Kana

Kanji: 山

By Ponte Ryūrui / 11/01/2012 /

The sound and secondary meanings of the character 山 are strongly related to ancient Chinese myths. In “Explaining Simple (Characters) and

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Kanji: 三

By Ponte Ryūrui / 04/01/2012 /

三 is also closely related to the divinatory system of 64 hexagrams, introduced in the Book of Changes, also known as Five Classics (易経, pinyin: Yì jīng) whose

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Kanji: 校

By Ponte Ryūrui / 24/12/2011 /

校 consists of two main radicals, which are 木 (き, ki, i.e. “wood”) and 交 (こう, kō, i.e. “mingle”, “mixing”). 木 is a pictograph of a tree, whereas 交 is the

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Kanji: 左

By Ponte Ryūrui / 17/12/2011 /

To fully understand the meaning of the character 左, one should combine it with the one of the character 右 (みぎ, migi, i.e. “right”), on which a

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Kanji: 口

By Ponte Ryūrui / 13/12/2011 /

the 口 radical in characters such as 古, 右,　可,　名,　各,　吾,　吉, etc., is in fact a pictograph of a ritual vessel or container and not a mouth.

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Kanji: 五

By Ponte Ryūrui / 03/12/2011 /

五 belongs to the 仮借文字 (かしゃもじ, kashamoji, i.e. rebus (phonetic loan) characters; or in other words, characters that were borrowed phonetically to

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Kanji: 犬

By Ponte Ryūrui / 24/11/2011 /

犬 belongs to the 象形文字 (しょうけいもじ, shōkeimoji, i.e. set of characters of pictographic origin). It is a pictograph of a dog.

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Kanji: 見

By Ponte Ryūrui / 19/11/2011 /

見 belongs to the 象形文字(しょうけいもじ, shōkeimoji i.e. set of characters of pictographic origin). It is a pictograph of a human with an exaggerated eye,

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平仮名 (ひらがな, hiragana): ね (i.e. “ne”)

By Ponte Ryūrui / 10/11/2011 /

The modern form of ね comes from the cursive form of the kanji 奴 (やっこ, yakko, i.e. “servant (especially samurai’s attendant)”). Follow the progression of the

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Kanji: 月

By Ponte Ryūrui / 31/10/2011 /

月 belongs to the 象形文字 (しょうけいもじ, shōkeimoji, i.e. set of characters of pictographic origin). It is a pictograph of a crescent moon.

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