The kanji code, p.19
The Kanji Code, page 19
A sub-category of the visualiser cognitive style; SVs are more likely to use imagery to represent and transform spatial relations.
subvocalisation
The act of sounding out the phonetic sounds in a written text during reading, whether verbal y or mental y.
verbaliser
Category of cognitive style; verbalisers are better at working with verbal information.
visualiser
Category of cognitive style; visualisers are better at working with visual or spatial information.
working memory (WM)
Memory used to store temporary information and used in language comprehension.
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GLOSSARY
APPENDIX 1: CREATIVE COMPONENT STORIES
𠦝 10 AM (KAN) Composed of the ten radical 十 and the early character 早, it suggests the idea of ‘10 early in the day’ – that is, 10 AM. The fact that it appears in the morning character 朝 is a bonus association.
其 step ladder (KI) This component resembles a ladder, and the two strokes at the bottom could represent two feet stepping onto it.
竟 nosy neighbour (KYOU) The stand radical 立 combined with the see radical 見 suggests a person standing up and peeping over their fence to look at the house next door. This fits with the idea of a border 境 (Radical: earth). Standing and looking also fits with a mirror, 鏡
(R: metal).
禺 fasten together (GUU) This component resembles a clip that extends from the top grid into the lower box, a visual depiction of the idea of togetherness. Research suggests that the meaning of this component is ‘together’, which fits with even number 偶 (R: person) and coincidence 偶然, as well as encounter 遇 (R: movement).
乍 craft letter F (SAKU) This striking component could be seen as a wonky letter F. Imagine that a school child has been asked to make a craft version of the letter using cardboard and glue, but gets it wrong and puts two horizontal strokes instead of one. Craft fits with the meaning ‘to make’ 作 (R: person).
㐱 rash (SHIN) The three parallel strokes fanning down from the person radical (in its upward arrow incarnation) resemble a rash. This fits with the characters for measles 疹 (R: sickness) and diagnose 診
(R: speech).
㦮 thinly sliced (SEN) Said to have original y depicted two halberds slicing through a harvest, research suggests this component carries the meaning of thinning*. I've used a modern turn of phrase to express the same meaning. This fits with shallow 浅 (R: water) – a thin layer of water, and coin 銭 (R: metal) – a thin piece of metal.
喿 Christmas tree/pine cone (SOU) Composed of a tree radical 木 and three mouth radicals 口 on top, it is easy to imagine that the squares are presents hovering above a Christmas tree. The shape also resembles a pine cone, something that is used as a Christmas ornament.
甬 pack elephant (TSUU) Scholars have different views on the origin of this component. It may represent a cylindrical object, with something being passed through*. I prefer to imagine that the bottom component is an elephant – the small hook on the bottom right is the trunk curling inward, and the other vertical strokes are the legs. The katakana MA マ is a box of cargo that the elephant is carrying. This fits with ‘passing through’ 通 (R: movement) – imagine a procession of pack elephants passing through a vil age along the Silk Road. It also fits with pain 痛
(R: sickness) – the elephant’s hooves ache from the weight of the cargo.
CREATIVE COMPONENT STORIES
201
CREATIVE COMPONENT STORIES
壬 crying baby (NIN) This phonetic appears in the character for responsibility 任 (R: person) and pregnancy (R: woman) 妊, so I have dubbed it a ‘crying baby’. A person with a crying baby
= responsibility, and a woman with a baby = pregnancy. Visual y, it could be seen as a baby with its arms outstretched and tipping its head back to cry. Research suggests that this component original y represented a smithy table with a bulge in the middle, and the concepts of 'burden and responsibility'*.
畐 full box (FUKU) Imagine that the grid is a box so full of presents that one is bursting out the top and pushing the lid (the top horizontal line) off. This fits with width 幅 (R: turban/scarf) – you measure an object’s full width with a tape measure/scarf; good fortune 福
(R: altar/worship) – if you pray, you will be blessed with a box of treasure (‘your coffers will overflow’); and deputy 副 (R: sword) –
imagine the second in command, charged with guarding a full box of treasures with her sword.
辟 heckler/punish (HEKI) The meaning of this kanji is punish, but I have added the word heckler as a mnemonic because it sounds similar to HEKI. Imagine a comedian onstage, being punished by the spicy (辛) words coming out of the mouth (口) of a heckler, and bombing so badly that they feel like they are dying (尸 corpse).
扁 knitting (HEN) Imagine that the horizontal rectangle in 戸 is a knitting needle, and the cross hatch element below is knitting hanging down from it. This fits with the character for knit 編
(R: thread), and lean 偏 (R: person) – imagine a person leaning in close to check their knitting handiwork.
甫 piercing sword/needle (HO) The intersecting horizontal and vertical strokes that resemble a Christian cross could also been seen as a sword. If you imagine that this is being thrust in the direction of a person (the historical version of a police officer with a gun) it fits catch/seize 捕 (R: hand) and arrest 逮捕. If you substitute the sword for a needle, it fits with the idea of supplement 補 (R: clothing)
– imagine a person using a needle to sew a supplementary patch onto a damaged piece of clothing.
夆 striking needle/bee sting (HOU) This component is composed of the strike radical ⺙ and what could be a needle with thread wound around it 丰. This fits with the meaning of sew 縫 (R: thread)
– striking cloth with a needle. If the needle is substituted for a bee sting, it fits with bee 蜂 (R: insect) – an insect that strikes with its sting.
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CREATIVE COMPONENT STORIES
CREATIVE COMPONENT STORIES
宓 hidden treasure (MITSU) Research suggests that 宓 represents a wrapped halberd (spear-axe) within a shrine or house and the concept of ‘secret’*. I have adapted this slightly by calling it a hidden treasure. Imagine that the U crown is the lid of a box the weapon has been put in for safe keeping. This fits with the meaning of secret 密 and honey 蜜 (R: insect) – honey is the hidden treasure within a beehive.
莫 sundown (BO/~AKU) This component is very similar to the sunset kanji 暮 – the only difference is that it lacks the sun radical on the bottom. And like that kanji, it can be seen to represent the big (大) sun (日) going down, and falling below the grass (⺾). I have used the name sundown to distinguish it slightly from sunset.
录 chisel/tea harvest (catch) (~OKU) Research suggests that this may represent a cloth bag filled with water, representing the concept of catching (Leyi, 1993). This fits with record 録 (R: metal) – to capture something by carving it onto metal.
Having always found this component visual y compelling, I have included a creative component. The top section contains angular, evenly spaced lines that would be at home in a modern font (a katakana ヨ or back-wards letter E). This contrasts with the bottom, a modified water radical 水. Usual y the water radical suggests harmony and flow, but these lines do not connect. Instead, there are four small sparks that point in different directions like a disjoined letter X. This mini explosion suggests movement and chaos, contrasting with the order of the top part.
Having learnt this component in the context of record 録, I have come to associate it with the act of chiselling. Imagine that the top is the blade of a chisel, and the sparks below are little dents or etchings carved onto a wood or metal canvas. They could also be seen as small chips of wood or metal flying off during the chiselling process.
To apply this concept to the green character 緑 (R: thread), I took a common use (green tea), and reimagined the blade as a harvester cutting and collecting green tea leaves. The bottom part represents the cut leaves as they spray outwards from the blade.
The creative component names and stories are the original work of the author. Sentences marked with an asterisk contain references to etymological content in Noriko Williams’ Kanji Portraits (2009).
CREATIVE COMPONENT STORIES
203
APPENDIX 2: RADICALS LIST
RADICAL
MEANING
JAPANESE NAME
RADICAL
MEANING
JAPANESE NAME
NATURE
尸 corpse
shikabane
水 氵 water,
mizu/sanzui
歹
decay
gatsu hen
3 water drops
足 ⻊ foot
ashi
木 tree
ki
癶
footsteps
hatsu gashira
土 earth
tsuchi
首 neck
kubi
日 sun
nichi
身 body
mi
艸 ⺾ grass
kusa
皮 skin
kegawa
火 ⺣ fire
hi
彡
hair/3
san dzukuri
田 field
ta
血 blood
chi
貝
shell, money
kai
歯 tooth
ha
頁
big shell
oogai
PEOPLE
月 moon
tsuki
人 亻 𠆢 person
hito
石 stone
ishi
女 woman
onna
川 river
kawa
王 玉
king, ball/jewel
ou, tama
山
mountain yama
子 child
ko
雨 rain
ame
氏
clan, family name uji
⽓
steam, air
ki gamae
士
scholar, samurai
samurai
冫
ice, 2 water drops ni sui
臣 official
shin
穴 cave
ana
自 myself
mizukara
谷 valley
tani
己 oneself
onore
支
branch
shi nyou
ム private, mu
HUMAN BODY
katakana MU
口 mouth
kuchi
老 ⺹ old age
rou
手 扌 hand
te
ENCLOSURES
⼼ ⺖ heart
kokoro/
辶
movement
shin nyou
risshinben
疒 sickness yamaidare
肉 月
meat, organ
niku
⼴
ma border (麻)/ madare
目 eye
me
dotted cliff
⼉
legs
nin nyou
彳
stepping
gyounin ben
欠
yawn, lack
akubi
阝
left village
gifu no fu
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RADICALS LIST
RADICALS LIST
RADICAL
MEANING
JAPANESE NAME
RADICAL
MEANING
JAPANESE NAME
阝
right village
mura
干 dry
hoshi
囗
country
kuni gamae
曰 say
iwaku
enclosure
比 compare kuraberu
門 gate
mon
生 live
umareru
⼧
U crown
u kanmuri
非
wrong, non-
arazu
亠
pot lid
nabe buta
行 go
gyou
廴
long stride
in nyou
⼚
NATURAL MATERIALS
cliff border
gan dare
竹
勹
bamboo take
wrapping tsutsumi
gamae
糸 幺 thread
ito
⼐ inbox
ukebako
金 metal
kane
匚
C box/
hako gamae
巾
turban, scarf
haba
box frame
衣 衤 clothes
koromo
丶 dot
ten
麻
⺍
hemp
asa
katakana TSU/
chiisai
small
韋
tanned leather
nameshi gawa
⼍
wa crown
wa kanmuri
⽦ ⺪
bolt of cloth
hiki
丿 bend,
no
MATH & MEASUREMENT
katakana NO
一 one
ichi
亅 hook
hanebou
二 two
ni
VERBS & LANGUAGE
八
eight
hachi gashira
言 speech
koto
十 ten
juu
食 飠 eat
shoku
寸 inch
sun
示 礻
worship, altar
shimesu
大 big
dai
又
again/
mata
right hand
小 small
chiisai
立 stand
tatsu
長 镸 long
nagai
止 stop
tomeru
高 tall
takai
工
work,
takumi
乙,乚 second
otsu
katakana E
片
slice,
kata
見 see
miru
fragment
走 run
hashiru
釆 divide
nogome
RADICALS LIST
205
RADICALS LIST
RADICAL
MEANING
JAPANESE NAME
RADICAL
MEANING
JAPANESE NAME
面 surface
men
WARFARE
方 way
hou
刀 刂 sword, knife
katana
西 覀 west
nishi
⽁ ⺙
strike, activity
nobun
艮 boundary kon
力 power
chikara
斉 even
sei
弓 bow
yumi
夂
winter
fuyu gashira
矢 arrow
ya
夕 evening yuube
⼽
halberd
kanohoko
FOOD
(spear-axe)
米 rice
kome
⽄ axe
ono
禾
grain,
nogi
丨 stick
bou
two-branch tree
MAN-MADE TOOLS
皿 dish
sara
戸
匕
door
tobiranoto
spoon
saji no hi
罒 罒
⾣
net
ami gashira
sake, alcohol
sake
麦
耒 plow
raisuki
wheat
mugi
豆
几
bean
mame
desk
tsukue
⼙
stamp, seal
fushi dzukuri
ANIMALS
馬
車
horse
uma
vehicle
kuruma
虫 insect
mushi
SENSES
犬 ⺨ dog
inu
白 white
shiro
羊 sheep
hitsuji
青 blue
ao
⿃ bird
tori
音 sound
oto
隹
old bird
furutori
SUPERNATURAL
牛
cow ushi
竜 龍 dragon
ryuu
⿂ fish
uo
辰
zodiac dragon/
shin no tatsu
毛
fur, wool
ke
morning
牙
tusk/fang kibahen
鬼 demon
oni
羽
wings,
hane
ト
fortune-telling/
boku no to
feathers
katakana TO
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RADICALS LIST
INDEXES
索
引
INDEXES
COMPONENTS LIST/INDEX
PHONETIC READING
NAME
TYPE
REFERENCE
永 EI
eternal
kanji
P 1
可
KA possible
kanji
P 2
加
KA add
kanji
P 3
化
KA change
kanji
P 4
果
KA fruit
kanji
P 5
咼
KA
