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We just opened a new blog today.

We are going to collect Japanese poetic words and present them in Japanese calligraphy.

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Belief

by Nao

Shin-jiru, shin

The reading of this character is shin, whether it has a suffix or not. With a suffix, it becomes the verb, shin-jiru, which means to believe.

Compounds including this character are relevant to believing. For example, jishin is self-confidence. Shinnen is faith. Shinrai is reliance. Shinrai sei is reliability. Let me add meishin, which means superstition, to this group. It literally means lost in belief.

Nagano prefecture is called Shinshū and its old name is Shinano. The first character of both Shinshū and Shinano is today’s character.

Draw the left-hand side of the character first. This part is called ninben.

1. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top.
2. Draw the vertical stroke.
3. Draw the dot on the top of the right-hand side.
4. Draw the longest horizontal stroke.
5. Draw the horizontal stroke below it.
6. Draw the horizontal stroke between the previous stroke and the rectangle.
7. Begin to draw the rectangle. Draw the vertical stroke, the left side of the rectangle.
8. Draw the hook. The vertical part is bolder than the horizontal part.
9. Draw the horizontal stroke at the bottom.