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pleased’ is seen as an extended sense. Alternatively,
is taken as a large drum with some sort
of embellishment on top (this view also listed
by Mizukami), and on this basis Ogawa takes
as musical instruments set up on a stand, which
is the meaning given in Shuowen, to give ‘play
musical instruments and feel pleasure’. In working
out his etymologies, the Shuowen compiler
Xu Shen did not have access to the OBI forms
which were often so valuable in determining the
meanings, or the line of development of meanings
of graphs, but which were brought to light
in Mainland China only from 1899 onwards. The
OBI forms are accessible, though, to Ma, who still
prefers to regard ‘drum’ as the appropriate meaning
of . On the other hand, Katō categorically
rejects the idea that it represents a musical instrument.
Thus the etymology of this particular graph
is somewhat disputed. MS1995:v1:236-7,282-3;
YK1976:115; OT1968:188; MR2007:313;
KJ1985:117. As a mnemonic we suggest taking
the graph’s components as 35 ‘ten’ with 379
‘food vessel/beans’ and 22 ‘mouth’.
Mnemonic: HAPPINESS IS HAVING TEN
BEANS IN YOUR MOUTH
474
旗
KI, hata
269 (originally ‘winnowing basket’, later
flag
other senses including ‘that’) as phonetic with
L1
14 strokes
associated sense ‘gather together’, to give
‘flag for troops to gather under’. KJ1970:240;
KOKKInational flag
hatamochiflag bearer
kajiki*billfish
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 353
(‘flagpole and streaming banner’) ‘flag’, and
YK1976:117; OT1968:457. Suggest 223 as
‘side’, and as 41 ‘person’.
Mnemonic: PERSON AT SIDE OF WINNOWING
BASKET HOLDS A FLAG
475
器
KI, utsuwa
vessel, utensil, skill,
L3
ability
15 strokes
KIGU utensil
SHOKKI tableware
KIYŌ skill
Bronze ; seal ; traditional 器 . Despite the
distinctive nature of this graph, interpretations
diverge quite markedly. The graph has 19 ‘dog’,
and the element , which according to the most
popular analysis means ‘many mouths’ (22)
and also plays a role as a phonetic with an associated
sense of ‘breath’, to give ‘dog breathing with
open mouth (in summer heat)’ (Katō, Yamada;
and also listed by Mizukawa). ‘Container(s)’ is
then taken as an extended usage based on ‘open
mouth’. However, Ogawa takes the graph instead
to represent ‘many dogs howling’, and treats
‘container(s)’ as a loan usage. Shirakawa follows
his preferred interpretation of as ‘prayer receptacle’,
not ‘mouth’, and analyzes 器 as a graph
representing a number of ritual receptacles
purified by a dog sacrifice. Another interpretation
– perhaps less palatable to some readers – is
to take dog here as food to be divided amongst
many mouths or containers/bowls (eating dog
meat became established in China at a very early
period). To the above variety of interpretations,
one might possibly also add an interpretation
of the graph as a dog wheeling to defend itself
on all quarters, its weapon of defence being the
teeth in its mouth, leading to possible derived
meanings such as ‘fight hard’ and thus show
ability etc. Gu proposes a quite different analysis
of , giving an OBI form with a tree-like shape
rather than dog which he interprets as mulberry,
noting that in ancient China mulberry branches
were used as part of burial ritual. As an alternative
explanation regarding the graph’s meaning
of ‘skill’, given the range of usage for in Chinese
texts from Han times, this might appear to be an
extended meaning, possibly through ‘container’
giving rise to ‘utensil’ and in turn ‘utensil’ giving
rise to a person using a utensil in an optimal
(= skilled) manner. Note that is an unofficial
variant form of KJ1970:232-3; YK1976:118;
MS1995:v1:248-9; OT1968: 195; SS1984:153. As a
mnemonic, given that the dog has already lost
its spot and become , we suggest taking the
graph as the identical 56 ‘big’ and four boxes.
Mnemonic: FOUR BIG BOX-LIKE VESSELS ARE
USEFUL UTENSILS
The 200 Fourth Grade Characters 163