The Complete Guide to Japanese Kanji. Kenneth G. Henshall

mill135舌tongue136舛opposing feet137舟boat月138艮look backwards139色colour140艸plants, vegetationalways occurs as 艹 (traditional: )141虍tiger142虫insect143血blood144行go145衣garment衤146西west覀/襾 ’stopper’ is separate from 西 ‘west’147見see148角horn149言words, say150谷valley151豆beans152豕boar, pig153豸threatening beast154貝shellfish, shell155赤red156走run157足leg, foot158身body159車vehicle160辛sharp, bitter161辰Dragon (zodiac sign)162辵walk (along road)occurs in short form 辶 (traditional: 辶)163邑settlement, villageoccurs on right in short form阝164酉wine (jar), zodiac sign165釆scatter seed166里village167金metal168長long169門gatedistinguish from 鬥 ‘fighting’ (det. 191)170阜hill, mound, terracingoccurs on left in short form阝171隶catch172隹(short-tailed) bird173雨rain, weather174青blue, green175非not176面face, surface177革leather178韋surround, oppose179韭leek180音sound181頁head, page182風wind183飛fly184食food, eatin compound graphs 飠or 185首neck186香fragrance187馬horse188骨bone189高high190髟hair191鬥fightingdistinguish from 門 ‘gate’ (det. 169)192鬯fragrant herbs193鬲cauldron (bulbous)194鬼demon195魚fish196鳥bird197鹵salt198鹿deer199麥wheat200麻flax, hemp201黄yellow202黍millet203黒black204黹sewing205黽frog206鼎cauldron207鼓drum208鼠rat209鼻nose210齊complete, equal211齒tooth212龍dragon213龜tortoise, turtle214龠flute

      General Principles of Stroke Order

      Though there are inevitably a number of exceptions, most characters are written according to established principles of stroke order. A knowledge of these principles is important in order to achieve the proper shape and to write in the cursive style or semi-cursive style, in which normally separate strokes flow into one another. The basic principles listed below were issued by the Ministry of Education in 1958, and are considered the most authoritative. The guidelines apply either to individual strokes or to the arrangement of component elements, as the case may be. The first two are especially important.

      1. Top to bottom.

      three 25

      word 118

      guest 270

      2. Left to right.

      province 320

      faction 965

      example 635

      3. Horizontal strokes usually precede vertical strokes when crossing.

      ten 35

      earth 64

      till 699

      4. However, in a few cases vertical strokes precede horizontal ones.

      king 5

      field 63

      bend 279

      5. Centre usually precedes right and left where the latter do not exceed two strokes each.

      small 38

      water 42

      receive 736

      Note the two exceptions are the heart radical _{and fire}

      6. Outer frame first, but bottom line last.

      country 136

      sun 66

      moon 18

      Note the order of _{with the left-hand stroke joined to the bottom (e.g. ).}

      7. Right-to-left diagonal stroke precedes left-to-right.

      person 41

      father 216

      again 2003

      8. Central vertical line last.

      middle 59

      vehicle 33

      thing 309

      9. Strokes which cut through come last.

      woman 37

      child 27

      boat 1450

      Note that the only exception is

      The following pointers should also be observed.

      a. squares are written with three strokes not four

      b. vertical strokes should not slope, (e.g. _{not )}

      c. horizontal strokes may slope, but should be parallel (e.g. ₎

      d. characters should be of uniform size.

      Editorial and Typographical Matters; Romanization

      As indicated in 7.2 in the Introduction, for each character entry we show in the top left corner of the frame its number in the sequence of the corpus of 2,136. Directly underneath we give a number from L1 to L5, which indicates the level of the Japanese Proficiency Test (JLPT)—level 5 being the lowest, and level 1 being the highest. Unfortunately there seems to be some difficulty in obtaining full data on these levels, and we have been obliged to make our own estimates in some cases. On the right-hand side of the sequence number and the JLPT level, we give the character.