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"
• Moon or meat
• Practice sheet

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.

Monthly theme May 2017

First, download and print a practice sheet here.

Contents

• 大空 the sky
• 五月晴 fine weather in May
• 子供の日 Children's Day

Level 1

大空

Yomi	おおぞら oozora
Meaning	the sky

Level 2

五月晴

Yomi	ごがつ gogatsubare, さつきばれ satsukibare
Meaning	fine weather in May

Level 3

子供の日

Yomi	こどものひ kodomonohi
Meaning	Children's Day

Do you need corrections for Japanese writing?

You can get free correction ticket now!
If you are interested, please contact me from the button below.



Regular correction tickets are below.

Monthly theme April 2017

First, download and print a practice sheet here.

Contents

• 入学 entrance into a school
• 若葉 young leaves
• 山紫水明 a scenic place

Level 1

入学

Yomi	にゅうがく nyugaku
Meaning	entrance into a school

Level 2

若葉

Yomi	わかば wakaba
Meaning	young leaves

Level 3

山紫水明

Yomi	さんしすいめい sanshi-suimei
Meaning	a scenic place

Do you need corrections for Japanese writing?

You can get free correction ticket now!
If you are interested, please contact me from the button below.



Regular correction tickets are below.

Monthly Theme March 2017

First, download and print a practice sheet here.

Contents

• 日光 Sunlight
• 桜の花 Cherry blossoms
• 小春日和 Warm day

Level 1

日光

Yomi	にっこう nikkou
Meaning	Sunlight

Level 2

桜の花

Yomi	さくらのはな sakura-no-hana
Meaning	Cherry blossoms

Level 3

小春日和

Yomi	こはるびより koharu-biyori
Meaning	Warm day

Do you need corrections for Japanese writing?

You can get free correction ticket now!
If you are interested, please contact me from the button below.



Regular correction tickets are below.

Shodo Online Lesson 3, “Left Sweep” and “Right Sweep”

Shodo Lesson3!

Are you getting used to Shodo?
Next kanji is 木(tree)!
This lesson’s point is Left Sweep(左払い hidariharai) and Right Sweep(右払い migiharai).

Point 1

In the previous lesson, you have already learned how to write vertical strokes and horizontal strokes.
However be careful.
As I said, there are three ways of ending vertical strokes, which are Stop(止め), Sweep(払い harai) and Hook(はね hane).
You have to use Stop(止め tome), in the same you ended the horizontal stroke.

Point 2

When you draw a Left Sweep(左払い hidariharai), move the brush slowly along the red line without stopping.
At the end of the line, reduce the pressure and lift the brush off the paper.
This creates a pointed end.

Point 3

The Right Sweep(右払い migiharai) is the most difficult technique in the lesson.
Put the brush tip on the paper(A), move the brush slowly adding pressure, and stop at B temporarily.

Point 4

“Push” the brush to the right to arrange the shape of the line.

Shodo Online Lesson 2, “Horizontal Strokes” and “Vertical Strokes”

Shodo Lesson2

Now you are going to write 十(ten)!
You can learn how to draw horizontal strokes through this lesson.

Point 1

First, please draw a vertical stroke.

Point 2

When you write vertical strokes, the start of the stroke (起筆 kihitsu) should be more at an angle than horizontal strokes. About 30° is appropriate.

Point 3

Move the brush down slowly. For vertical strokes,
you don’t have to make the latter half thicker.
However, make sure vertical strokes are thicker than horizontal strokes.

Point 4

Depending on kanji, there are three ways to end the strokes. They are Stop(止め tome), Sweep(払い harai) and Hook(はね hane).
You are going to use Sweep(払い harai) for this kanji.
When you move the brush to where you want to stop, lift the brush up slowly and move it down to make the line sharp.

Shodo Online Lesson 1, “Start of Strokes” and “End of Strokes”

Let’s start Shodo Lesson1!

Here’s the kanji, “一” (one). It is very simple, but this simple stroke includes some basic points of Shodo.
First I would like you to take a look at the video below.

Point 1

The first point is “Kihitsu(起筆)”, or the start of the stroke.
When you put a brush on paper, the angle of the brush has to be about 45°.
Next you put pressure on the brush, and when the tip bends, move the brush to the right.

Point 2

Move the brush to the right slowly.
At this time, make sure the latter half is thicker than the first half.

Point 3

The last point of the lesson is “Shuhitsu(終筆)”, or end of strokes.
When you move the brush to where you want to stop, instead of lifting the brush off of the paper, move the brush along the red guide line shown below to complete the stroke.
Please check the video to see how the brush moves.