.

7/01/2017

Kanji for body parts

As you may know, kanji characters usually come from shapes of objects.
The kanji characters for body parts are no exception.
Today, I'll explain some origins of kanji characters for body parts.

Kanji origins of face parts

The origins of these characters come from the shape of the body parts.

目 eye

耳 ear

口 mouth

鼻 nose

Before introducing this kanji, I think I need to show another kanji character.
First take a look at the kanji below.

This kanji "自" originally meant "nose" in ancient China, but as time went by, the meaning has changed.
When people talk about themselves, they point at their nose.
So this character came to mean "myself".

To differentiate between "nose" and "myself", they made another kanji that only meant "nose".
The bottom part of the character stands for the sound of nasal breathing.(We don't usually use this character anymore.)

They combined these two characters to make a new kanji that represents "nose".

眉 eyebrow

In ancient China, the priestess put decorations on their eyebrow.
The shape of an eye and the decorated eyebrow became this kanji.

手 hand

足 leg

This kanji is a combination of "口" and "止".
But "口" is not "mouth", but it is the shape of a kneecap.
"止" came from the shape of a foot print.

Kanji practice sheet

I prepared a practice sheet.
If you are interested, please download it.

6/13/2017

Kanji for the week

These are the characters that are used on the calendar.
But why were they chosen for the days of the week?
What are the origins of the days of the week in Japan?
I'll explain it.

Contents

A Chinese idea called 七曜.

Originally, these seven characters came from a Chinese thinking of "Shichiyo" (七曜).

Shichiyo represents seven bright stars that were observed from the Earth.
The seven stars are the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn.

I introduced the origin of the characters, "日" and "月" in this post.
The other planets are called as seen below:

kanji	yomi	planets
火星	かせい kasei	Mars
水星	すいせい suisei	Mercury
木星	もくせい mokusei	Jupiter
金星	きんせい kinsei	Venus
土星	どせい dosei	Saturn

Why are these characters used for the planets?

The five characters (火水木金土) are used for these five planets.
Where on earth did these characters come from?
The reason is also relevant to a Chinese thinking called "Gogyo" (五行).
Gogyo is a thought that everything is made from five elements, 火fire, 水water, 木tree, 金gold and 土earth.
These five letters are used for the five planets.

According to a theory, around the 8 century, a Japanese priest named 空海(kukai) brought this Chinese thinking to Japan.
You can see these Chinese thinking in a Japanese historical record written in the Heian period(794 - 1185).

It was around the Meiji period (1868 – 1912) that Sundays were set as holidays and started the week.
It is because they integrated the christian thought that Sundays are holidays.

Kanji practice sheet

I prepared practice sheet.
If you are interested, please download it.

5/29/2017

Direction

Today, I introduce the origin of some kanji characters that stands for directions.

東 east

It is speculated that the origin of this character is a pouch for hunting.
In ancient times, people used to get up and go hunting with a leather pouch at sunrise.
The direction of sunrise is east.

西 west

There are two different theories for this character.
According to a researcher, the origin of this character is the shape of a birds' nest.
Birds go west to get back to their nest around the time of sunset.
So the shape of a nest come to mean "west".

There is another theory, which says it is the shape of a bamboo basket.

南 south

According to one theory, it's a bronze gong brought from southern countries.
The shape of the gong has come to mean "south".

Another researcher says it is the shape of a house and a cabin.

北 north

Two people stand back to back.
Another meaning of this character is "back".
In the daytime the direction of the sun is south in China.
People like sunshine, and they face to south.
And their back is "north".

5/12/2017

What does the "月" moon stand for?

The radical "moon" stands for meat?

Have you ever seen these kanji before?

胃　腸　臓

These characters are related to internal organs.
And you may have noticed, but these characters usually have "月 moon".
Why do these characters have "moon"?
I will explain it.

Contents

The origins of "moon" and "meat"

First of all, let's check the origins of "moon" and "meat".

As I introduced in this post, the pictograph of the character "月 moon" represents the shape of the crescent moon.

The origin of the character "肉 meat", on the other hand, is a chunk of meat.

But as seen above, the Chinese seal script of these characters are very alike.

When written as a simple "moon" and "meat", both have different characters, "月" and "肉".
However, when these characters are used as a radical, these two characters look very similar.

Let me give you an example.
Take a look at the characters shown below.

"期" means "period". The right part of the character stands for "moon".
"肘" means "elbow". The left part of the character stands for "meat".
As you can see, "肉" becomes "月" when written as a radical.

I listed some kanji characters with the "月" that are usually learned in a Japanese elementary school.

Moon or meat.

kanji	yomi	moon or meat	meaning
朝	あさ asa	moon	morning
明	あか(るい) akarui	moon	bright
育	そだ(てる) sodateru	meat	to raise
期	き ki	moon	period
有	あ(る) aru	meat	have
勝	か(つ) katsu	boat*	to win
胃	い i	meat	stomach
腸	ちょう cho	meat	intestine
肥	ひ hi	meat	fat
胸	むね mune	meat	breast
臓	ぞう zou	meat	internal organs
腹	はら hara	meat	belly

According to the list, the kanji characters that have "meat" account for the majority of the kanji.
And they are roughly related to the body-parts or internal organs.

A Tip for remembering kanji
Kanji characters that have "月" on the right usually mean something related to time. (朝, 期, etc) Kanji characters that have "月" on the left or on the bottom usually mean something related to body or internal. (胃, 腸, 腹 etc)

I think you found an exception on the list.
The radical of the character "勝" is neither moon nor meat.
It is a boat.
In Chinese seal script, it is written as seen below.

The left part of this character stands for a boat.
It is a bit complicated, so I will skip the details of this character in this post for now.

But I want you to remember that the shape of the radical "月" has three meanings, "moon", "meat" and "boat".

download the practice sheet

I prepared practice sheet.
If you are interested, please download them.

5/08/2017

Why are the number kanji written the way they are?

Have you ever wondered why the kanji of numbers why the number kanji are written the way they are?

I think "一 one", "二 two" and "三 three" are understandable.

Theoretically, it should be like this below.

How come the "四 four" became like this?
I am going to introduce the reason.

Contents

Using other kanji characters, 仮借

Sometimes kanji characters have quite irrelevant origins.
It is because a specific kanji-making way is often used, which is called 仮借(kashaku).

仮借　かしゃく kashaku
Because there were no characters that stand for the words, other existing characters that have the same or similar pronunciation were used instead, and they became a household word later.

For example, "四 (four)" is speculated that its origin is the shape of a mouth and teeth.

In ancient China, the pronunciation of this kanji "四" and the pronunciation of "four" were the same, so they started to use the kanji "四" to mean "four".

Here are the origins of the number five-ten below.