Rejoice or Celebrate

by Nao

yoroko-bu, kei

The verb yorokobu is expressed by some kanji characters. All of them commonly mean to feel glad but there are small differences among them. The most ordinary character is the one we posted some months ago. We often see today’s character in greetings and it implies that you are telling that you feel happy for somebody on their happy occasion such as wedding or on New Year’s Day. A happy event is kei ji, which includes this character.

Felicitations

by Nao

kotobuki, ju, su

Kotobuki means felicitations or longevity. It came from the verb kotohogu meaning to congratulate or to celebrate. The verb kotohogu is very formal and I’ve never heard it in everyday conversation.

A strip of paper called noshi is used for gift-giving. Is this particular in Japan? This character is written on noshi for happy occasions and the noshi is attached to a gift completely wrapped in paper. When you are invited to a wedding party, you are expected to give the newly married couple a gift of money put in an envelope on which is this character.

Your 60^th, 77^th, 80^th, 88^th, 90^th, and 99^th birthdays are celebrated. These birthdays have special names. Except for kanreki, the 60^th birthday, all have this character ju. It implies all birthdays are ju, in which you are felicitated.

Your 60^th birthday is kanreki. … Kan means to go around and reki means a calendar. In a lunar calendar, the combination of ten calendar signs and twelve zodiac signs makes 60 names for years.

Your 77^th birthday is ki ju. … The sōsho style of ki looks like 77 in kanji.

Your 80^th birthday is san ju. … San is an umbrella. Eighty in kanji looks like a character meaning an umbrella.

Your 88^th birthday is bei ju. … The character bei looks like 88 or “hachi jū hachi” in kanji.

Your 90^th birthday is sotsu ju. … A simplified form of the character sotsu looks like 90 in kanji.

Your 99th birthday is haku ju. … The character haku looks like hyaku (100) without the top horizontal line, that is, ichi (1). 100 minus 1 is 99.

Nothing (Sosho)

by Nao

na-i, na-kusu, mu, bu

This style is called so sho, which is more cursive than gyōsho. As for the basic information about this character, see the kaisho style of this character here.

Let me add some words to the list of compounds. Although the Japanese title of the novel, Les Misérables, is a a mujō, mujō implies cruelty. Mugei means to have accomplished nothing. Mugei tai shoku is a person who has accomplished nothing but eats a lot. Ta gei wa mugei is almost equivalent to the saying, “Jack of all trades, and master of none.”

When you change the direction of each stroke, change the face of the brush you put on the paper.

Nothing (kaisho) -> http://wp.me/pAlaB-XT

Nothing (gyōsho) ->http://wp.me/pAlaB-1nQ