Cloud

by Nao

kumo, un

Clouds or a cloud is kumo.

Kumo sometimes becomes voiced sound gumo, other words added to the beginning. Akanegumo is madder red cloud seen at dawn or in the twilight. Hikōkigumo is a contrail. Hikōki is an airplane. Clouds that are likely to snow are yukigumo. Yuki is snow. Clouds that thunder are Kaminarigumo.  Rain clouds or nimbuses are amagumo. Clouds looking like fish scales are called urokogumo.

Yamikumo is used to modify words describing what you do. Added na or ni to the end, it is categorized as an adjective noun or a na-adjective grammatically. Yamikumoni means at random. To choose at random is “yamikumoni erabu,” in which erabu means to choose. However, it sounds coarse because yami means darkness.

1. Draw the horizontal stroke on the top.
2. Draw the dot on the left.
3. Draw the hook from where you start the previous stroke. After changing the direction of the brush, finish the stroke with a sweeping stroke.
4. Draw the vertical stroke in the middle.
5. Draw the dot above to the left.
6. Draw the dot below to the left.
7. Draw the dot above to the right.
8. Draw the dot below to the right.
9. Draw the horizontal stroke at the center.
10. Draw the longer horizontal stroke.
11. Draw the L-shape with a sharp angle at the bottom. You can separate this stroke into two.
12. Draw the dot in the lower right corner of the character.

Rain

by Nao

ame, ama, u (wu)

Ame is rain.

Baiu or tsuyu is the rainy season that usually comes in June. Both baiu and tsuyu have the same two characters. Bai means plum and u is this character. Rain shower is niwaka ame. Niwaka means sudden. A thunderstorm is raiu. Rai means thunder. A heavy rain is ōame. Rainy weather is uten.

Draw each dot from the upper left to the lower right like a raindrop.

1. Draw the horizontal stroke on the top.
2. Draw the vertical stroke on the left.
3. Draw the hook from where you start the previous stroke. End the stroke with an upward turn.
4. Draw the vertical stroke in the middle.
5. Draw the dot above to the left.
6. Draw the dot below to the left.
7. Draw the dot above to the right.
8. Draw the dot below to the right.

Light

by Nao

hikari, hika-ru, kō

Hikari is light. The verb hika-ru means to shine.

Gekkō means moonlight. Nikkō means sunlight. Nikkō is the name of a world heritage site, too.

This character also means scenery. Kanko is sightseeing. Kan means to see.  Japan Tourism Agency is Kankōchō, which has English, Chinese, and Korean websites.

1. Draw the vertical stroke from the top.
2. Draw the dot on the left.
3. Draw the sweeping stroke from the upper right corner of the character.
4. Draw the horizontal line from the left to the right.
5. Draw the sweeping stroke from near the center. It ends in the lower left corner of the character.
6. Draw the curve from near the center. End the stroke with an upward turn.

Rubia

by Nao

akane

Akane is a plant called rubia (madder) or the color madder red.

Draw the upper part first.

1. Draw the dot top left.
2. Draw the horizontal line crossing the first dot.
3. Draw the sweeping dot top right.
4. Begin to draw the lower part. Draw the horizontal line from left to right.
5. Draw the left side of the rectangle.
6. Draw the right-angled hook from the upper left corner of the rectangle to lower right. Stop before changing the direction of the brush and make a nice shoulder. The vertical part is bolder than the horizontal part.
7. Go back to the fourth stroke. Draw the sweeping stroke toward left. It touches the fifth stroke.
8. Draw the curve like the letter L. Don’t press the brush at the corner.
9. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.

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Tree

by Nao

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.

Thursday is mokuyōbi. Mokusei is Jupiter. Mokusei whose sei is another character means something made of wood. Mokkin is xylophone.

A big tree is taiboku.

1. Draw the horizontal line from the left to the right. The tip of the brush moves along the upper side of the line.
2. Draw the vertical line from the top to the bottom. The tip of the brush moves along the left side of the line.
3. Draw the sweeping stroke from the previous strokes intersect. Let it sweep toward the lower left and make it thinner gradually.
4. Draw the sweeping stroke heading toward the other corner. Make it broader at the end.

Mountain

by Nao

yama, san

Yama is a mountain. Most Japanese mountains have the suffix -san, such as Fujisan (Mt. Fuji) between Shizuoka and Yamanashi, Asosan (Mt. Aso) in Kumamoto, Zaōsan (Mt. Zaō) in Tōhoku, Rokkōsan (Mt. Rokkō) in Kōbe to name a few. The suffix –yama is similarly used for some mountains. Some examples are Kurohimeyama (Mt. Kurohime) in Nagano and Wakakusayama (Mt. Wakakusa) in Nara.

Yama also means a peak. The climax, the most important stage, or the critical juncture is called yamaba. Ba is a field.

Your speculation or guess is yama. If your speculation has succeeded, you can say yama ga atatta. Atatta is the past tense of the verb, ataru, or to hit. Failed speculation is described as yama ga hazureta. Hazureta is the past tense of the verb, hazureru, or to miss.

Start from the vertical line in the middle. The vertical strokes on both sides are about the same length.

1. Draw the vertical line from the top center.
2. Draw the L-shaped stroke from the left.
3. Draw the short vertical stroke on the right.

To Write

by Nao

ka-ku, sho

Sho or shodō is calligraphy. Sho also means calligraphy work. Shodō implies art and techniques. One of the tags we put in this blog is kaisho. The sho of kaisho is this character, meaning calligraphy. Kaisho is the square style of writing.

The simplest meaning of this character is to write, a verb, when it is read ka-ku. Ku is written in hiragana. It is okurigana. A document is bunsho. Bun means text. A book is tosho or shoseki. To means illustrations. Seki means something recorded. Toshokan is a library. Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan is National Diet Library. A bookstore is shoten. Ten means a store.

Some compounds using this character mean something written. A white paper is hakusho. A letter is Shokan. Kan means letters.

1. Draw the hook on the top from the upper left corner.
2. Draw the longest horizontal line crossing the vertical part of the first stroke.
3. Draw the horizontal stroke from the left. Its end touches the end the first stroke.
4. Draw the horizontal stroke below it.
5. Draw the horizontal stroke that is a little longer than the previous one.
6. Draw the vertical line from the top to the center of the previous stroke.
7. Begin to draw the lower part. Draw the vertical line on the left.
8. Draw the right-angled hook. Make a nice shoulder while changing the direction of the brush.
9. Draw the horizontal stroke inside.
10. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.

Inside

Please click -> here to find information on this character and visit http://www.japanesecalligrapher.com
for more characters.

Water

by Nao

mizu, sui

Water is mizu. Some Japanese sayings accompany the word, mizu. To leap ahead is mizu wo akeru. Akeru is the verb to open up. Mizu ni nagasu means to forgive and forget. Nagasu is to drain. Mizu no awa is failure. It literally means bubbles in water.

Suidō means waterworks. Sewer is gesuidō.

Tap water is suidōsui.

Suigin is quicksilver.

The color light blue is mizuiro.

1. Draw the vertical stroke with an upward turn.
2. Draw the hook on the left.
3. Draw the sweeping stroke from the upper right corner. Make it head toward the next stroke.
4. Draw the sweeping stroke from the middle of the vertical stroke to the lower right corner. Make it broader at the end by spreading the brush gradually.

Han or Chinese

by Nao

kan

In my understanding, kan is something related to China. Kanji means Chinese characters, which were invented in ancient China and were introduced to Japan in the early centuries of the Christian era. All the Japanese characters I put the tag ,kanji, here are kanji.

This is also the name of the dynasty, Han, first established in 206 BC. The Chinese had already had characters. The Qin dynasty had a unified system of characters.

Chinese poetry is kanshi, of which the shi is poetry. Kanbun is text written in Chinese. Bun means text.  Japanese students study famous kanshi poems and learn how to translate kanbun into Japanese very briefly.

Addition: “Kan” also means a man. (June 26, 2010)

1. Draw the dot in the upper-left corner.
2. Draw the dot below it.
3. Draw the upward stroke in the lower-left corner. This stroke is heading toward the next stroke.
4. Draw the dot on the top near the center.
5. Draw the horizontal stroke crossing the dot.
6. Draw the sweeping dot crossing the horizontal stroke.
7. Start drawing the rectangle. Draw the left side of the rectangle.
8. Draw the right-angled hook, that is, the upper and the right sides of the rectangle.
9. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.
10. Draw the horizontal stroke below the rectangle.
11. Draw the longest horizontal stroke.
12. Draw the sweeping stroke from the upper side of the rectangle to the center bottom.
13. Draw the sweeping stroke from where the last two strokes intersect. Spread the brush gradually toward the end.