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How are Kana Shodo Culture, the opera “ Madame Butterfly ”, and Japanese Aesthetics related?

By Kaoru Akagawa / 27/02/2014 /

The opera “ Madame Butterfly ” was written by the Italian composer Puccini in 1904, based on the short story written by John Luther Long in 1898.

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figure_2_1_why_the_world_would_end_without_stroke_orders

Why the World Would End without Stroke Orders

By Kaoru Akagawa / 01/08/2013 /

“Help me. I am having an argument with my Japanese teacher.” A friend of mine named Jochen who just started to take Japanese lessons wrote to me one day shivering in a rage. He was practicing Hiragana, or Japanese characters, when his teacher told him that he must learn the correct stroke order. But he…

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The Beauty of Inefficiency: A story about Traditional Hiragana

By Kaoru Akagawa / 22/03/2013 /

My grandmother is one of the last generations to use the old Hiragana in daily life. By contrast, my Father, who was born in

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figure 1 kanji etymology jin 158x3001 158x300 - Kanji: 人

Kanji: 人

By Ponte Ryūrui / 11/07/2012 /

Shu shen (許慎, pinyin: Xǔ Shèn, ca. 58 C.E. – ca. 147 C.E.), the meaning of the character 人 was associated with the virtues of Heaven and Earth (i.e. the universe).

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figure 1 kanji etymology shin 172x300 172x300 - Kanji: 森

Kanji: 森

By Ponte Ryūrui / 20/06/2012 /

森 follows a concept of three pictographs of a tree (木, き, ki) combined in one character, and it emphasises thick tree growth, i.e. woods.

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figure 1 kanji etymology jou 239x300 239x300 - Kanji: 上

Kanji: 上

By Ponte Ryūrui / 14/06/2012 /

the character 上 originally meant “the higher part (or place)”, and it was represented by two horizontal lines. In later stages its meaning was broadened to

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figure 1 kanji etymology shou 195x300 195x300 - Kanji: 小

Kanji: 小

By Ponte Ryūrui / 24/05/2012 /

Xiao Xu Ben a revision of Shuowen Jiezi written by the Late Han dynasty scholar Xu Kai, supports the above mentioned definition of 小, by further explanation

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figure 1 kanji etymology jo 247x300 247x300 - Kanji: 女

Kanji: 女

By Ponte Ryūrui / 09/05/2012 /

a philologist of the Han dynasty (漢朝, pinyin: Hàn Cháo, 206 B.C. – 220 C.E.) is quite simple and straight forward. Xu states that the character 女 represents a woman.

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figure 1 kanji etymology shutsu 300x274 300x274 - Kanji: 出

Kanji: 出

By Ponte Ryūrui / 24/04/2012 /

The shape of the character 出 symbolises a step forward executed with vigour; each step starts from placing the heel on the ground. A strongly placed foot

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figure 1 kanji etymology juu 221x300 221x300 - Kanji: 十

Kanji: 十

By Ponte Ryūrui / 12/04/2012 /

the shape of 十 was based on the concept of a vertically oblong tool used for calculations (Figures 1 and 2). Please also refer to the etymology of the

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