chō This character means where bureaucrats work. Such buildings are called chōsha of which the sha is a house. A prefectural government is kenchō, of which the ken means prefecture. Elementary school kids memorize the names of cities where kenchō is. We call them kenchōshozaichi, which means the prefectural capital. Here is the list of [...]
Basic Japanese Characters
Japanese Calligraphy Art by Japanese Calligrapher Nao
Browsing the archives for the Nagoya tag
20 Dec 09
Prosperity
sakae, saka-eru, ha-eru, ei Prosperity is sakae. When you search for the word “sakae” with this character in Japanese, you can reach some websites about the place called Sakae in Nagoya. Nagoya is the third largest city in Japan. It’s in Aichi prefecture. Sakae is the name of a prosperous shopping area. Nagoya is not [...]
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Filed in Japanese calligraphy
4 Dec 09
Love
ai, ai-suru, ito-shii, ito-oshii, ito-oshimu The heart is in the character, which means love and affection. Ai is a noun. Ai-suru is the verb “love.” By the way, all the hyphenated readings above are composed of today’s character and hiragana. For example, suru consists of su and ru. Ito-shii means beloved, darling, dear, or sweet. [...]
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Filed in Japanese calligraphy
23 Jul 09
Seven
nana, nana-tsu, nano, shichi This means seven. When we count numbers, we wrongly pronounce it hichi. Some friends of mine pointed out hichi is a local dialect. So, I try not to say hichi. Nana-chan is a nickname of a doll standing in front of an annex of the department store, Meitetsu Hyakkaten in Nagoya. [...]
After Blossom Viewing
Snow Moon
