Nail

Nail

tsume, sō

Nails, claws, and talons are called tsume. One of the most well-known sayings including this word is “nō aru taka wa tsume wo kakusu.” It means that a wise falcon hides its talons. It is interpreted that even if you have some abilities, you should not boast.

Tsumekiri means a nail clipper. Tsumeato literally means a scratch of nails. It also means scars left from a disaster. It’s often used for disaster-stricken area.

You can see other kanji >>> here.

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1. Draw the sweeping stroke on the top.
2. Draw the sweeping stroke to the left.
3. Draw the vertical stroke in the middle.
4. Draw the sweeping stroke to the right. Make the end broader.

One’s Age or One Year

by Nao

toshi, sai

This character implies a one-year period. As the length of time we have lived, we often substitute another character that means age for today’s character. Strictly speaking, this substitution is not correct. When we fill in our age, we would not see the other character substituted for today’s character.

As a unit of time, most people tend to use another character that means a year.

Today, I will introduce three words including this character: saijiki, saimatsu and saigetsu. All of them relate to a year.

A Book of Seasonal Words – saiji ki

This book is for haiku. Haiku is a style of Japanese poetry. A haiku is a short verse composed of three phrases: 5 syllabics, 7 and 5. Since each haiku includes a season word, poets who compose haiku refer to this book.

The End of the Year – saimatsu

This word comes before some words meaning events held at the end of the year. December sales are often called saimatsu sēru (sale) or saimatsu ōuridashi (sale). A year-end charity is saimatsu tasukeai (helping each other).

Time – saigetsu

It literally means a year and a month. A proverb says, “saigetsu hito wo matazu,” meaning time waits for no one. You can see this proverb in Japanese -> here.

1. Draw the vertical stroke from the top.
2. Draw the horizontal stroke looking like a branch of the previous stroke.
3. Draw the vertical stroke to the left.
4. Draw the longest horizontal line touching the vertical strokes.
5. Draw the sweeping stroke to the left.
6. Draw the horizontal line touching the previous stroke.
7. Draw the short horizontal stroke under the previous stroke.
8. Draw the vertical stroke with an upward turn.
9. Draw the small sweeping stroke to the left.
10. Draw the dot next the vertical stroke.
11. Draw the curve with the upward turn.
12. Draw the sweeping stroke crossing the previous stroke.
13. Draw the dot near the two long horizontal lines.

Alike

by Nao

goto-shi, nyo, jo

When you want to mean something is like another, you can use goto-shi.

This sounds classical but you may hear this expression. A proverb says, “kōin ya no gotoshi.” It means time passes like an arrow. In other words, time flies. Ya is an arrow. Kōin is time. “Kō” means the sun while “in” means the moon.

Nyojitu implies that something appears as it is. “Nyojitsu ni” is clearly. This is not colloquial but you can write “nyojitsu ni arawareru” when you mean something clearly shows its characteristics.

Another reading is jo. Josainai means clever or sharp. Although it comes from josai meaning careless mistake or fault, we usually add the suffix -nai. Nai is the suffix that denies the previous word, so josainai means no mistake or fault.

Totsujo means suddenly. Totsu implies abruptness. Ketsujo means privation. Ketsu implies lack. In these usages, jo seems remaining a grammatical function, which I can’t guess. Jo itself does not mean anything here.

First, draw the left-hand side of the character.

1. Draw the rotated chevron shape from the top.
2. Draw the sweeping stroke heading toward the lower left.
3. Draw the semi-horizontal stroke from the left to the right. Sweep the stroke at the end.
4. Begin to draw the right-hand side of the character. Draw the left side of the rectangle.
5. Draw the upper and right sides of the rectangle.
6. Draw the lower side of the rectangle.