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59
L5
中
4
CHŪ, naka
middle, inside, China/
Sinostrokes
CHŪRITSUneutrality
CHŪGOKUChina
mannakavery middle
OBI forms show two categories: a) , similar
to the modern equivalent, and b) a shape
similar to a) but with streamer-like attachments,
generally interpreted as a banner with streamers.
The graph’s basic meaning is ‘middle, inside’, and
by extension ‘hit the center’. Schuessler, however,
feels this extended meaning is from a word of
similar but different pronunciation from that for
‘middle’ in early Chinese (1 st – 2 nd century AD).
SS1984:593; KJ1970:699-700; AS2007:621, 44;
BK1957:264-5.
Mnemonic: CHINESE LANCE PIERCES MIDDLE
OF TARGET
60
虫
CHŪ, mushi
insect, worm
L3
6 strokes
KISEICHŪparasite
GAICHŪharmful insect
mushibadecayed tooth
The OBI form is based on a pictograph of a
snake. According to Qiu, later a semantic shift
occurred, as the antecedent of was already
being used to represent the current meaning
‘insect’ (in the broad sense) – as in modern
Japanese – in Qin and Han times. QX2000:177;
AS2007:287. As a mnemonic suggest a rearing
hooded snake.
Mnemonic: HOODED SNAKE REARS TO
CATCH AN INSECT
61
町
CHŌ, machi
town, block
L4
7 strokes
CHŌMINtownspeople
machiYAKUbatown office
shitamachidowntown
Of late provenance (Shuowen); 63 is ‘field’,
and 367 (originally ‘nail’, now ‘block [area]’)
is phonetic, with an associated meaning ‘tread’.
The original meaning was ‘path between
fields’, and this is retained in modern Chinese.
In Japan, ‘path between fields’ was still the
associated meaning in the early 10th century,
but by that period it had also come to mean
a settlement of dwellings beside a road, and
on that basis we have the modern Japanese
meaning of ‘town, city’. SS1984:600; KJ1970:915;
YK1976:365.
Mnemonic: TOWN AT T-JUNCTION NEXT TO
FIELD
62
L5
天
TEN, ama-, ame
heaven
4 strokes
TENSHIangel
TENNŌemperor
amakudari heavenly descent
The OBI and bronze forms , depict the
front profile of a person standing with limbs
apart, similar to 56 ‘big’ but with a head –
the latter sometimes round, sometimes just a
horizontal line (or two) and close to the modern
form. On occasion the head is also enlarged. It
may be that originally the meaning was ‘head’
or ‘crown of the head’, then later by extension
what is above the head, i.e. the sky, or – with
a philosophical or religious connotation –
‘Heaven’, or ‘heavenly deity’ (Ch. Tian). Karlgren,
however, interprets the old forms as being from
the outset the drawing of ‘an anthropomorphic
deity’. SS1984:627-8; KJ1970:724; AS2007:495;
BK1957:104.
Mnemonic: BIG MAN GETS HEAD FLATTENED
IN HEAVENLY DESCENT
The 80 First Grade Characters 61