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43
L4
GAKUSEI student
ISSHŌ one’s whole life
ikimono living thing
SEINEN a youth
aozora blue sky
aomono greens
On the basis of the shape in bronze forms , the
lower part is taken as a type of well dug for the
excavation of cinnabar (1686). Although typically
cinnabar is red in color, it does occur in other
colors such as brown and grey, and Shirakawa
notes several classical sources which refer to
‘white cinnabar’ (perhaps grey?) and ‘blue/green
cinnabar’. The upper element in the modern form
正
SEI, SHŌ, tadashii,
tadasu, masa
correct, proper
5 strokes
SEIKAI right answer
SHŌGATSU New Year
masa ni just, exactly
Etymology disputed. On the basis of OBI forms
such as , Shirakawa considers the original meaning
of to be ‘march/progress towards a walled
citadel’, a meaning later represented by the more
complex graph 1577 (q.v.): this interpretation
is shared by Schuessler. Use of in the sense of
44
L5
45
L4
46
L4
生
青
SEI, SHŌ, ikiru/kasu,
umu/mareru, nama
life, birth, grow
5 strokes
SEI, SHŌ, aoi
young, fresh,
green/blue
8 strokes
夕
SEKI, yū
evening
3 strokes
KONSEKI this evening
yūSHOKU evening meal
yūhi setting sun
At the OBI stage, the shapes for this character
were often indistinguishable from those for
‘correct’ appears to have come about probably
as a phonetic loan – the pronunciation of the
Chinese words for ‘march against’ and ‘correct’
being virtually identical in the late Han period
(c. AD 25-220). Alternatively, regarded on basis
of OBI form as being identical at that stage to
54 ‘foot, leg’, representing lower leg (kneecap to
foot), and by extension ‘straight, correct’, based on
unbending part of leg (Mizukami). SS1984:492-3;
AS2007:612; KJ1970:582-3; MS1995:v1:702-3. We
suggest a mnemonic using 143 ‘stop’ (which
also involves feet).
Mnemonic: TO STOP AT THE LINE IS TO DO
THE CORRECT AND PROPER THING
OBI . Based on a pictograph of a growing
plant. KJ1985:412; SS1984:493.
Mnemonic: GROWING PLANT IS A SYMBOL
OF LIFE
of this character is taken to be a variant of 44,
functioning originally here as a phonetic (the
Late Han words represented by and were
reasonably close in pronunciation); several commentators
regard as also carrying a semantic
function (the green of young plants). SS1984:495;
KJ1970:963; GY2008:545; AS2007:459, 431. We
suggest using ‘moon’ 18 as a mnemonic. Note:
the color spectrum is a continuum, and is broken
up somewhat arbitrarily in different languages.
Thus, for instance, the blue through green range
is differentiated in English, but not traditionally in
Japanese, in which ao(i) covers both.
Mnemonic: YOUNG BLUE-GREEN PLANTS
LIVE ON THE MOON
18 ‘moon’, and at that period had the
meanings of ‘crescent moon’ or ‘evening’. At
some stage in bronze inscriptions two differentiated
shapes evolved, one for each of the
two associated words. SS1984:252; KJ1970:90;
GY2008:38; AS2007:522.
Mnemonic: CRESCENT MOON WITH A WISP
OF CLOUD INDICATES EVENING
The 80 First Grade Characters 57