senior
8 strokes
成長 SEICHŌ growth
会長 KAICHŌ chairperson
長生き nagaiki long life
OBI forms , show a person with long hair, in some cases with a walking stick; Shirakawa notes that only old people were allowed long hair. Tōdō puts the graph in a word-family meaning ‘long’. MS1995:v2:1382-4; SS1984:601; TA1965:348-9. (See also 638.)
Mnemonic: SENIOR CITIZEN RUNS WITH FUNNY LEGS, LONG HAIR STREAMING
190
L4
鳥
CHŌ, tori
bird
11 strokes
白鳥 HAKUCHŌ swan
野鳥 YACHŌ wild bird
鳥居 torii shrine gate
Based on pictograph of a bird , . Note that there is another ‘bird’ graph , occurrent in Japanese as an element in compound graphs (e.g. 集 324). MS1995:v2:1494-5; MR2007:296; KJ1970:11-12.
Mnemonic: IF IT’S GOT WINGS AND FEATHERS, IT MUST BE A BIRD
191
L4
朝
CHŌ, asa
morning, court
12 strokes
朝食 CHŌSHOKU breakfast
朝日 asahi morning sun
朝廷 CHŌTEI imperial court
OBI ; seal . OBI form has 日 66 ‘sun’, 屮 ’plant/plant shoot’ or 艸/艹 53 ‘plants’ and 月 18 ‘moon’, giving ‘sun emerging from vegetation with moon still out’, i.e. ‘morning’. Bronze occurrences commonly had earlier 月 changed to 川 50 ‘river’, maybe to represent near-homophone meaning ‘morning tide, tide’ (later 潮 952) (Shirakawa); Gu treats the change from 月 as erroneous. The seal form in Shuowen may involve corruption in shape in relation to bronze equivalents. At the clerical script stage, 月 became usual here instead of the right-hand side in seal with 舟 1450 ‘boat’; Qiu regards this as a shape abbreviation of 舟, and this led to block script 朝. Analyses of this graph differ; above account is tentative. MS1995:v1:640-41; SS1984:603; QX2000:109-10; AS2007:607; GY2008:1382; SK1984:391.
Mnemonic: SUN RISES THROUGH PLANTS, MOON STILL OUT – IT’S MORNING
192
L3
直
CHOKU, JIKI, naoru/su, sugu, tadachi
direct, upright, fix
8 strokes
直接 CHOKUSETSU direct
正直 SHŌJIKI honesty
直し屋 naoshiya repairman
The OBI form is generally taken as 目 76 ‘eye’, and 丨 (replaced in seal script by 十) as phonetic with associated sense ‘straight’ (Mizukami suggests alternatively 十 could be taken as semantic element for ‘straight’.) Occasionally in the bronze forms, then routinely in the seal script, a curved line was added (final stroke in the modern form) with the sense ‘bend’; the graph is then taken to convey ‘straighten the gaze’ (Mizukami, Yamada, Katō), and by extension ‘straighten’ generally. MR2007:480-81; MS1995:v2:914-5; KJ1975:687-8; YK1976:369-70. We suggest taking 十 as a cross.
Mnemonic: CROSS EYED – NEED TO FIX IT DIRECTLY
193
L4
通
TSŪ, tōru/su, kayou
pass, commute, way
10 strokes
通行 TSŪKŌ passage
通勤 TSŪKIN commuting
大通り ōdōri main road
OBI ; bronze ; seal: . Has 辶 85 ‘walk along road, go’, and a right-hand element as phonetic which varies (用 [235 ‘use’] in OBI, 甬 in seal [CO; taken variously as ‘flower buds emerging’, ‘person leaping up’, and ‘suspension ring at top of bell’]), but with the same associated sense ‘go through, penetrate’, giving ‘road carries on through’. This treatment finds support in Tōdō, who has 用, 甬, and 通 all in the same word-family ‘penetrate’. MS1995:v1:1294-5; KJ1970:671; TA1965:286-90. We suggest taking マ as a bent figure, and 用 in its present meaning of ‘use’.
Mnemonic: BENT FIGURE USES PASSAGE-WAY TO COMMUTE
194
L3
弟
TEI, DAI, DE, otōto
younger brother
7 strokes
子弟 SHITEI sons, children
弟子 DESHI follower, pupil
兄弟 KYŌDAI brothers
OBI forms depict a weapon handle wrapped with leather . There was a set, ordered process for wrapping the handle, which can be thought of as the lower part of a weapon. Mizukami lists associated meanings as ‘low; order’, and ‘younger brother’ by extension; Katō is essentially in agreement. The graph is in a word-family Tōdō takes as meaning ‘straight and short, low’. MS1995:v1:468-70; KJ1970:716; TA1965:749-53.
Mnemonic: YOUNGER BROTHER GETS BOUND TO A STAKE, BUT LOOSELY
195
L5
店
TEN, mise, tana
store, premises
8 strokes
店員 TEN’IN store staff
夜店 yomise night stall
店立て tanadate eviction
A very late graph (Yupian). Has 广 127 ‘roof, building’, and 占 1598 (‘perform divination; occupy’) as phonetic with associated sense taken as i] ‘arrange, display’, giving ‘place to set out (and sell) things’ (Katō), or ii] ‘fixed/established in the one place’, hence ‘building where things are established (together) in one place’ (Tōdō); in either case, ‘premises, shop’. KJ1970728-9; TA1965:836-8. Suggest taking 占 in one of its modern meanings, ‘occupy’.
Mnemonic: A STORE OCCUPIES THAT BUILDING WITH THE BIG ROOF
196
