Over or Upper

by Nao

ue, uwa, kami, a-geru, a-garu, nobo-ru, nobo-seru, nobo-su, jō

Up or over is ue. On is ueni or uede.

Some compounds ending with the character mean the surface of something, on something, or related to something. Sanjō is the top of a mountain. Over your head is zujō, of which the zu means a head. There are several words that we can read shijō. It is “in history” when the shi of shijō means history. If shi means paper, shijō is on paper or in print. It is usually in the newspapers.

A-geru means to raise. A-garu means to rise. The former is opposite to sa-geru; the latter is opposite to sa-garu. When used as a suffix, a-geru means to finish. For example, tsuku-ri a-geru means to make up; ka-ki a-geru means to finish writing.

Jōshi or uwayaku means your boss. Both jō and uwa are today’s character. The shi of jōshi means to rule and the yaku of uwayaku means a role.

Jōshō is a rise in the amount of something such as cost. High-quality goods are jōmono.

The upper waters of a river is jōryū. Ryū means a stream. Jōryu is opposite to karyū or the lower river. I mentioned only the lower classes when I wrote about karyū. Like karyū, jōryū is both about a stream and about society; therefore, jōryū also means the upper classes.

1. Draw the short horizontal stroke from the center to the right.
2. Draw the vertical stroke from the top.
3. Draw the horizontal stroke from the left to the right.

(Correction:  The order of the first two strokes was wrong. – August 22, 2010)

1. Draw the vertical stroke from the top.
2. Draw the short horizontal stroke from the center to the right.
3. Draw the horizontal stroke from the left to the right.