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 Tokyo tag
30 Dec 09
Dog
inu, ken A dog is inu. A puppy is koinu. The ko of koinu means a child. A pet dog is kaiinu. Kai comes from the verb kau, which means “to have a pet.” Hachiko is the famous statue you can see near Shibuya station in Tokyo. The dog is famous as chūken or a [...]
0 Comments
Filed in Japanese calligraphy
18 Dec 09
Beauty
utsuku-shii, bi, mi, chu-ra (Okinawan) Bi is beauty. Utsuku-shii means beautiful. In an Okinawan dialect, chu-ra means beautiful, having the same character. Fine art is bijutsu, of which the jutsu means technique. An art museum is bijutsukan, of which the kan means a museum. The National Art Center, Tokyo is one of the biggest art [...]
0 Comments
Filed in Japanese calligraphy
16 Dec 09
Garden or Yard
niwa, tei Both a garden and a yard are translated as niwa. It’s an area between the gate and the door whether it is looked after or not. If you want to mean a garden in particular, we have a word teien, of which the en means a garden. However, ordinary people do not have [...]
3 Sep 09
Circle
maru, maru-meru, maru-i, gan The noun maru is a circle. The adjective maru-i is round. Let’s see where you can find this character. The west of Tokyo Station is called Marunouchi. There are landmarks called Marunouchi Building and New Marunouchi Building – Marubiru and Shinmarubiru are what they are called. You can enjoy shopping and [...]
29 Jul 09
Length
jō, take Let me start telling you about ichijō (one jō). It is a unit of length equal to about 3.03 meters, but the unit is obsolete. This character, jō, is part of the name of an island, Hachijojima, in Tokyo. It’s a tourist resort in the Pacific. Fine silk fabrics called hachijō is a [...]
After Blossom Viewing
Snow Moon
