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.

A Horse

"A Horse" by Nao

uma, ba, ma

A horse is uma in Japanese.

A horse-drawn carriage is basha.

A pair of stilts is takeuma. Chikuba is another reading for this word. Huckleberry friends are often translated as “chikuba no tomo.” However, it sounds classical. Stilt-walking is not children’s play any more.

Bariki is horsepower, a unit of force.

Bajitōfū

This may be an unseasonable word. Li Bai (701-762), a Chinese poet, wrote that a comfortable spring wind does not affect the ears of a house. From this poem, “ba ji tō fū” expresses a situation in which one does not listen to others’ opinion.

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1. Draw the vertical line to the left.
2. Draw the horizontal stroke on the top.
3. Draw the vertical line.
4. Draw the horizontal stroke crossing the previous stroke.
5. Draw the horizontal stroke below the previous stroke.
6. Draw the hook with a leftward turn.
7. Draw the dot in the lower left corner.
8. Draw the second dot from the left.
9. Draw the second dot from the right.
10. Draw the rightmost dot. These dots are embraced by the hook.

Wolf (Sosho)

by Nao

ōkami, rō

This is the character “wolf” in sōsho style.

The style, sō sho, is more cursive than gyōsho style. The kaisho style is -> here.

Wolf (Gyosho)

by Nao

ōkami, rō

This is the character “wolf” in gyōsho style.

You can find basic information about this character in the previous post. One of the compounds including this character is noroshi, meaning a smoke signal. The word consists of today’s character and a character meaning smoke. Why a wolf and smoke? Meikyō kokugojiten, a Japanese dictionary, tells us that wolf dung was used to make smoke signals because it was believed that the smoke rises straight up even if wind blows.

Gyō sho is a cursive style of writing.

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.

Wolf

by Nao

ōkami, rō

This week we are going to upload the character “wolf” in three styles: kaisho, gyōsho, and sōsho. Today’s entry is the basic one, kaisho.

A wolf and wolves are called “ōkami.” The reading of this character comes from “ō,” meaning big, and “kami,” meaning God. This suggests that ōkami used to be regarded as an animal with divine power. In some areas in Japan, ōkami was treated as a god. Perhaps, this is one of Japanese animistic traditions.

A lone wolf or a loner is described as “ippiki ōkami,” which means one wolf.

A silver wolf is “ginrō.” I don’t think this is a real one.

A grey wolf or a timber wolf is called “tairiku ōkami” or “shinrin ōkami” in Japanese. Tairiku means a continent and shinrin means a forest. These are not Japanese native words but zoological names as both are written in katakana.

1. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top.
2. Draw the curve with an upward turn.
3. Draw the sweeping stroke from the middle of the previous stroke.
4. Begin to draw the right-hand side of the character. Draw the dot on the top.
5. Draw the hook.
6. Draw the horizontal stroke inside the rectangle.
7. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.
8. Draw the vertical line with a sweeping stroke heading toward the next stroke.
9. Draw the dot sweeping toward the previous stroke.
10. Draw the sweeping stroke that goes between the last two strokes. Spread the brush gradually toward the end.

Cat

by Nao

neko, byō

“Neko” is a cat and “koneko” is a kitten.

Like the English word “cat,” the Japanese “neko” has got idiomatic words and phrases. Here are some examples.

“Neko no hitai” is a cat’s forehead. It’s a small piece of land. People sometimes express their land as “nekono hitaihodo.” It means their property is as small as a cat’s forehead.

“Karitekita neko” is a cat you are borrowing from somebody. It means meekness. It’s about a person’s attitude. People sometimes describe somebody as “karitekita neko,” meaning somebody who is usually confident or often arrogant behave as gentle or weak as a cat. Such behavior may look so because they pretend as if they were weak. It is described by the phrase, “neko wo kabutteiru,” which literally means “in a cat suit.”

“Neko no te mo karitai” tells that you are very busy. You might need something as useful as a cat if you are extremely busy. In such a situation, you wish a cat helped you.

You can see the above phrases in Japanese -> here.

Draw the left-hand side of the character first.

1. Draw the sweeping stroke.
2. Draw the arch with an upward turn. The first and second strokes cross.
3. Draw the sweeping stroke from the middle of the arch.
4. Begin to draw the right-hand side of the character. Draw the dot from the top.
5. Draw the horizontal stroke crossing the previous stroke.
6. Draw the sweeping stroke crossing the previous stroke.
7. Draw the left side of the rectangle.
8. Draw the upper and right sides of the rectangle.
9. Draw the vertical stroke in the rectangle.
10. Draw the horizontal stroke in the rectangle.
11. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.

Dog

by Nao

inu, ken

A dog is inu. A puppy is koinu. The ko of koinu means a child. A pet dog is kaiinu. Kai comes from the verb kau, which means “to have a pet.”

Hachiko is the famous statue you can see near Shibuya station in Tokyo. The dog is famous as chūken or a faithful dog. The story was released as an American movie titled Hachiko: A Dog’s Story this year.

Banken is a watchdog. Ban means to watch.

If you have visited Japan, you might have seen a pair of guardian lions made of stone in front of a shrine. We call them komainu although they are not dogs. The reason they call them inu is not known.

Some breeds or mixes of dogs have this character. We read it either inu or ken. The Akita Inu or the Akita Ken, the Tosa Inu or the Tosa Ken, and the Shiba Inu or the Shiba Ken are examples.

The dot in the upper right corner is the final stroke.

1. Draw the horizontal line.
2. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top to the lower left corner of the character. Make it narrower gradually.
3. Draw the sweeping stroke from where the previous strokes intersect to the lower right corner. Make it broader in the end.
4. Draw the dot above the right edge of the horizontal stroke.