Surface

Surface

omote, omo, mo, tsura, men

We have two characters reading omote. Today’s character and this one:

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by Nao

Both mean surface, face and facet. Each of them has different meanings, too. Today’s one means aspect while the other means the outside of the house or a table, that is, a written set of facts and figures arranged in columns and rows.

There are some varieties of words including today’s character.

Masks you wear over your face to masquerade are kamen. Some unabashed people have tetsumenpi, or an iron mask. Menboku is pride. “Menboku yaku jo” is revelation of original liveliness.

The ground is jimen. The “ji” of jimen is the voiced sound of chi. The surface of a river is kawamo.

The opposite side of something is hanmen.

A serious person is criticized as majime.

Menseki is area, acreage. We use the word in math.

 

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1. Draw the horizontal stroke on the top.
2. Draw the sweeping dot. This dot goes toward the next stroke, looking like a quotation mark.
3. Draw the vertical line, which is the left side of the rectangle.
4. Draw the upper and right sides of the rectangle.
5. Draw the vertical stroke slightly left of center.
6. Draw the vertical stroke slightly right of center.
7. Draw the upper horizontal stroke between the vertical strokes previously written.
8. Draw the horizontal stroke below the previous stroke.
9. Draw the horizontal line at the bottom.

Single

 

Single

 

tan, hitoe

We don’t use this character by itself. If you say only “tan,” we can’t tell what you mean. This character always accompanies other characters and ii means “single.”

Tango means a word. Tanshin means a single person. Monotonous melody and speech are described as tanchō disapprovingly. “Tantō choku nyū” means frankness. So, “tantō choku nyū ni ieba” means “to be frank.”

For Advanced Learners:

As you might have already noticed, we have combinations of two characters whose meanings are the same. Probably these words came from China and our ancestors applied them to the native language to make them sound natural so that we don’t feel such expressions are redundant. For example, tan’itsu is the combinations of two characters, both of which mean singleness or one. The first character is today’s one. You can use tan’itsu like a prefix meaning uni-. Tan’itsuka is unification. “Tan’itsuka suru” means “to unify.”

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1. Draw the dot on the top.
2. Draw the dot next to the previous stroke.
3. Draw the sweeping dot from the upper right corner.
4. Draw the left side of the rectangle.
5. Draw the upper and right sides of the rectangle.
6. Draw the horizontal stroke in the rectangle.
7. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.
8. Draw the horizontal stroke under the rectangle.
9. Draw the vertical stroke crossing the three horizontal strokes previously drawn.

Bitter and Hard or Spicy

Bitter and Hard or Spicy

tsura-i, kara-i, shin

It is hard to tell the difference between tsurai (bitter and hard) and karai (spicy) when they are written with today’s character. In kanji, they are the same. You need to understand the context in which they are used so that you hardly misread them.

Shinsan literally tells salty and sour tastes. You’re taking salty and sour tastes when you are suffering from hardship. Karasa is taste which comes from salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and wasabi (horseradish). Tsurasa is a degree of hardship you are feeling when you’re experiencing something unpleasant.

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1. Draw the dot on the top.
2. Draw the horizontal stroke.
3. Draw the stroke between the horizontal strokes to the left.
4. Draw the sweeping stroke between the horizontal lines.
5. Draw the longest horizontal line.
6. Draw the horizontal stroke below it.
7. Draw the vertical stroke.

A State or a Province

A State or a Province

shū

Some large countries like the U.S, Australia, and Canada are divided into smaller areas called states or provinces. Sates and provinces are shū. For example, the State of Ohio is “ohaio shū” in Japanese. If you are from Vancouver, Canada, you are from “buriteisshu coronbia shū” (the Province of British Columbia). Both “ohaio” and “buriteisshu coronbia” are written in katakana.

Japan used to be divided into areas called shū, but it’s not the case today except Kyūshū (the southwest island that is composed of eight prefectures and was formerly composed of nine countries) and Honshū (the main island of Japan). They aren’t administrative divisions any more. Some areas still have names with shū, which are traces of bygone days.

1. Draw the dot to the left.
2. Draw the sweeping stroke.
3. Draw the dot next to the sweeping stroke.
4. Draw the vertical stroke in the middle.
5. Draw the dot next to the previous strokes.
6. Draw the vertical stroke to the right.

Seasonal

 

Seasonal

 

ki

Seasons are kisetsu. A sense of the season is “kisetsu kan.” Four seasons are shiki.

Kigo is a season word mentioned or described in haiku (a Japanese short verse.)

We once posted baiu or tsuyu meaning the rainy season. Uki also means the rainy season.

The words baiu and tsuyu are more suitable for verses than uki because baiu and tsuyu imply not only the rainy season but also the season plums ripen.

Spring, summer, autumn, and winter are sometimes used to modify other words. Generally and colloquially, you can add “no” after the names of seasons – haruno, natsuno, akino and fuyuno. Formal expressions for them include today’s character – shunki, kaki, syūki, and tōki.

Last year, I wrote

The Winter Olympics is called Tōki Gorin or Tōki Orinpikku. The ki of Tōki is a season. Gorin means five rings.

Likewise, the Summer Olympic Games is Kaki Orinpikku.

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1. Draw the sweeping stroke on the top.
2. Draw the horizontal stroke.
3. Draw the vertical stroke crossing the previous stroke.
4. Draw the sweeping stroke from where the previous strokes cross.
5. Draw the other sweeping stroke to the lower right.
6. Draw the hook.
7. Draw the curve with an upward turn.
8. Draw the horizontal stroke crossing the previous stroke.

An Elephant or an Image You Can See

An Elephant or an Image You Can See

zō, shō

I found a beautiful photo taken by exfordy / Brian Snelson. It depicts today’s character.

When you read this character zō, it is an elephant.

Shō implies a figure or a shape you can see. Climate and weather conditions are kishō.

“Shōkei mo ji” is a hieroglyph.

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1. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top.
2. Draw the hook consisting of a horizontal part and a sweeping stroke parallel to the first stroke.
3. Draw the vertical line to the left.
4. Draw the upper and right sides of the rectangle.
5. Draw the vertical stroke in the rectangle.
6. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.
7. Draw the sweeping stroke just below the rectangle.
8. Draw the curve with an upward turn.
9. Draw the sweeping stroke touching the previous stroke.
10. Draw the sweeping stroke under the previous stroke.
11. Draw the sweeping stroke on the other side. Draw this from the upper right.
12. Draw the other sweeping stroke on the same side.

He or That

 

He or That

 

kare, kano, ka-no, hi

My intuition first told me that this character means “he” because we read this “kare wa and “kare wa“ means “he.” On second thought, it’s not very precise. When it comes to the meaning of this character, “that” is closer and more comprehensive than “he.” There are two reasons why it is. First, kano does not mean “his” but “that.” It, however, sounds classical and it’s rarely used. When you want to mean “his,” say, “kare no.” Secondly, kanojo is the combination of kano (that) and a woman. Kare means not only a man (almost “he”) but also “your boyfriend.” “Kanojo wa” is “she” and “your girlfriend” are kanojo. If you solely think this character means “he,” you might not be able to guess what kanojo means.

Oh, by the way, boyfriends are sometimes called kareshi. It sounds like Mr. Boyfriend. If you want to find if your friend has a boyfriend, try asking “kareshi iruno?” It means “do you have a boyfriend?” Likewise, “kanojo iruno?” means “do you have a girlfriend?” Both sentences are casual. I don’t think such questions have ever been asked by polite sentences.

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1. Begin to draw the left-hand side of the character. Draw the sweeping stroke.
2. Draw the sweeping stroke below the previous stroke.
3. Draw the vertical stroke.
4. Draw the sweeping stroke in the middle.
5. Draw the hook consisting of a horizontal stroke and a short sweeping stroke.
6. Draw the vertical stroke from the top.
7. Draw the hook consisting of a horizontal stroke and a longer sweeping stroke.
8. Draw the sweeping stroke, which crosses the previous sweeping stroke.

To Leap (Gyosho)

To Leap (Gyosho)

odo-ru, yaku

You can find basic information about this character here.

There isn’t much information I can add here but I forgot to mention a well-known word. Katsuyaku is a great job which is regarded as a great contribution to a group of people. Putting dai before katsuyaku, you can emphasize the great contribution. So daikatsuyaku means substantially great efforts. When you acknowledge somebody’s great job in a team, you can say, “daikatsuyaku.” It’s colloquial.

To Leap

<<< This is the kai shostyle.

Compared to the kaisho style, the starting point and the end of each stroke don’t look sharp but strokes should not look weak.

Referring to the kaisho style, find which part should look clearer and which lines are just connectors.

The stroke orders of both styles are roughly the same.

Foundation

 

Foundation

 

moto, motoi, ki

Moto and motoi are the base of something but motoi sounds classical.

Kihon is the basics. Basic Japanese Characters can be translated as “kihon no nihon go no mo ji.” Kiso and kiban are a foundation or a basis.

Kijun is a standard.

Motozuku means “based on something.”

If you wish to see some of the above expressions in Japanese, visit here.

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1. Draw the horizontal stroke on the top.
2. Draw the vertical stroke.
3. Draw the other vertical stroke.
4. Draw the horizontal stroke under the first stroke.
5. Draw the horizontal stroke below it.
6. Draw the horizontal stroke longer than the other stroke.
7. Draw the sweeping stroke toward the lower left.
8. Draw the sweeping stroke toward the lower right.
9. Draw the horizontal stroke between the sweeping strokes.
10. Draw the vertical stroke crossing the previous stroke.
11. Draw the horizontal stroke at the bottom.

To Lose and to Defeat

 

To Lose and to Defeat

 

ma-keru, ma-kasu, o-u, fu (bu)

The verb “makeru” means to lose in a game and the verb “makasu” means to defeat.

Defeat is “make.” Note that its pronunciation is not the same as make in English. The “ma” and “ke” of the Japanese “make” is like the “ma” and “ke” sounds of market. It therefore sounds like market.

This character is used in math. Don’t worry. It is at the junior high school level. Numbers greater than zero are sei no sū (or sei no kazu) while numbers less than zero are fu no sū (or fu no kazu).

Since fu means minus, we sometimes use fu with a negative connotation. The phrase “fu no” modifies nouns such as kanjō. “Fu no kanjō” is negative feeling.

We have a verb easy to remember. That is ou, which means “to owe.” Easy, isn’t it? If your success owes somebody, you can say, “watashi no seikō wa somebody ni ou (or otteiru).”

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1. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top.
2. Draw the hook consisting of a horizontal part and a sweeping stroke parallel to the first stroke.
3. Draw the vertical line to the left.
4. Draw the upper and right sides of the rectangle.
5. Draw the upper horizontal stroke in the rectangle.
6. Draw the lower horizontal stroke in the rectangle.
7. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.
8. Draw the sweeping stroke.
9. Draw the dot in the lower right corner of the character.