Wavering

by Nao

mayo-u, mei, mai

Mayo-u is a verb. If you are in this state, you cannot decide about something.

The suffix u is okurigana, which makes a variation of the form of a verb.

The conjugation of this verb is as follows. (Let’s suppose the subject is I.)

• mayo-wanai, (I will not waver. I will not be lost.) mayo-wazu (Without wavering…)
• mayo-imasu (I waver.), mayo-imashita (I wavered), mayo-tta (I wavered.), mayo-tteiru (I am wavering.) …
• mayo-u (I waver.)
• mayo-eba (If I waver,…)
• mayo-ō (Nonsense, but literally it means let’s waver.)

There are some compounds including this character with the readings, mei and mai. Meiro is a maze. The ro of meiro means a way. Maigo is a lost child. Go is the voiced sound of ko, which means a child.

First, draw the upper-right part of this character. The left-hand side and lower side of the character form a radical called shinnyō (or shinnyū). To draw this radical nicely is not easy.

1. While imagining that you have already drawn the cross. Draw the dot near the center. It will be placed in the upper-left space made by the cross.
2. Draw the sweeping dot in the upper-right space. These two dots are connected in the air.
3. Begin to draw the cross. Draw the horizontal line.
4. Draw the vertical line.
5. Draw the sweeping stroke from the intersection. Make it thinner at the end.
6. Draw the elongated dot from the center to the lower right.
7. Start drawing the most difficult part, shinnyō. Draw the dot in the upper-left corner of the character.
8. Draw the crooked stroke, the vertical part. Change the direction of the brush three times.
9. Draw the lying curve at the bottom. Stop a little before finishing the stroke, and spread the brush to make a neat hem-like ending.