Prosperity

by Nao

sakae, saka-eru, ha-eru, ei

Prosperity is sakae. When you search for the word “sakae” with this character in Japanese, you can reach some websites about the place called Sakae in Nagoya. Nagoya is the third largest city in Japan. It’s in Aichi prefecture. Sakae is the name of a prosperous shopping area.

Nagoya is not the only town called Sakae. In other cities, there are places named Sakae but I think Nagoya Sakae is the most famous and prosperous.

If not conjugated, Japanese verbs end with the wu sound. Saka-eru is the verb meaning “to prosper.” The past tense of saka-eru is saka-eta. The past tense of verbs ends with ta.

An interesting pair of compounds are eikō and kōei. Both words use the same characters in the opposite order. They have a slightly different meaning. Eikō is more close to prosperity and means glory or triumph. Kōei also means glory or honor, but it doesn’t imply glory as the result of your achievement. While eikō sounds emblematic, kōei sounds humble. If you feel or show kōei, you are talking about gratitude for somebody who accords you honor.

The upper part is the same as gaku (study).

1. Draw the dot on the left from the left. Just put down the brush and raise it, heading toward the next stroke.
2. Draw the dot in the middle.
3. Draw the dot on the right. This is a sweeping stroke heading toward the next stroke.
4. Draw the dot on the left.
5. Draw the hook that consists of a long horizontal part and a short sweeping part.
6. Draw the horizontal line from the left to the right. The tip of the brush moves along the upper side of the line.
7. Draw the vertical line from the top to the bottom. The tip of the brush moves along the left side of the line.
8. Draw the sweeping stroke from the previous strokes intersect. Let it sweep toward the lower left and make it thinner gradually.
9. Draw the sweeping stroke heading toward the other corner. Make it broader at the end.