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170
L4
声
SEI, SHŌ, koe
voice
7 strokes
SEIENvocal support
DAIONJŌloud voice
nakigoesobbing voice
Traditional . OBI is taken as ‘qing – ancient
Chinese musical instrument with suspended
stones and striker’ (is based on pictograph
of a qing, with , another form of ‘hand holding
something to strike with’) and 31 ‘ear’ to give
overall meaning ‘listen to instrument’, and by extension
‘sound, voice’. In the OBI form, Shirakawa
takes 22 ‘mouth’ as a receptacle for written
incantations). MS1995:v2:1060-61; MR2007:459;
SS1984:493-4. We suggest taking modern form
as 521 ‘samurai’, with lower element as variant
of ‘door’ 120.
Mnemonic: VOICE OF SAMURAI AT DOOR
171
星
SEI, SHŌ, hoshi
star
L3
9 strokes
KASEIMars
MYŌJŌVenus
nagareboshishooting star
Some of the OBI forms such as , have up
to five circular or roughly square shapes similar
to 66 ‘sun’ (with or without ), and these
presumed ‘sources of light’ represent stars
pictographically. Mizukami treats (1502,
‘clear/bright/crystal’) as the original form of ,
while Ma treats the two as separate graphs.
44 (‘birth, life’) here is phonetic with associated
sense ‘clear’. Tōdō has and in same wordfamily
‘clear’. MS1995:v1:626-8; MR2007:357-8;
TA1965:488-91.
Mnemonic: STARS ARE BORN FROM THE SUN
172
晴
SEI, hareru
clear, bright
L3
12 strokes
SEITENclear sky
harebarebright
haregibest clothes
A very late graph; not listed in Shuowen
(Schuessler gives Yupian ‘Jade Chapters’ – a
Chinese dictionary compiled ca. 543AD – as an
early reference). Made up of semantic element
66 ‘sun/bright’, with 45 (‘blue/green’) as
phonetic with associated sense ‘clear, fresh’.
OT1968:471; AS2007:431-2, 539.
Mnemonic: BRIGHT SUN AGAINST BLUE
MEANS CLEAR WEATHER
173
切
SETSU, SAI, kiru Relatively late (Shuowen). Has 198 ‘sword,
cut
knife’, and 32 (‘seven’, originally ‘cut’) as
L4
4 strokes
phonetic with associated sense ‘cut bone,
cut’. In Late Han times, and were nearhomophones.
SHINSETSUkindness
KJ1970:47-8; TA1965:778-9;
ISSAIall
AS2007:419,312.
harakiriharakiri
Mnemonic: SEVEN SWORD CUTS
88 The 160 Second Grade Characters