omote, omo, mo, tsura, men We have two characters reading omote. Today’s character and this one: >>> Both mean surface, face and facet. Each of them has different meanings, too. Today’s one means aspect while the other means the outside of the house or a table, that is, a written set of facts and figures arranged [...]
Basic Japanese Characters
Japanese Calligraphy Art by Japanese Calligrapher Nao
Browsing the blog archives for October, 2010
30 Oct 10
Single
tan, hitoe We don’t use this character by itself. If you say only “tan,” we can’t tell what you mean. This character always accompanies other characters and ii means “single.” Tango means a word. For Advanced Learners: As you might have already noticed, we have combinations of two characters whose meanings are the same. [...]
29 Oct 10
Bitter and Hard or Spicy
tsura-i, kara-i, shin It is hard to tell the difference between tsurai (bitter and hard) and karai (spicy) when they are written with today’s character. In kanji, they are the same. You need to understand the context in which they are used so that you hardly misread them. Shinsan literally tells salty and sour tastes. [...]
28 Oct 10
A State or a Province
shū Some large countries like the U.S, Australia, and Canada are divided into smaller areas called states or provinces. Sates and provinces are shū. For example, the State of Ohio is “ohaio shū” in Japanese. If you are from Vancouver, Canada, you are from “buriteisshu coronbia shū” (the Province of British Columbia). Both “ohaio” and [...]
27 Oct 10
Seasonal
ki Seasons are kisetsu. A sense of the season is “kisetsu kan.” Four seasons are shiki. Kigo is a season word mentioned or described in haiku (a Japanese short verse.) We once posted baiu or tsuyu meaning the rainy season. Uki also means the rainy season. The words baiu and tsuyu are more suitable for [...]
26 Oct 10
An Elephant or an Image You Can See
zō, shō I found a beautiful photo taken by exfordy / Brian Snelson. It depicts today’s character. When you read this character zō, it is an elephant. Shō implies a figure or a shape you can see. Climate and weather conditions are kishō. “Shōkei mo ji” is a hieroglyph. Draw the sweeping stroke from the [...]
25 Oct 10
He or That
kare, kano, ka-no, hi My intuition first told me that this character means “he” because we read this “kare wa and “kare wa“ means “he.” On second thought, it’s not very precise. When it comes to the meaning of this character, “that” is closer and more comprehensive than “he.” There are two reasons [...]
24 Oct 10
To Leap (Gyosho)
odo-ru, yaku You can find basic information about this character here. There isn’t much information I can add here but I forgot to mention a well-known word. Katsuyaku is a great job which is regarded as a great contribution to a group of people. Putting dai before katsuyaku, you can emphasize the great contribution. So [...]
23 Oct 10
Foundation
moto, motoi, ki Moto and motoi are the base of something but motoi sounds classical. Kihon is the basics. Kiso and kiban are a foundation or a basis. Kijun is a standard. Motozuku means “based on something.” If you wish to see some of the above expressions in Japanese, visit here. Draw [...]
22 Oct 10
To Lose and to Defeat
ma-keru, ma-kasu, o-u, fu (bu) The verb “makeru” means to lose in a game and the verb “makasu” means to defeat. Defeat is “make.” Note that its pronunciation is not the same as ‘make’ in English. We have a verb easy to remember. That is ou, which means “to owe.” Easy, isn’t it? Draw [...]
After Blossom Viewing
Snow Moon
