strokes
絵画 KAIGA picture, painting
口絵 kuchiE frontispiece
絵本 EHON picture-book
Traditional 繪. A graph of relatively late origin (Shuowen) . Right-hand element is phonetic, meaning ‘join, come together’ (see 会 93 ‘meet’), and is combined here with 糸 29 ‘thread’ to represent initially a meaning such as ‘embroidered pattern’, but later more broadly to include drawings or pictures in general. SS1984:92; KJ1970:321; YK1976:90-91.
Mnemonic: THREADS MEET IN EMBROIDERED PICTURE
96
L5
外
GAI, GE, soto, hoka, hazusu/reru
outside, other, undo, miss
5 strokes
外人 GAIJIN foreigner
外科 GEKA surgery
外側 sotogawa outside
Bronze ; seal . Interpretations vary, but it is widely agreed that 卜 signifies divination, as practiced in ancient China. The shape 卜 represents cracks in the surface of turtle shells etc (see too 占 1598). Opinions differ regarding left-hand element 夕. Ma and Katō see it as 夕 46 ‘moon’, i.e. night. The Shuowen notes that divination was normally done at dawn, thus suggesting doing something outside norms, hence an extended meaning of ‘outside’. Schuessler accepts 夕 46 as ‘moon’ but treats it only as phonetic. Shirakawa, though, takes 夕 as ‘meat, flesh’ (see 肉 209), noting animal sacrifices were made during the divination process. MR2007:359-60; KJ1970:91; AS2007:506; SS1984:98-9.
Mnemonic: CRESCENT MOON WITH A CRACK ON THE OUTSIDE?!
97
L3
角
KAKU, tsuno, kado
horn, angle, corner
7 strokes
角度 KAKUDO angle
角笛 tsunobue bugle, horn
街角 machikado street corner
OBI . Based on pictograph of horn of ox, sheep, or similar animal; ‘corner, angle’ may be extended senses from protruding horn. MR2007:306; MS1995:v2:1182-3; YK1976:194-5.
Mnemonic: ANGULAR HORN IS QUITE SQUARE WITH BROKEN TIP
98
L4
楽
GAKU, RAKU, ta-noshii/mu
pleasure, music
13 strokes
気楽 KIRAKU comfort
楽器 GAKKI instrument
楽しみ tanoshimi pleasure
Traditional 樂. Interpretations vary. OBI form ; bronze . OBI form is seen as i) an oak/horse chestnut tree (Yamada, Katō), specifically with silkworm cocoons (Mizukami) or threads (Ogawa) in it; or ii) as a musical instrument (Ma, Shirakawa) – Shirakawa sees it as a handbell with wooden handle, rung to please the deities. Tōdō is of the view the graph originally meant ‘make a loud noise’, later borrowed for ‘music’. The element 白 69 (‘white’) was added at bronze stage, possibly as a phonetic, but could be semantic (or both), as it might originally have depicted an acorn. Schuessler notes relationship with ‘joy’ has been much debated. YK1976:488; KJ1970:196; MS1995:v1:684-6; OT1968:513; MR2007:338-9; SS1984:111; TA1965:273-5; AS2007:596-7. Use 木 73 ‘wood, tree’
Mnemonic: TASSELED DRUM ON WOODEN STAND MAKES PLEASING MUSIC
99
L3
活
KATSU
activity, life
9 strokes
生活 SEIKATSU life
活気 KAKKI liveliness
活動 KATSUDŌ activity
A late graph (Shuowen). Has ‘water’ 氵 42 and 舌 755 (‘tongue’) as phonetic, with associated sense ‘move freely’. Tōdō includes it in two word-families: one means ‘give freedom/room’, the other signifies ‘water moves strongly’. ‘Live/life’ is an extended sense from ‘move strongly/vigorously’. KJ1970:329-30; YK1976:198-9; TA1965:624-9, 638-9.
Mnemonic: WET TONGUE IS A SIGN OF AN ACTIVE LIFE
100
L5
間
KAN, KEN, aida, ma
space, gap
12 strokes
時間 JIKAN hour, time
人間 NINGEN human being
間違い machigai mistake
Bronze and seal (Shuowen) forms show 月 18 ‘moon’ through 門 231 ‘gate’, as does the traditional form, though in modern times 月 has been replaced by 日 66 ‘day/sun’. The ‘moon’ component is felt by Katō and Ogawa to be a phonetic, though the Late Han sound values for 間 and月 seem to be markedly different. Perhaps for this reason Qiu prefers a semantic role for 月 and believes the graph ‘shows a gate with an opening through which moonlight can be seen’. KJ1970:217-8; OT1968:1058; AS2007:303, 595; QX2000:192.
Mnemonic: SUN SHINES THROUGH GAP IN SALOON DOORS
101
L3
丸
GAN, maru, marui
round, circle, ball, ship-mark
3 strokes
丸薬 GAN’YAKU pill
丸み marumi roundness
日本丸 NIPPON-maru ‘HMS’ Nippon
A late graph (Shuowen); seal script form is . Interpretations diff er. There is general agreement that the enclosed element in seal script is 人 41 ‘person’. 厂 (in mirrored form) is taken as phonetic with associated meaning ‘roll over and over’ (Katō) or ‘round’ (Yamada). Tōdō includes the underlying word in a word-family meaning ‘round; surround’, and takes 厂 as semantic (see ‘cliff’ 47, being based on pictograph for the same) as well as phonetic, to give ‘person rolling themselves into ball shape at foot of cliff, to hide’. KJ1970:336-7; YK1976:107-8; TA1965:611-19. We suggest 九 13 ‘nine’, plus extra stroke to ‘round off’.
Mnemonic: NINE IS ROUNDED OFF WITH AN EXTRA STROKE
102
L3
岩
GAN, iwa
rock, crag
8
