To Respond or to React

To Respond or to React

ō-jiru, kota-eru, ō (nō)

Both ōjiru and kotaeru means to respond. When can we use these words? When somebody responds in the sense of “ōjiru” or “kotaeru,” they accommodate your request.

The character itself often implies “to react to something.” Application is ōyō. It suggests the word includes the process of reacting and using. Reaction is hannō. The nō of hannō is also today’s character. In chemistry, chemical reaction is “ka gaku hannō.” Applied science is “ōyō ka gaku.”

Taiō is correspondence but the ōtai, which has the same characters in a different order, means reception. Since ōtai refers to how a company deals with customers, it is sometimes criticized.

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1. Draw the dot on the top.
2. Draw the horizontal stroke.
3. Draw the sweeping stroke to the left.
4. Draw the dot next to the previous stroke.
5. Draw the curve with an upward turn.
6. Strike the dot above the curve and make it head to the next dot.
7. Draw the dot under the right end of the horizontal stroke.

A Medical Doctor

A Medical Doctor

i

A medical doctor is called isha or ishi.

Three months ago, I wrote How to Find Clinics in Japan. It is a mixed list of medical branches and doctors. You can use the list for practical purposes but, strictly speaking, we don’t mind which we refer to: clinics or doctors. Here is the list of doctors in the strict sense of words.

• skin doctors: hifukai
• eye doctor: gankai
• otolaryngologists: jibikai = a doctor who specializes in ear and nose
• obstetrician-gynecologists: sanfujinkai
• physicians or general practitioners: naikai
• dentists or dental clinics: shikai

All the above words end with today’s character. You can see characters that are not linked to our archives at How to Find Clinics in Japan.

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1. Draw the horizontal stroke on the top.
2. Draw the sweeping stroke under the previous stroke.
3. Draw the horizontal stroke touching the previous stroke.
4. Draw the longer horizontal stroke below the previous stroke.
5. Draw the sweeping stroke crossing the previous stroke.
6. Draw the elongated dot from where the previous two strokes cross.
7. Draw the L-shaped stroke.

Every

Every

goto, mai

With this character, we can talk mainly about time and frequencies.

• Everyday (mainichi), you can see one Japanese character (kanji) here.
• Every week (maishū), Nao draws 7 characters for this blog before Alice draws arrows to combine, writes about the characters and compiles them. Each post is scheduled to be published every morning (maiasa).
• Every month (maitsuki), we post about 30 characters.
• Every year (maitoshi), more than 300 characters are supposed to be posted here.

You can also use this character to express rates.

• Maiji is per hour.
• Maifun is per minute.
• Maibyō is per second.

The only difference between English and Japanese is that “mai” always comes first. For example, maiji 50 km equals 50 km per hour.

Some of the above words in Japanese are here.

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1. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top.
2. Draw the horizontal stroke touching the previous stroke.
3. Draw the rotated chevron shape.
4. Draw the hook, making a box. Turn upward at the end.
5. Draw the sweeping stroke in the box.
6. Draw the long horizontal line.

To Reach the Limit

To Reach the Limit

kiwa-meru, kyū

The verb kiwameru means “to reach the limit.” The object of this verb can be anything you can pursue through knowing, learning, or practicing. One of the philosophical examples is “shin ri” – verity. “Shiri wo kiwameru” means “to go deeply into verities.”

The verb “kyūmei suru” has a similar meaning. When you do this, you pursue something such as truth and make it clear.

Research studies are kenkyū. This word is one of the most important words for academic researchers.

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1. Draw the dot on the top.
2. Draw the dot to the left.
3. Draw the hook.
4. Draw the small sweeping stroke under the hook.
5. Draw the small curve under the hook.
6. Draw the sweeping stroke from near the center to the lower left.
7. Draw the crooked stroke from under the end of fourth stroke to lower right. This stroke consists of three parts: (1) a horizontal stroke, (2) a curve and (3) an upward turn.

Bottom

Bottom

soko, tei

“Soko” is the bottom of something. The bottom of a valley is tanizoko. Zoko is a voiced sound of soko. When something runs out, we express the situation as “soko wo tsuita.” “Tsuita” means “to be hit.”

The other reading of this character is “tei.” “Kaitei” is the bottom of the sea. “Kaitei ka zan” is a submarine volcano. “Kaitei tonneru” is an undersea tunnel. Tonneru is written in katakana.

“Shinsoko” and “kokoro no soko” are the bottom of one’s heart. “Shinsoko,” “shinsokokara,” and “kokoro no soko kara” are adverbials and all mean “from the bottom of one’s heart.”

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1. Draw the dot on the top.
2. Draw the horizontal stroke.
3. Draw the sweeping stroke to the left.
4. Draw the sweeping stroke under the horizontal stroke.
5. Draw the vertical stroke with an upward turn.
6. Draw the quasi-horizontal stroke.
7. Draw the curve with an upward turn.
8. Draw the horizontal stroke at the bottom.

A Pair or a Counterpart

A Pair or a Counterpart

tai-suru, tai, tsui

Tsui is twin. It means a pair or a couple. Like a pair, which is expressed as one pair, the word “ittsui” (ichi + tsui) also means a pair. But we don’t use this for married couples. They are fūfu.

The verb taisuru means “to face.” The verb hantaisuru means “to oppose.”

Do you want to remember big words today? Let me introduce a pair of words: zettai and sōtai. The former is absoluteness; the latter, relativity. The “tai” of both words is today’s character.

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Draw the left-hand side of the character, first.

1. Draw the dot.
2. Draw the horizontal stroke.
3. Draw the sweeping stroke from the upper right to the lower left.
4. Draw the stroke crossing the previous stroke.
5. Begin to draw the right-hand side of the character. Draw the horizontal stroke.
6. Draw the vertical stroke with an upward turn. It crosses previous stroke.
7. Draw the dot.

Whence

Whence

mot-te, i

When you read this character “motte,” it functions as prepositions such as “by” and “with.” However, this usage is classical. “Motte” is used when the Japanese read Chinese classics although we never learn how this is pronounced in Chinese. To make sense of this character, Japanese students read this character “motte” and regard it as a preposition that means “from which,” by which” and so on. We still use this word but rarely see this written in kanji these days.

Aside from this usage in Chinese classics, the following words are basic for those who learn Japanese.

ijō and ika

These words specify the range of numbers. For example, if a number is 10 and over, it’s expressed as “10 (jū) ijō.” On the contrary, if a number is 3 or less, it’s “3 (san) ika.”

Ijō sometimes means “that’s all I want to say.”

“Ijō no” means “above mentioned.” “Ika no” means “the following.” Both phrases are written and formal. You can use this for business writing or presentation.

izen and igo

These words mean before and after. They can also specify when. If it’s in 2005 and earlier, it is “2005 (ni sen go) nen izen.” The phrase “in 2005 and later” is “2005 (ni sen go) nen igo.”

igai

This word excludes the rest of a particular group of things. For example, if I meant, “I eat anything excepting insects,” I would say “mushi igai wa nandemo tabemasu.”

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Now, the stroke order follows (ika)

1. Draw the vertical stroke.
2. Draw the sweeping stroke from the lower left to the upper right.
3. Draw the dot between the two sweeping strokes.
4. Draw the sweeping stroke.
5. Draw the elongated dot.

Ijō (That’s all for today.)

A Store

A Store

mise, ten

If you are in Japan, you might see this character frequently. I looked for a good example. Here it is. Nice photo, isn’t it? As this sign shows, today’s character always comes at the end of the name of a store.

“hōsō yō hin” no mise gōshigaisha kobayashi kamibukuroten posted by (c)seri via http://photozou.jp
(About this photo: “Hōsō yō hin” means wrapping materials. Gōshigaisha is a partnership and gaisha is a voiced sound of kaisha meaning a company. Kamibukuro means “paper bags.” And Kobayashi is a surname.)

Stores and shops are called mise or shōten. Night stalls or a night fair is yomise. A storefront is misesaki.  Tenchō is a store manager.

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1. Draw the dot on the top.
2. Draw the horizontal stroke.
3. Draw the sweeping stroke to the left.
4. Draw the vertical stroke.
5. Draw the short horizontal stroke.
6. Draw the left side of the rectangle.
7. Draw the upper and right sides of the rectangle.
8. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.

A Boundary

A Boundary

kai

This character is hardly used by itself. Some characters like this only have on’yomi readings and we cannot tell the meaning from the readings. Today’s character means boundary that forms a world. Let’s see what kinds of worlds there are within some boundaries in the world.

• The world … sekai
• The business world … gyōkai (“Gyō” means business.)
• The lower world or this world … gekai (assuming that there is the upper world or the heaven.)
• The world of demons … makai (“Ma” means demons or evil spirits.)
• The world of sumo wrestling … kakukai
• Society as the rich, fashionable people in a particular place who meet on social occasions, e.g. London society … shakōkai

In some compounds, this “kai” means limitations or ranges.

• Perspective … shikai (“Shi” means to look.)

To see words that have no links to our archives, visit here.

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1. Draw the left side of the rectangle.
2. Draw the upper and right sides of the rectangle.
3. Draw the vertical stroke in the rectangle.
4. Draw the horizontal stroke in the rectangle.
5. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.
6. Draw the sweeping stroke from the center to the lower left.
7. Draw the sweeping stroke from the center to the lower right.
8. Draw the sweeping stroke which is almost vertical.
9. Draw the vertical stroke.

Iron

Iron

tetsu

Iron, a kind of metal, is tetsu. An iron man is tetsujin. An iron man race is tetsujinrēsu. Rēsu is an English loan word written in katakana.

An underground railway is “chi katetsu.” Railways are tetsudō.

Tekka (iron and fire) is a kind of rolled sushi. It means the red flesh of tuna.

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1. Begin to draw the left-hand side of the character. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top to the lower left. 
2. Draw the dot from where you started the first stroke.
3. Draw the horizontal stroke close to the previous strokes.
4. Draw the horizontal stroke below the previous stroke.
5. Draw the vertical stroke.
6. Draw the small dot with an upward turn.
7. Draw the sweeping dot.
8. Draw the sweeping stroke from the lower left corner toward the next stroke.
9. Begin to draw the right-hand side of the character. Draw the short sweeping stroke.
10. Draw the horizontal stroke touching the previous stroke.
11. Draw the horizontal stroke that is longer than the previous one.
12. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top to the center bottom. Make the line thinner gradually.
13. Draw the sweeping stroke from where the previous strokes intersect. Change the direction slightly before you finish and make the end broader.