mata Although the character is simple, we prefer that it is written in hiragana. It is still worth remembering how to use the word mata. Mata is regarded as an adverb equivalent to also or similarly. You can use matawa as a conjugation, which joins words, phrases or clauses. Since it links two or more [...]
Basic Japanese Characters
Japanese Calligraphy Art by Japanese Calligrapher Nao
Browsing the archives for the 2 strokes tag
10 May 11
To Have Finished Doing Something
ryō Did you guess that this character has something to do with ko (a child or an infant)? If so, you are extremely perceptive. Today’s character depicts an infant. You cannot see the hands because the baby is wrapped up. Wrapping something up means to complete or to finish something. Like English auxiliary verbs, this [...]
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 [...]
4 Jan 10
Sword
katana, tō Hearing the word katana 刀, we think about a Japanese sword, nihontō. A Japanese sword has only one edge. A double-edged sword is ken. This character looks like chikara (power), but the second stroke does not stick out.
2 Nov 09
Human
hito, bito, pito, nin, jin A human being is hito or ningen. The gen of ningen means a gap. I’m not sure about the etymological reason, but probably it comes from society and the world in the sense of space between human beings. The human species is jinrui, of which the rui is a class. [...]
27 Oct 09
Power
chikara, riki, ryoku This character means power. The end of some compounds is this character. They often mean the strength of power or kinds of power. Chiryoku means intellectual power. Jitsuryoku is competency. Dōryoku is energy, such as electricity, waterpower, wind-generated, nuclear power and so on. Both inryoku and jūryoku mean gravity. The former is [...]
12 Sep 09
Eight
hachi, yat-tsu, ya At last, we have put all the numbers from one to ten. As I mentioned yesterday, there are two ways of counting. The simple and practical: ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, nana, hachi, ku (kyū), jū. More colloquial: hito-tsu, futa-tsu, mit-tsu, yot-tsu, itsu-tsu, mut-tsu, nana-tsu, yat-tsu, kokono-tsu, tō. Draw the [...]
11 Sep 09
Nine
ku, kyū, kokono-tsu, kokono This is the number 9. If counting goes like ichi (one), ni (two), san (three), … , nine is ku or kyū. If counting goes like hito-tsu (one), futa-tsu (two), mit-tsu (three), … , nine is kokono-tsu. The third largest island of Japan is called Kyūshū, which means nine provinces. Symphony [...]
10 Sep 09
Ten
jū, tō, to, ji(t) This is the number 10. It sometimes means full, that is, one hundred percent, or plenty. Its reading is jū, when we simply regard it as a number. If we count from one to ten by saying hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu, …., the last number is tō. Counting the numbers of books, [...]
25 Jul 09
Two
ni, futa, futa-tsu, ji If you have already seen ichi (one) and san (three), you might be able to guess what it means. It means two or second. Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary includes the headword, nisei. This ni is second and sei is generation. So, nisei is a second generation whose parents are Japanese immigrants called [...]
After Blossom Viewing
Snow Moon
