tsugi, tsu-gu, ji, shi This character means “next.” The noun tsugi is something coming after another. The verb tsugu means “to come after” or “to follow.” At shop counters, clerks say, “next, please!” In Japanese, they say, “otsugi no kata dōzo.” The prefix “o-“ makes a noun polite. Kata meaning a person is used when [...]
Basic Japanese Characters
Japanese Calligraphy Art by Japanese Calligrapher Nao
Browsing the blog archives for March, 2010
30 Mar 10
Shellfish
kai Kai is shellfish, particularly an aquatic shelled mollusk such as a clam, an oyster, or a scallop. A scallop is called hotategai, of which the gai is a voiced sound of kai. Crabs and shrimps are NOT kai. Prehistoric kitchen middens are called kaizuka, of which zuka means a mound. The most famous [...]
29 Mar 10
To Enter
hai-ru, i-reru, i-ru, nyū, ju A new school year will begin soon. In Japan, students enter a school in April. Admission to a school is called nyūgaku. By adding the suffix –suru, it becomes the verb nyūgakusuru, meaning to enter a school. Nyūgakushiki is an entrance ceremony. Shiki means a ceremony. Inputting data into a [...]
28 Mar 10
Equal
hito-shii, tō, dō The adjective hitoshii means equal. Shii is written in hiragana. “A to B wa hitoshii.” This sentence means, “A and B are equal.” Hitoshii is kun’yomi, and tō and dō are on’yomi. As for the difference between kun’yomi and on’yomi, I hope you find this useful. One of the inflected forms of [...]
27 Mar 10
Ability or Noh
nō, Noh When we studied “kan bun,” the Chinese classics, at school, we learned to interpret this character as a modal verb. It means “can.” In classical Japanese, there used to be a word meaning “cannot” with this character, that is, atawazu. The ata of atawazu is today’s character and has the same function as [...]
26 Mar 10
Foot
ashi, ta-ru, ta-riru, soku In Japanese, feet and legs are called ashi. There are some idioms including the word, ashi. For example, “ashi ga deru” means that expense exceeds the budget. It literally means that a foot sticks out. Taking the length of somebody’s foot, or finding somebody’s weakness, is expressed as “ashimoto wo miru.” [...]
25 Mar 10
Cherry
sakura, ō Now is the season for cherry blossoms. Japanese people like to see sakura (cherry blossoms). Like weather forecasts, we can find how much degree cherry blossoms are in bloom in the newspaper. Even there is the sakura front like the bai u (seasonal rain) front, which comes in June. Both fronts move from [...]
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24 Mar 10
Insect or Worm
mushi, chū What we call “mushi” are insects, worms, and bugs. We also call them “konchū.” Both kon and chū have the same meaning. Ordinary insects can be divided into two groups: harmful insect called gaichū and beneficial insects called ekichū. As you might guess, gai means harm and eki means benefit. There are various [...]
23 Mar 10
To Guard
mamo-ru, mori, syu, su The verb mamoru is used in two ways. First, it means to guard, to protect, or to defend something from danger, harm, abuse, or attack. In this sense, we say, “… (ex. kōgeki = attack) kara mamoru.” The particle kara means from. Second, it means to keep something such as the [...]
22 Mar 10
Counterpart or Phase
ai, sō, shō I have mentioned before that there are two kinds of readings for kanji: kun’yomi and on’yomi. As a rule, kun’yomi tells us its meaning while we can’t catch the meaning by hearing only on’yomi. Every rule has some exceptions. The kun’yomi of today’s character is ai, which sounds like on’yomi to me. [...]
After Blossom Viewing
Snow Moon
