KYŌ, kagami
mirror
19 strokes
望遠鏡 BŌENKYŌ telescope
鏡台 KYŌDAI dressing table
手鏡 tekagami hand mirror
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 金 16 ‘metal’, and NJK 竟 (‘end’, originally of a piece of music) as phonetic with associated sense ‘appearance, shape’. In early China, mirrors were typically thin discs made of bronze, with the back decorated – often ornately – with patterns and motifs of great significance (mythological, etc.), and often featured inscriptions also. Bronze was a material used extensively for ritual artefacts such as mirrors, affordable only to the wealthy. KJ1970:350-51; OT1968:1049; YK1976:135. Suggest taking 竟 as its components 音 6 ‘sound’ and 儿 41 ‘bent legs’, for a Zen-like mnemonic.
Mnemonic: THE SOUND OF BENT LEGS IN A METAL MIRROR!?
487
L3
競
KYŌ, KEI, kisou, seru
compete, bid
20 strokes
競争 KYŌSŌ competition
競馬 KEIBA horse race
競り売り seriuri auction
Bronze ; seal . Has 从 ‘two people; follow’, and 誩 ‘quarrel’ (言 118 ‘word’ duplicated), to give original sense ‘two people quarrel’, then ‘quarrel’ generally; ‘vie, compete’ may be seen as an extended meaning. The seal form still preserves the etymologically important component 言 in this graph, but subsequently it became distorted and lost in the block script. MS1995:v2:984-5; OT1968:90; YK1976:136; KJ1970:272. Suggest taking modern graph as doubling of 兄 114 ‘elder brother’ with 立 77 ‘stand’.
Mnemonic: TWO ELDER BROTHERS COMPETE IN STAND-OFF
488
L3
極
KYOKU, GOKU, kiwameru
extreme, pole
12 strokes
北極 HOKKYOKU North Pole
至極 SHIGOKU extremely
消極 SHŌKYOKU cathode
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 木 73 ‘tree/wood’ and CO 亟 (‘urge on, hurry’) as phonetic, typically taken as having associated sense ‘in the highest place’, thus timber in the highest place in a building, i.e. ‘ridgebeam’; by extension, ‘extremity, limit’ (Katō, Ogawa, Yamada). Shirakawa, by contrast, believes the initial meaning of 極 was a form of capital punishment (later written 殛), and that ridgebeam is a later meaning. KJ1970:284-5; YK1976:138; OT1968:515; SS1984:206; MS1995:v1:32-3. Awkward mnemonically but we suggest as two lines/bars 二, with 口 22 ‘mouth/opening’, and hook, and 2003 ‘hand’.
Mnemonic: EXTREMELY HOOKED HAND IN OPENING BETWEEN TWO WOODEN BARS
489
L3
訓
KUN
instruction, kun
10 strokes
訓読み KUNyomi kun reading
訓練 KUNREN training
教訓的 KYŌKUNTEKI edifying
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Has 言 118 ‘words’, and 川 50 (‘river’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘follow’, to give ‘make to follow using words, instruct’. Also has the specific meaning ‘native Japanese reading for a Chinese character’, or ‘kun reading’. The graph also retains its early meaning ‘instruct’, reflecting the fact that when Chinese script and language were brought to Japan, the Japanese were instructed in the meanings of Chinese characters. KJ1970:344; MS1995:v2:1186-7; YK1976:144; OT1968:921.
Mnemonic: DURING INSTRUCTION ABOUT KUN, WORDS FLOW LIKE RIVER
490
L3
軍
GUN
army, military
9 strokes
空軍 KŪGUN airforce
軍人 GUNJIN military (wo)man
米軍 BEIGUN US forces
Bronze ; seal . Has 車 33 ‘vehicle’ (here, ‘military chariot’), and an enclosing element (originally a pictograph of a snake in a curved shape, or in some cases an encircling arm) corresponding in outward form to 勹 (enclose) but considered here, based on historical pronunciation, to be an abbreviation of a CO 匀 ‘surround, enclose’ (the latter with both semantic and phonetic functions). The graph 軍 thus represents chariots drawn up in a circular protective encampment – an ancient military practice. MS1995:v2:1266-9; KJ1970:343; YK1976:145. We suggest taking 冖 as ‘cover’.
Mnemonic: COVERED MILITARY VEHICLES
491
L1
郡
GUN, kōri
county, district
10 strokes
郡部 GUNBU rural district
郡山 Kōriyama a place name
和気郡 WAKEGUN Wake County
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Has 阝 376 (as abbreviated right-hand form of 邑 ‘settlement, village’), and 君 285 (‘lord’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘collect, accumulate’, to give ‘a collection of settlements’. This served as an administrative unit for such (of varying scale) from an early period in China, and then in Japan, where it is still used. KJ1970:343; YK1976:145; OT1968:1020.
Mnemonic: VILLAGE BELONGS TO LORD OF COUNTY DISTRICT
492
L1
径
KEI
path, direct
8 strokes
直径 CHOKKEI diameter
径路 KEIRO route
捷径 SHŌKEI short cut
Seal ; traditional 徑. Late graph (Shuowen). Has 彳 131 ‘road, go’, and 巠 287 (thread stretched on a loom) as phonetic with associated sense ‘straight’ (Tōdō, Shirakawa,
