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THE KANJI
THE 80 FIRST GRADE CHARACTERS 1 L5 一 ICHI, ITSU, hitoone 1 stroke ICHIGATSU January KIN’ITSU uniformity hitori* one person A simple single stroke to represent ‘one’. Unsurprisingly, a similar convention was employed in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing and in Sumerian cuneiform. References: SS1984:27; QX2000:32. Mnemonic: ONE FINGER 2 L5 右 U, YŪ, migi right 5 strokes UHA rightist faction SAYŪ control migite right hand Originally represented by , a stylized sketch of a hand. Other early but more complex forms show a hand on the right-hand side of what is widely interpreted as a mouth or – in a minority view (Shirakawa) – a ritual vessel / 22 . References: SS1984:36; BK1957:261-2; KJ1970:38; AS2007:581-2. Mnemonic: RIGHT HAND TO THE MOUTH 3 L5 雨 U, ame, amarain 8 strokes UKI rainy season ōame heavy rain amagumo rain cloud OBI . Based on a conceptual depiction of rain, falling from the sky which is represented by a top horizontal line, though this line is often missing in the OBI and bronze forms. The graph can also indicate weather elements. References: SS1984:38; QX2000:208. Mnemonic: RAIN FROM HEAVENLY CLOUDS 4 L5 円 EN, marui round, yen 4 strokes ENKEI circle ENdaka strong yen HYAKUEN hundred yen The modern simplified form of , a relatively late graph (Shuowen) which consists of (regularized shape for ‘circle’) with 248 (‘official’, originally ‘cauldron’) as phonetic; included by Tōdō in word-family meaning ‘round; surround’. may be based on a cursive form of . References: YK1976:69; TA1965:63-4. We suggest taking the graph as resembling a bank teller’s window. Mnemonic: ROUND YEN COINS AT THE BANK TELLER’S WINDOW 5 L3 王 ŌJI prince JOŌ queen Ōsama king Ō king, ruler 4 strokes OBI shows this graph to be based on a battle-ax blade. Shirakawa feels the OBI and bronze equivalents show a ritual blade of a type used only by those of high status such as a ruler. Qiu notes that at the seal script stage the character and another separate character meaning ‘jewel’ were written so similarly that they could easily be confused, so a dot was added later for clarity when writing ‘jewel’ (see 15). References: SS1984:62-3; QX2000:46. Mnemonic: KING RULES WITH AN AX
- Page 2: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO Japanese Kanj
- Page 5 and 6: Published by Tuttle Publishing, an
- Page 7 and 8: The 80 First-Grade Characters......
- Page 9 and 10: Acknowledgments Thanks are due to O
- Page 11 and 12: writing brush, and then incised. Wr
- Page 13 and 14: 1.5 Cursive Script Forms While the
- Page 15 and 16: 5) ‘semantic-phonetic compounds
- Page 17 and 18: alternative etymologies for the sam
- Page 19 and 20: 集 韻 Jiyun (Collected Rhymes; J.
- Page 21 and 22: text in reverse, then the blocks we
- Page 23 and 24: eflects the reality that in this bo
- Page 25 and 26: compound characters, in the form ),
- Page 27 and 28: Limitations of This Book This book
- Page 29 and 30: that the word kuruma ‘vehicle’
- Page 31 and 32: Hiragana and Katakana and Their Sou
- Page 33 and 34: Hiragana Katakana HO from HO from
- Page 35 and 36: The 214 Determinatives (or ‘Radic
- Page 37 and 38: No. English Alternative forms/nickn
- Page 39 and 40: No. English Alternative forms/nickn
- Page 41 and 42: No. English Alternative forms/nickn
- Page 43 and 44: 4. However, in a few cases vertical
- Page 45 and 46: Editorial and Typographical Matters
- Page 50 and 51: 6 L4 音 ON, IN, oto, ne sound 9
- Page 52 and 53: 14 休 KYŪ, yasumu rest(ing) L5 6
- Page 54 and 55: 23 L5 校 KŌ school, check 10 stro
- Page 56 and 57: 33 L5 車 SHA, kuruma vehicle 7
- Page 58 and 59: 43 L4 GAKUSEI student ISSH
- Page 60 and 61: 51 L5 52 L4 先 SEN, saki prior,
- Page 62 and 63: 59 L5 中 4 CHŪ, naka middle, insi
- Page 64 and 65: 68 年 NEN, toshi year L5 6 strokes
- Page 66 and 67: 76 L5 目 5 MOKU, me, ma eye, look,
- Page 68 and 69: 85 遠 EN, tōi distant L4 13 strok
- Page 70 and 71: 93 L5 会 KAI, E, au meet 6 stro
- Page 72 and 73: 101 L3 丸 3 GAN, maru, marui round
- Page 74 and 75: 110 L4 111 L4 京 KYŌ, KEI c
- Page 76 and 77: 118 L5 言 GEN, GON, koto, iu wo
- Page 78 and 79: 126 L3 公 KŌ, ōyake public, fair
- Page 80 and 81: 134 合 GŌ, KATSU, au/waseru Alter
- Page 82 and 83: 142 L3 算 SAN reckon, count 14
- Page 84 and 85: 150 L4 自 JI, SHI, mizukara sel
- Page 86 and 87: 158 春 SHUN, haru of ‘forest’.
- Page 88 and 89: 166 L4 親 SHIN, oya, shitashii
- Page 90 and 91: 174 L3 雪 SETSU, yuki snow 11 stro
- Page 92 and 93: 182 L4 体 TAI, TEI, karada body 7
- Page 94 and 95: 190 L4 鳥 CHŌ, tori bird 11 st
- Page 96 and 97: 199 冬 TŌ, fuyu winter L4 5 strok
THE KANJI
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