Tuttle Learning Japanese Kanji. Glen Nolan Grant
KANJI #29
| 早 | EARLY |
Meaning
Early/Fast. It is important to remember that this kanji expresses both of these ideas.
Remembering this kanji
There isn’t much a scarecrow can do for exercise, but ours is determined to stay in shape. How so? Well, EARLY each day, once the sun is up, he’ll launch into a vigorous routine of finger stretches, toe curls, and head rolls. As it’s too hot to do this later on, it’s fortunate he’s an EARLY riser.
Common Pronunciations
Common ON reading: SŌ (ソウ）
Common kun reading: haya (はや）
Note the intransitive/transitive verb pair in the table.
kun-yomi suggestion: “hi ya!”
Create your on-yomi keyword and enter it in the table at the back of the book. After that, write your sentence to remember the on-yomi and kun-yomi readings in the box below.
Less Common Pronunciations
Less common ON reading: SATSU (サツ）
Less Common kun reading: none
| COMMON WORDS AND COMPOUNDS | ||
| 早い | early; fast | haya.i はや.い |
| 早まる (intr) | to be in a hurry | haya.maru はや.まる |
| 早める (tr) | to hurry (something) | haya.meru はや.める |
| 早口 | early (fast) + mouth = rapid speaking | haya. kuchi はや.くち |
| 早春 | early + spring = early spring | SŌ.SHUN ソウ.シュン |
| 早朝 | early + morning = early morning | SŌ.CHŌ ソウ.チョウ |
| SAMPLE SENTENCE: | |||||||
| どうして | そんな | に | 早く | 来た | の | です | か。 |
| dōshite | sonna | ni | haya.ku | ki.ta | no | desu | ka. |
| why | so | early | come | is | |||
| = Why did you come so early? |
COMPONENT #30
A good figure skater always keeps her leg straight in this position.
KANJI #30
| 上 | UPPER |
Meaning
This simple-looking character expresses a broad range of ideas relating to the words “upper”, “on”, and “over”, among others; it can refer to anything from goods of high quality to superiors at work. It’s a fascinating kanji that is widely used， and one that rewards patient study.
Remembering this kanji
Look at the beautiful posture, with the outstretched leg held perfectly straight; this is a good figure skater with complete confidence in her abilities, skating as if the ice were the bottom of a bun that would not hurt her if she fell. This is clearly an UPPER-class athlete.
Common Pronunciations
Common ON reading: JŌ (ジョウ）
Common kun reading: kami (かみ); ue (うえ）; nobo (のぼ); a (あ); uwa (うわ）
Take a deep breath, as this kanji contains the second largest number of common readings for any character you will encounter in Japanese (you won’t have long to wait for the one with the most!). The on-yomi JŌ, however, is by far the most frequently used, and the kun-yomi readings will often appear with hiragana accompaniment (which will offer a clue as to which pronunciation should be used for the kanji).
The verb a.geru (あ·げる) in example 5 below, incidentally, is almost always used in a transitive sense (that is, it “lifts” some object in either a physical or symbolic way), and is best thought of as being paired with the intransitive a.garu (あ·がる）.
Before proceeding with your sentence, it is useful now to consider one of the most important benefits of the on-yomi table: because you will have chosen different keywords for each of the readings, there will be no danger of confusing pronunciations differing only in their use of a “long” versus “short” vowel sound. We encounter the first example of this here, with JŌ sounding much like JO (the on-yomi for “女” in Entry 16), but needing to be memorized as a separate reading.
kun-yomi suggestions: “make a meal;” “true age;” “no bones;” “anaconda;” “new wok”
Create your on-yomi keyword and enter it in the table at the back of the book. After that, write your sentence to remember the on-yomi and kun-yomi readings in the box below.
Less Common Pronunciations
Less