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.

Love

by Nao

ai, ai-suru, ito-shii, ito-oshii, ito-oshimu

The heart is in the character, which means love and affection. Ai is a noun. Ai-suru is the verb “love.”

By the way, all the hyphenated readings above are composed of today’s character and hiragana. For example, suru consists of su and ru.

Ito-shii means beloved, darling, dear, or sweet. Ito-shii and ito-oshii are almost the same, but the adjective “adorable” can be added to the meaning of ito-oshii. A relevant word is ito-oshimu, which means to love, to think tenderly, to cherish, or to value.

Exceptional reading is mana. I remember only two words: manadeshi and manamusume. The former is one’s favorite pupil; the latter, one’s beloved daughter.

Some of your beloved or favorite things or persons begin with the character. Aiken is your pet dog. Aisha is your car that you love. Aijin is your lover in the sense defined in Collins COBUILD, which says that “someone’s lover is someone who they are having a sexual relationship with but are not married to.” In addition, the word implies that they are having an illicit love affair.

Aichi is a prefecture in the central Japan. Its capital is Nagoya. See Wikipedia to get some information about it.

Ehime is a prefecture in Shikoku. Ehime also begins with the character. Its capital is Matsuyama. See Wikipedia for its information.

1. Draw the sweeping stroke on the top. Draw it from the right.
2. Draw the dot from the left.
3. Draw the dot in the middle.
4. Draw the sweeping dot from the upper right.
5. Draw the dot on the left.
6. Draw the hook touching the pervious dot. After changing the direction of the brush, finish the stroke with a sweeping stroke.
7. Begin to draw the heart at the center. Draw the dot on the left.
8. Draw the curve with an upward turn at the end.
9. Strike the dot above the curve and make it head to the next dot.
10. Draw the dot beside the thorn-like ending of the curve.
11. Begin to draw the lower part of the character. Draw the sweeping stroke from the center to the lower left.
12. Draw the hook consisting of the short horizontal part and sweeping stroke that is parallel to the previous sweeping stroke.
13. Draw the sweeping stroke from where you start the last two strokes to the lower-right corner of the character.

Seven

Please click -> here to find information on this character and visit http://www.japanesecalligrapher.com
for more characters.