OF WRITING: TRY TO TOP IT
73
L5
木
BOKU, MOKU, ki, ko
tree, wood
4 strokes
木曜日 MOKUYŌbi Thursday
木目 kime grain, texture
木立 kodachi* grove
Based on a pictograph of a tree MR2007:333; SS1984:804; QX2000:54; KJ1970:955.
Mnemonic: TREE WITH SWEEPING BRANCHES – LOOKS LIKE GOOD WOOD
74
L5
本
HON, moto
root, book, true, main, this, cylinder-counter
5 strokes
日本 NIHON/NIPPON Japan
本屋 HONya bookshop
本社 HONSHA this/head office
Based on pictograph of tree with roots the latter indicated later by the simple addition of a stroke near the base, to show root or stem below ground level. Norman observes – with reference to Chinese – that it “is not entirely clear how a word originally meaning ‘root’ could come to be used as a measure for books”, but this may be explained as an extended meaning ‘stem’, in that traditionally in China and Japan books were in cylindrical rolls, i.e., a stem-like shape. In China, the cylindrical roll for books started to change to a folded-page format from about the 9th century AD. Note also that in English there is a close link between trees and books: ‘book’, ‘bark’, ‘beech’, and ‘birch’, the bark once having been used for writing on. SS1984:807; QX2000:183; JN1988:116; KJ1970:866; TT1962:153.
Mnemonic: TREE WITH ONE MAIN ROOT BELOW GROUND
75
L5
名
MEI, MYŌ, na
name, fame
6 strokes
有名 YŪMEI famous
名字 MYŌJI surname
名前 namae name
Various interpretations. Early form May well be a combination of /口 22 ‘mouth, say’, and 夕 46 ‘crescent moon’ – used here as substitute for another graph meaning ‘shout, call out’ (Mizukami, Yamada). Shirakawa, however, takes the earliest forms (bronze) as depicting meat over a ritual vessel, used in the ancient naming ceremony for an infant when it reached three months. If we follow Shirakawa, most OBI and bronze occurrences of 口 represent not ‘mouth’ but specifically ‘prayer receptacle’, but this is very much a minority view. MS1995:v1:214-5; YK1976:467; SS1984:816-7.
Mnemonic: MOUTH CALLS FAMOUS NAME UNDER A CRESCENT MOON
76
L5
目
MOKU, me, ma
eye, look, mesh, ordinal suffix
5 strokes
一目 hitome glance
一つ目 hitotsume first
注目 CHŪMOKU attention
OBI shows it as based on pictograph of an eye, generating a range of extended meanings. Use for ordinal suffix is loan usage. SS1984:824; QX2000:178; KJ1970:873.
Mnemonic: SQUARE-EYED AND VERTICAL – WATCHING TOO MUCH TV?
77
L5
立
RITSU, tatsu/teru
stand, rise, leave
5 strokes
自立 JIRITSU independence
立場 tachiba standpoint
目立つ medatsu stand out
OBI and bronze forms such as depict a person standing, ground beneath them to emphasize the act of standing rather than the figure. Later forms such as show little change. SS1984:875; QX2000:19; OT1968:744. ‘Leave’ is an extended meaning based on rising.
Mnemonic: STAND TO TAKE YOUR LEAVE
78
L4
力
RYOKU, RIKI, chikara
strength, effort
2 strokes
能力 NŌRYOKU ability
人力車 JINRIKISHA rickshaw
力持ち chikaramochi strongman
Early forms such as OBI seem to be generally interpreted as showing an arm and hand. Less convincingly, Shirakawa prefers to interpret as depicting a plow, and by association agricultural work and therefore physical strength. (See also 男 57 ‘male’.) On the other hand, if it were indeed a plow, it could be argued that one might expect rather a meaning such as ‘cutting’ or ‘planting’ or ‘preparing’. KJ1970:907; YK1976:492; BK1957:244; OT1968:123; SS1984:888-9. We suggest taking the modern form as a shoulder and upper arm.
Mnemonic: STRONG UPPER ARM AND SHOULDER
79
L4
林
RIN, hayashi
forest
8 strokes
林学 RINGAKU forestry
小林 Kobayashi a surname
密林 MITSURIN dense forest
Early forms show a simple doubling of ‘tree’ 73. Unlike in Japanese, in Chinese from the outset 林 and 森 40 ‘woods’ have been used with essentially the same meaning, i.e. ‘forest’. Schuessler considers the Chinese word written 森 probably evolved as an intensive derivative from that written as 林. MR2007:341; SS1984:889; QX2000:54; AS2007:358-9; QX2000:198.
Mnemonic: TWO TALL TREES IN THE FOREST
80
L5
六
ROKU, mu-
six
4 strokes
六月 ROKUGATSU June
六日 muika* sixth day
六角 ROKKAKU hexagon
OBI and bronze forms seem to indicate a simple building of some sort (Shirakawa suggests a temporary, tent-like structure), the graph then probably having been borrowed for the meaning ‘six’ through
