Event or Thing

by Nao

koto, goto, ji

I should mention that all the meanings I am presenting here are not precisely from the dictionary. Please notice that the usages may be biased. I am focusing on how this character has been used, particularly in my life.

My first translation of this character was a thing, because I thought koto was a thing. On second thought, however, this thing is more related to events.

When an event happens, we say koto ga okoru. The okoru means to happen. The ga is joshi (a particle). As one of the technical terms in statistics, an event means jishō. The ji is this character. The shō means a state or a situation. The character ji is part of some compounds that imply to be a big event, such as dekigoto, jiken, yūji, and gyōji. Dekigoto is a general event. Jiken often means a crime. Yūji is an emergency. Gyōji is events that people attend. The de of dekigoto means to exit. The ki of dekigoto means to come. The ken of jiken is a case. The yū of yūji is to exist. The gyō of gyōji is to go.

(Follow-up posts -> dekigoto and gyōji – september 2, 2010)

The character ji that means a thing is also part of some compounds. Somebody who has much worldly knowledge can be described as seji ni takeru. Takeru means to show excellence. The ni is joshi (a particle). Conversely, those who don’t have worldly knowledge are seji ni utoi. Utoi means to be alienated.

A meal is shokuji. Some directors of some organizations have the title, riji. A governor of a prefecture is chiji.

The vertical stroke is the last.

1. Draw the top horizontal line from the left to the right.
2. Start to draw a rectangle (mouth), drawing the short vertical line at the left.
3. The upper horizontal part and the right vertical part of the mouth form one stroke. Start from the upper left of the mouth. Make sure to stop at the corner and change the direction of the brush.
4. Close the mouth drawing the horizontal stroke at the bottom.
5. Draw the stroke below the mouth. It is a right-angled hook.
6. Draw the longest horizontal line.
7. Draw the horizontal line. It touches the end of the hook.
8. Draw the long vertical line from the top. Change the direction of the brush at the end and make a neat leftward stroke like a thorn.

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