The Complete Guide to Japanese Kanji. Kenneth G. Henshall

The Complete Guide to Japanese Kanji

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of a mature person or one with arms and legs outstretched

, used in an extended sense to mean ‘big’. SS1984:570; QX2000:4; KJ1970:724-5.

Mnemonic: PERSON SPREADS ARMS AND LEGS TO LOOK BIG

男

DAN, NAN, otoko

man, male

7 strokes

男子 DANSHI boy

長男 CHŌNAN eldest son

男気 otokogi gallantry

OBI ; made up of 田 63 ‘field’ and 力 78 ‘strength’. The latter may at one stage have represented a plow, but most early forms show an arm and field , associated with males working in the fields. Other analyses are possible: Yamada and Katō, for example, take 田 as phonetic, with an associated sense ‘endure’, while Tōdō includes the whole graph in his word-family meaning ‘bring in’, on the basis that traditionally China was a matriarchal society in which women brought men into the family through marriage. SS1984:584-5; GY2008:435; YK1976:352-3; TA1965:800-04; KJ1985:415.

Mnemonic: MAN PROVIDES STRENGTH IN FIELD

竹

CHIKU, take

bamboo

6 strokes

爆竹 BAKUCHIKU firecracker

竹馬 takeuma stilts

竹やぶ takeyabu bamboo grove

Often seen as bamboo segments, which is a good mnemonic but incorrect. OBI shows it to be based on a pictograph of a bamboo plant, which Mizukami and Katō identify as a low, striped variety. Later used for bamboo in general. In compound graphs, . MS1995:v2:986-7; MR2007:307; KJ1970:694.

Mnemonic: TWO BAMBOO SEGMENTS

中

CHŪ, naka

middle, inside, China/Sino-

4 strokes

中立 CHŪRITSU neutrality

中国 CHŪGOKU China

真ん中 mannaka very 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

虫

CHŪ, mushi

insect, worm

6 strokes

寄生虫 KISEICHŪ parasite

害虫 GAICHŪ harmful insect

虫歯 mushiba decayed tooth

The OBI form is based on a pictograph of a snake. According to Qiu, later a semantic shift occurred, as the antecedent of 虫 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

町

CHŌ, machi

town, block

7 strokes

町民 CHŌMIN townspeople

町役場 machiYAKUba town office

下町 shitamachi downtown

Of late provenance (Shuowen); 田 63 is ‘field’, and 丁 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

天

TEN, ama-, ame

heaven

4 strokes

天使 TENSHI angel

天皇 TENNŌ emperor

天下り amakudari heavenly descent

The OBI and bronze forms depict the front profile of a person standing with limbs apart, similar to 大 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

田

DEN, ta

rice-field, paddy

5 strokes

田園 DEN’EN rural area

田植え taue rice planting

田舎 inaka* countryside

Generally seen as based on pictographs for a field or fields divided by paths, very similar to the modern form. Shirakawa believes the original sense was ‘hunt’, and the meaning ‘field’ was a later loan use, but historical sound values in Schuessler leave this open to question. KJ1970:915; BK1957:104; AS2007:496,184.

Mnemonic: A FIELD DIVIDED INTO FOUR QUARTERS

土

DO, TO, tsuchi

earth,

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