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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