Year

by Nao

toshi, doshi, nen

This character means year. Year 2009 is 2009 (nisenkyū) nen. Year 2010 is 2010 (nisenjū) nen. If you are in the first grade at school, you are ichinensei, because it’s the first year. There are ichinensei students at any kinds of schools. Even a freshman is ichinensei.

Sakunen or kyonen means last year. Kotoshi means this year. Rainen means next year. The end of the year is nenmatsu and the beginning of the year is nenshi. Year by year is nennen.

Mannen does not always mean 10,000 years but means all the time or a long time. Turtles and cranes are the symbols of longevity. They say, “tsuru wa sennen, kame wa mannen,” which means that a crane lives a thousand years and a turtle lives ten thousand years. To say “10,000 years” exactly, you need to put ichi before it.

Talking about longevity, here is an important word: nenkin. It’s pension.

All the horizontal lines are parallel.

1. Draw the sweeping stroke.
2. Draw the horizontal stroke touching the first stroke.
3. Draw the horizontal stroke in the middle.
4. Draw the short sweeping stroke between the previous stroke and the longest horizontal line.
5. Draw the longest horizontal line.
6. Draw the vertical stroke from the top to the bottom. Make it narrower in the end.