sakura, ō Now is the season for cherry blossoms. Japanese people like to see sakura (cherry blossoms). Like weather forecasts, we can find how much degree cherry blossoms are in bloom in the newspaper. Even there is the sakura front like the bai u (seasonal rain) front, which comes in June. Both fronts move from [...]
Basic Japanese Characters
Japanese Calligraphy Art by Japanese Calligrapher Nao
Browsing the archives for the tree tag
11 Feb 10
Pine
matsu, shō Matsu is pine. It is an evergreen tree. Pine, bamboo, and Japanese apricot can withstand harsh coldness. Because of their strength, they are regarded as good luck trees, the so-called “shō chiku bai.” Japanese families display them on happy occasions such as New Year’s Day. Hideki Matsui and Daisuke Matsuzaka are major league [...]
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Filed in Japanese calligraphy
26 Jan 10
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 [...]
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Filed in Japanese calligraphy
3 Jan 10
Japanese Apricot or Plum called Ume
ume, bai The “u” of ume is pronounced like “wo” in woman. The “me” is pronounced like “me” in men. Ume is a flower tree or its round fruit which is yellowish green or light green and has a stone inside. It is also known as Japanese apricot or plum. Hakubai is white ume flowers [...]
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Filed in Japanese calligraphy
26 Nov 09
Tree
ki, moku, boku A tree is ki. Trees are kigi. When you write kigi, you can either write this character twice or change the second character, gi, into another that means ditto. This character also expresses wood. Thursday is mokuyōbi. Mokusei is Jupiter. Mokusei whose sei is another character means something made of wood. Mokkin [...]
After Blossom Viewing
Snow Moon
