A GUIDE TO REMEMBERING JAPANESE CHARACTERS by Kenneth G. Henshall vi rc TUTTLE PUBLISHING Tokyo * Rutland, Vermont * SingaporePublished by Turtle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd., with editorial offices at 36¢ Innovation Drive, North Clarendon, Vermont 05759 U.S.A. and 61 Tai Seng Avenue #02-12, Singapore 534167. ‘© 1998 by Charles E. Tuttle Publishing Company, Ine. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced of utilized in any form ‘of by any means, electronic oF mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any {information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher LCC Card No. 88050325 ISBN 978-0-8048-2038-7 First edition, 1988 Distributed by: Japan Tuttle Publishing Yockari Building, 3rd Floor 5-412. Osaki Shinagawa-ku ‘Tokyo 141-0032 ‘Tek (81) 3 5437-0171 Fax: (81) 3 5437-0755, tuttle-sales@gol.com, North America, Latin America & Europe Tuttle Publishing 364 Innovation Drive North Clarendon, VT 05759.9436 U.S.A. ‘Tals 1 (802) 773-8930 Fax: 1 (802) 773-6993, info@tuttlepublishing-com wenwtuttlepublishing.com Asia Pacific Berkeley Books Pte. Ltd. (61 Tai Seng Avenue, #02-12 Singapore 534167 Tek: (65) 6280-1330 Fax: (65) 6280-6290 iries@periplus.com.sg ‘wore periplus.com 11100908 22212019 Printed in Singapore TUTTLE PUBLISHING isa registered trademark of Tole Publishing, 2 division of Periplus Editions (HK) LdCONTENTS Acknowledgements Preface Introduction The History of Kanji ‘Types of Kanji ‘The Structure of Kanji General Principles of Stroke Order Explanatory Notes Finst-Grape Cuaracrers SzconD-GRaDE CHARACTERS Tuinp-Grape CHaracters Fourra-Grape CHARACTERS Firri-Grape CHARACTERS SocrH-GRaDE CHARACTERS GeNERAL-Ust CHARACTERS Appendices and Indices Elements Appendix Kana Appendix Non-General-Use Character Index Stroke Count Index Readings Index 22 127 189 254 316 623 624 627 631 636 646ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Lam greatly indebted to Tomoko Aoyama, of the Japanese Studies Unit of the University of Wester Australia, forthe calligraphy in this book. 1am also greatly indebted to Professor Jim Everet, of the Department of Management, University of Western Australia, for his in- valuable technical guidance in the computer-assisted preparation of camera-ready copy. In addition, my thanks are due to the Charles E. Tuttle Company for their guidance and sup- port, and to my wife Carole for her many hours of proofreading, In the research for this book I have been especially guided by the work of three of Japan's ‘most highly regarded scholars inthe field of kanji etymology, namely Tsunckata Kato, Kat- sumi Yamada, and Hideyuki Shindo. Those readers wishing to pursue further study of ‘kanji are recommended to consult in particular their joint work Jigen Jiten (Etymological Dictionary of Kanji, Kadokawa, Tokyo, 2nd edition 1985), together with Katsumi Yama- dda's Kanji no Gogen (The Etymology of Kanji, Kadokawa, Tokyo, 1976). ‘With regard to stroke count, and in some cases arrangement of characters within a given grade, I have been guided by the reference work Kanji Kakijun Jiten (Dictionary of Kanji Stroke Order, edited by Hiroshi Fujiwara, Daiichi Hoki Publishing, Tokyo, revised edition 1982),British spelling has been retained throughout,PREFACE ‘The main aim of this book is o help students of the Japanese language overcome the obsta- cle presented by characters -- or kanji, to use the Japanese term, Without a sound knowl- edge of kanji itis impossible to acquire a proper command of the language, and yet so ‘many students seem to spend years gaining merely a vague knowledge of no more than & few hundred of the two thousand kanji in general use. For every one student who feels Confident in reading and writing kanji, there are dozens who seem daunted and full of de spair. For students accustomed to Western writing systems kanji can indeed be a daunting propo- sition, Mastering the twenty-six simple symbols in the English alphabet, even allowing for difficulties with their pronunciation, seems like child's play compared with tackling two thousand kanji of up to twenty or so strokes. It should be realised that there is no magic ‘Way to set about this task. Even Japanese nationals themselves often have problems learn- ing and remembering kanji, despite the great advantage of constant exposure. There are, however, ways to make the task a lot easier {believe that for Western students the key to successful study of kanji lies not in rote leam- ing, as favored by the Japanese themselves, but in breaking down the barrier of unfamiliari- ty. Once one can appreciate how a character is made up, how it acquired its shape and how and why it came into existence, then one is a long way towards achieving this end. Some- thing that is understood and therefore familiar is far less daunting than something un- known, and far more easily remembered. A character that once seemed merely a lifeless ‘and anonymous jumble of lines and dots becomes a ‘character’ in a different sense; that is, with a distinctive personality of its own, Once a characteris essentially understood, the proper use of mnemonics (memory aids) is a useful adjunct, though for the serious scholar it can be misleading to rely on mnemonics alone. That is, there is no harm in a student remembering the character used for ‘east (see # 184) by conveniently interpreting its elements as the sun rising behind a tree, provided the student also remembers that that is not the real meaning. Misunderstanding the origin of a ‘character or element can in some cases lead to serious misconceptions regarding its conno- tations, its role in compounds, and its role as a window on the society of the day. In this book I have explained the origin and subsequent evolution of each of the characterspreface in general use, and where relevant have given the ancient forms. ‘There are a few cases where the exact origin is obscure, and here, after clearly stating that the character is ob- scure, I have given the most authoritative theories and occasionally some thoughts of my own. I have also made frequent reference to Chinese character usage, since the kanji are with a handful of exceptions ~ Chinese in origin (see Introduction). ‘The elements forming ‘each character are analysed and explained in detail, with cross-referencing to indicate where a recurring element is first introduced. Where relevant I have also added socio-historical ‘comment to clarify the meaning and role of a character. Each character's usage is illustrated by three compound terms, alongside its modern readings and meanings. At the end of each explanation I have given a suggested mnemonic using the key elements in that character. ‘Where possible I have tried in the mnemonic to use the elements in exactly the same way that they are used in the character itself, but since so many characters have changed their original meaning due to borrowing and/or miscopying this is usually not feasible. ‘The sug- gested mnemonics are ones which I personally have found useful, but each reader may pre~ fer to make up their own, ‘The characters are listed systematically in the order determined by the Japanese Ministry of Education (see Introduction). ‘That is, the first 996 kanji, the so-called Educational Kanji which are prescribed for the six grades of elementary school, ae set out in their respective grades (76 for Grade One, 145 for Grade Two, etc. et.) followed by the remaining 949. Since these gradings approximately correspond to frequency of usage, the reader who ‘wishes to leam only a few hundred kanji will be able to concentrate on the early grades con- fident in the knowledge that these will contain the most useful characters, In the course of explaining the kanji in general use it has often been necessary to refer 10 characters outside the general use category, as well as to characters found in Chinese but io all intents and purposes no longer used in Japanese. For the reader's convenience I have listed these in an index under stroke count. The general use kanji are listed in both a stroke ‘count index and a readings index. Ihave also added an appendix ofthe key elements found {in kanji, and for the reader's interest an appendix showing the characters from which the ‘two kana syllabaries have evolved. In the Introduction I have briefly outlined the history, structure, and types of kanji, together with a guide to general principles of stroke order. Following the Introduction there are Explanatory Notes which clarify the conventions and terms used in the text. The reader should consult both the Introduction and the Explanatory Notes before proceeding to the main text, tis my hope and belief thatthe book will be of value not only to students tackling the entire corpus of the Japanese language, but also to those with more moderate aims, such as sec: