shirizo-ku, shirizo-keru, tai The verb shirizoku means ‘to go back.’ The verb shirizokeru means ‘to drive away.’ An image of something that is receding occurs to me when I see the character. Let me introduce some words. taishutsu … leaving a room taishoku … one’s resignation intai … retirement gekitai … a repulse taika … [...]

zoku Today’s character means worldly or common. This world or the ordinary world can be called zokuse, zokusei, or zokuseken. Sezoku can be used to describe something secular. You can put zokuna before something to means that it is coarse or common. Zokuna yomimono, for example, is a lowbrow book.

eki, yaku This character (疫) means epidemic. Ekibyō is an epidemic or a plague. Epidemiology is ekigaku. Men’eki means immunity.

    omomu-ku, fu Omomuku is a formal way of saying, ‘iku (to go).’ Taking up a new position or starting a new job is expressed by the word funin.

katsu Kukuru means ‘to bind up something’ but kukuru is not one of the common readings of the character. In other words, you don’t have to write it in kanji. We avoid using difficult kanji when we write by hand. However, when we use computers, we tend to change words into kanji, pretending we can [...]

tōge Most kanji came from China but this one was created in Japan. The left part of the character is mountain and the right part consists of characters indicating up and down. Tōge is a mountain pass or a mountain ridge. When you reach the tōge of a mountain, you shift the movement from going [...]

shun This character 俊 expresses an outstanding figure or an excellent person. It can also imply excellency. It is often used for people’s names and its reading sometimes becomes toshi. Words that include this character sound formal and are mainly used for written language.

tan Today’s character and kimo have the same meaning. Since having meanings related to spirit, today’s one is used for spiritual words such as tanryoku (spiritual power) or daitan (courageous).