Browsing the archives for the Gifu tag

Willow

yanagi, ryū A tree called yanagi is a willow. A pussy willow is nekoyanagi. Neko means a cat. The buds of nekoyanagi are furry like a cat. Some names include this character. Yanagase in Gifu and Yanagawa in Fukuoka are examples. The former is a shopping district; the latter is famous for a boating trip [...]

Edge

ha, ba, jin A knife’s edge, a razor’s edge, and a sword’s blade are ha. They are “naifu no ha,” “kamisori no ha,” “katana no ha,” respectively. On Monday, we mentioned that Seki city in Gifu is famous for knives and swords, or hamono with today’s character. As the characters show, hamono is something that [...]

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.

Nourishment

yashina-u, yō Nourishment is the meaning of this character. The verb yashina-u means to bring up, take care, or to nurture. The suffix u is okurigana. Bringing up children is yōiku. Iku is to bring up or to raise. Taking care of the elderly is yōrō. Rō means old age. Someday, I would like to [...]