Shodo Online Lesson 16, "radical hand” - Shodo with a Brush Pen

First, download and print a practice sheet here.

Contents

• The radical "hand"
• 打 hit
• 払 pay
• 技 technique

The radical "hand"

In the previous lesson, I showed you the origin of the kanji "hand" and some kanji based on the pictographs of a hand.

This time, I'm going to explain about the radical "hand".

This is the radical "hand".



I wrote the kanji "手" last time, it is different, isn't it?



In this way, there are some kanji that change its appearance when they become radicals.

The radical "water" is one of them.



As I always say but, please write this radical within the 40% area.



Of course there are some exceptions, but roughly speaking, it's a good way to balance out.

The third stroke is "rise", which I introduced in the past article.
Make sure to line up the first and the third stroke's tips.

Now, let's practice some kanji with the radical "hand".

打 hit

stroke order
1. Horizontal stroke
2. Hook
3. rise
4. Horizontal stroke
5. Hook

On-yomi	だ da
Kun-yomi	う(つ) utsu
Meaning	hit

Please make some space on the top of the right part.

払 pay

stroke order
1. Horizontal stroke
2. Hook
3. Rise
4. Continued line
5. Dot

On-yomi	ふつ hutsu
Kun-yomi	はら(う) harau
Meaning	pay

The forth stroke is another variation of the Continued line.
As I explained in the past article, stop the brush where you want to turn, put pressure and change direction.

技 skill

stroke order
1. Horizontal stroke
2. Hook
3. rise
4. Horizontal stroke
5. Vertical stroke
6. Continued line and left sweep
7. Right sweep

On-yomi	ぎ gi
Kun-yomi	わざ waza
Meaning	skill

Remember to line up the kanji on the bottom.




How was this lesson?
All the contents that I introduced today are on the practice sheet.
Please download it from here.

Shodo Online Lesson 15, "hand” - Shodo with a Brush Pen

First, download and print a practice sheet here.

Contents

• Origin of "hand"
• How to write "手"
• Origin of left and right
• 左 hidari
• 右 migi
• Origin of "friends"
• 友 tomo

Origin of "hand"

Today, I'm going to introduce several kanji related to hand.
First, let's take a look at the kanji, "手 te" (hand).
It is originally a pictograph of a hand with five fingers.



Now let's practice kanji "手".

手 te

stroke order
1. Left sweep
2. Horizontal stroke
3. Horizontal stroke
4. Hook

On-yomi	しゅ shu
Kun-yomi	て te
Meaning	hand

It looks good if the third stroke is thinner than the second stroke.

Origin of left and right

Besides 手, there are more kanji based on the pictograph of a hand.

The kanji, "left" and "right" are also based on the pictograph of hand.



"左 hidari" (left) stands for the image of a left hand with a tool.


"右 migi" (right) stands for the image of a right hand with a word (or mouth).
Both are used for rituals.


Here's something you should pay attention to.
For the kanji, "left" and "right", the first and second strokes look like same, however as you can see from the pictographs, they originally stand for "left hand" and "right hand".
This difference gives them different stroke orders.
For the kanji 左, the horizontal line is going be the first stroke.
But for the kanji 右, the left sweep is going be the first stroke.

左 hidari

stroke order
1. Horizontal stroke
2. Left sweep
3. Horizontal stroke
4. Vertical stroke
5. Horizontal stroke

On-yomi	さ sa
Kun-yomi	ひだり hidari
Meaning	left

As I mentioned before, draw a horizontal stroke first.

There are no particularly difficult strokes, so you can write it without problems.

右 migi

stroke order
1. Left sweep
2. Horizontal stroke
3. Vertical stroke
4. Continued line
5. Horizontal stroke

On-yomi	ゆう yuu
Kun-yomi	みぎ migi
Meaning	right

For this kanji, draw a left sweep first.

Please compare with "left".

The 右's vertical stroke is longer, isn't it?

Being careful with this difference, please practice these kanji.

Origin of friends

There are more kanji based on the shape of hands.

Kanji "友 tomo" (friends) also came from the hand.



Two right hands are shaking hands.

友 tomo

stroke order
1. Horizontal stroke
2. Left sweep
3. Continued line and left sweep
4. Right sweep

On-yomi	ゆう yu
Kun-yomi	とも tomo
Meaning	friends

Here's an interesting thing.
For the kanji "right", I explained the first stroke is the left sweep.
As you can see, the pictograph of the "friends" is the right hand, which is the same as the kanji "right".

So the first stroke of the kanji "friends" should be left sweep.
But (I don't know why) for the kanji "friends", the first stroke is the horizontal stroke.

It's a kanji mystery!





Next time I'm going to explain the radical "hand".

Please download the guide of today's lesson here

Shodo Online Lesson 14, "earth” - Shodo with a Brush Pen

First, download and print a practice sheet here.

Contents

• The origin of "earth"
• 土 tsuchi
• Stroke "rise"
• 坂 slope
• 地 ground
• 均 average

The origin of "earth"

Today, you are going to learn about kanji, 土(tsuchi), and radical "earth".

First, let's take a look at origin of the 土.



It stands for a lump of earth on the ground for worship.
In the ancient times, earth and crops were considered as the base of country, so earth was very important.

Now let's write "earth".

土 tsuchi

stroke order
1. Horizontal stroke
2. Vertical stroke
3. Horizontal stroke

On-yomi	ど do
Kun-yomi	つち tsuchi
Meaning	soil, ground, earth

It's a simple combination of vertical and horizontal strokes.
It looks good if the last stroke is slightly thin and arched.

The "earth" can be a radical as well.

Before that, let me introduce a new stroke, which is called "rise".

Stroke "rise"

It's like a "check mark", isn't it?

After putting the brush on the paper, trail off the stroke to the upper right.
For the radical "earth", the last stroke is going to be the "rise" stroke.

This "rise" stroke is used for the last stroke of various radicals.


Like the other radicals, draw it within the 40% area, and make the first and the third stroke's tips line up.



Now let's practice several kanji with the radical "earth".

1.坂

stroke order
1. Horizontal stroke
2. Vertical stroke
3. Rise
4. Vertical stroke
5. Left sweep
6. Continued line and left sweep
7. Right sweep

On-yomi	はん han
Kun-yomi	さか saka
Meaning	slope

2.地

stroke order
1. Horizontal stroke
2. Vertical stroke
3. Rise
4. Continued line and hook
5. Vertical stroke
6. Curve and hook

On-yomi	ち chi, じ ji
Kun-yomi	-
Meaning	ground

3.均

stroke order
1. Horizontal stroke
2. Vertical stroke
3. Rise
4. Left sweep
5. Continued line and hook
6. Dot type A
7. Rise

On-yomi	きん kin
Kun-yomi	ひと(しい) hitoshii
Meaning	average

How was this lesson?
All the contents that I introduced today are on the practice sheet.
Please download it from here.