480531170

often oppressive summer heat. It does actually
appear to have some soothing acoustic
effect with regard to enhancing the coolness
of the faintest of breezes. OT1968:1041;
MS1995:v2:1364-5; TA1965:475-7.
Mnemonic: ORDER METAL BELL TO CHIME
Or: ORDER METAL TO BE MADE INTO A BELL
2107
L1
零
REI, koboreru/su
zero, tiny, spill
13 strokes
REIJImidnight
REIKAbelow zero
REISAIsmall, tiny
OBI ( 霝 ) ; seal forms , . OBI stage
has 霝 only. This consists of 3 ‘rain’, with
the lower part representing in one view a
pictographic representation of raindrops
(Katō). There is, though, a different perspective
which treats the graph as signifying an
incantation for rain (for Karlgren, reduplicated
indicates ‘speak, incant’, while for
Shirakawa, it indicates ‘prayer receptacles’).
is given above as one of the seal forms,
but Shuowen also lists 霝 separately, with
the meaning ‘rain, rain falls’. In the case of
, 633 (‘order, rule’) serves as phonetic
with associated sense taken either as i] ‘hang
down’ (Ogawa), or ii] ‘clear, something clear
which drips down’ (noted in Mizukami);
either way, the overall meaning is ‘rain
falls’. The meaning ‘small’ is an extended
sense from raindrops, and ‘zero’ is perhaps
a further extended sense. DJ2009:v3:938;
OT1968:1086; MS1995:v2:1420-21;
KJ1970:72-3; BK1957:222; SS1984:898,900;
AS2007:361.
Mnemonic: ORDER ZERO RAIN TO FALL – OR
MAYBE JUST A TINY BIT
Or: ORDER ZERO SPILLAGE OF RAINWATER
2108
霊
REI, RYŌ, tama ‘shaman/shamaness’, with 霝 (‘rain, rain
spirit, soul
falls’; see 2107) as phonetic with associated
sense ‘descend’, taken as giving
L1
15 strokes
‘shaman/shamaness for whom fearsome
YŪREIghost
deity descends’ (also listed in Mizukami,
AKURYŌevil spirit
with nuance ‘fearsome deity, ghost’ in place
tamayamausoleum
of ‘deity’). Alternatively, Ogawa takes 霝 as
semantic in function meaning ‘rain’, giving
Seal ; traditional . Shuowen has as
‘shaman/ shamaness prays for rain’. Both
the main entry, and notes as an alternative
form. Firstly, : this has 5 (‘ruler’),
and occur at the clerical script stage;
is based on cursive forms. On a cultural
note, Japanese ghosts are traditionally supposed
to have no legs. MS1995:v2:860-62;
DJ2009:v1:30; OT1968:1087; SK1984:773;
but here representing 15 (‘jade, precious
stone’; at the seal stage, the two were
virtually identical in shape), combined with
霝 , taken here in one view as phonetic with
associated sense ‘descend, come down’,
giving ‘precious stone used by shaman/
shamaness to bring deities down’ (noted
in Mizukami). The alternative form has
FC1974:v2:2418-20. Take as variant of
977 ‘line up’, along with 3 ‘rain’.
Mnemonic: SPIRITS LINE UP IN THE
RAIN – HARDY SOULS
634 The Remaining 1130 Characters