204-403 Flashcards
248先before
If you have a COW with HUMAN LEGS, as the elements show us here, it can only be because you have two people in a COW-suit. I always thought I’d prefer to be the one standing BEFORE, rather than the one that holds up the rear and becomes the “butt” of everyone’s laughter.
275銘inscription
Take inscription in the sense of the NAME you ask the jeweler to carve on a GOLD bracelet or inside a GOLD ring to identify it’s owner or communicate some sort of sentimental message. It will help you if you can recall the first time you had this fine and the feelings you had at the time.
338獄prison
Dog is a low grade term for a spy. The PRISON here is a DOG prison. The PACK OF WILD DOGS (the long timers and hardened criminals) picking on the poor CHIHUAHUA. The only thing to protect the CHIHUAHUA are his shrill and frightened WORDS. (WORDS between the two)
367桟scaffold
Prior to the use of metal, TREES were once cut down and bound together for use as SCAFFOLDING material. In the case of this kanji here, it is not a sky scraper that is being made, but a simple FLOAT.
383錠lock
METAL of itself doesn’t LOCK. It needs to be so DETERMINED by a locksmith. Now make a concrete image of that.
384走run
Running, we are told here, MENDS the SOIL. Observe in the following frames how much this kanji can embrace other elements from below, much the same way as the element for ROAD does. Note, too, that in order to do this, the final stroke needs to be lengthened.
400壊demolition
If you stand too close to a DEMOLITION site, the dust might sting you like NEEDLES in your EYE and get your GARMENTs all dirty.
379正correct
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a SINGLE STEP” says the Chinese proverb. Here we see ONE FOOTPRINT, complementing that proverb with the sound advice that if the first step is not made CORRECTLY, the whole point of journey will be forfeited. This is the ideal that teachers are supposed to have in CORRECTING their students, and parents in CORRECTING their children.
278導guidance
When we accept someone’s guidance, we permit ourselves to be GLUED to a certain ROAD or WAY of doing something, and try to “stick” to it.
228葉leaf
Flower, generation, tree first and last seem logical enough. Since it’s the LEAF that feeds the FLOWERS on a TREE. The element for GENERATION interposed between the two suggests that the movement of a TREE from one GENERATION to the next is like “turning over a new LEAF”
402遠distant
Keep distant from a *lidded crock* on the* road* wrapped in a *scarf*. It might be a bomb.
272銅copper
Picture an order if MONKS serving as chaplains for the police force. Their special habit, made of protective METAL, is distinguished by a row of COPPER buttons just like the “cops” they serve.
232暮livelihood
Imagine that you have chosen the occupation of the keeper of a GRAVEYARD and spend your DAY tending to other’s deadwood in order to make your means of LIVELIHOOD.
326栄flourish
Flourish (to bud and burst into bloom, much as a TREE) does is the same in the SCHOOLHOUSE. We flourish into what we want to become when in the SCHOOL HOUSE, in this case, a tree. Just like in a SCHOOLHOUSE our minds FLOURISH like a TREE
381政politics
To the many definition for POLITICS that already exist, this character offers yet another: CORRECT TASKMASTERING. Think about what the primitives tell us. On the one hand, we see the pessimistic wisdom that POLITICS has to do with TASKMASTERING, maneuvering people with or without their will. And in the other, we see the campaign assurances that this duty can be performed CORRECTLY if only the right candidate is given a chance.
243狩hunt
One of the worst thing about going HUNTINg is to GUARD your take from the WILD DOGS. Just like the duck hunt dog, fucking asshole.
283逃escape
Like in a dream, when you are running it seems like you can’t get fast enough, like a TURTLE on an expressway. (Since the TURTLE is on the ROAD and not on the left, it can keep it’s full kanji shape)
225苦suffering
Suffering we are given here is that of a flower that has grown OLD. When a flower ages, it pales and dries up, and probably even suffers.
323売sell
A SAMURAI, out of a job, is going door-to-door SELLING little windup CROWNS with HUMANS LEGS that run on the floor looking like headless monarchs,
246特special
Not the word specialty. Like the sacred COWS of India that wander freely without fear from being butchered and ground into hamburger. Even though the practice is originally a Hindu one, the BUDDHIST monks refuses to take the life of any sentient being makes it only fitting that the COWS should be placed on the sacred grounds of a BUDDHIST TEMPLE in this kanji.
282迫urge
To URGE someone to do something, you make the WAY as appealing as possible, perhaps even WHITEwashing it a bit. Whitewashing is to make furniture look better by giving it a new look, what a clever WAY to make things appealing to URGE someone into doing things.
395婿bridegroom
The virgin bridegroom tries to understand the new, mysterious *part of* his *woman’s body* - but with little success. It’s a *zoo* down there! (primitives placement: the part of the body is ‘down there’ - the woman is ‘left’ unsatisfied).
266主lord
“A man’s home is his castle” goes the proverb from an age where it was the male who was LORD of the household. Fundamentally it means that everyone of us is a bit (or a DROP) of a KING in our own environment.
349調tune
It isn’t a complete TUNE without a LAP of WORDS that go with that lovely TUNE. Well, except most electronic music,
359載load
On THANKSGIVING, one must LOAD all the food in a CAR.
352諭rebuke
A PETA activist *speaks* at a *meeting* of *butchers* to rebuke them.
289輸transport
The *car* is a cattle-car, used to transport animals for the *butcher*’s *meeting* - a convention on new butchering techniques. Hear the screams of the animals as it pulls up in front of the convention hall, where the butchers are waiting with their knives out front.
294客guest
When you are a GUEST in a courteous town, EACH HOUSEhold has it’s own way of welcoming you, and EACH HOUSE becomes your home.
204桐paulownia
Since you don’t know what PAULOWNIA TREE is, we shall let it suggest “the Little Brothers of St. paulownia” it is a short step to associate the TREE with the MONKS at the right. (The bros are the monks, mourning over the loss of their sister by praying like MONKS)
304冠crown
By having the CROWN pass from one age to the next, a people keeps itself GLUED to its BEGINNINGS
387越surpass
Here we see two PARADES in competition, each trying to SURPASS the other by RUNNING at high speed from one town to the next. Note the little “hook” at the end of the first stroke of the element for PARADE. This is he ONLY time it appears like this in the kanji treated in this book
356域range
An astronaut lands back at the launch range, kisses the *earth* beneath him with his *mouth*, then heads off to a *fiesta* to celebrate a safe flight.
274針needle
This is the kanji for metal, not the primitive from earlier. Since we already expect that NEEDLES are made from METAL, let us picture a set of GOLD darning NEEDLES to complete this kanji.
249洗wash
Water and before. It is easy but we shall not let rationalism to creep into our stories. Not even this once. Picture “Pigpen” from the Peanuts comic and rename him “WASH-out.” Everywhere he walks, a spray of WATER goes BEFORE him to sanitize everything he touches.
348読read
In advertising, most WORDS we READ are out to SELL some product or point of view.
341訓instruction
An instruction is a STREAM of WORDS one must follow, some follow gently, while some follow roughly and have to return. The etymology of the word instruction suggest the sense of “pouring into”
227薄dilute
In this kanji, the “Strong” element here is really the FLOWER, not the water. To the right we see ACUPUNCTURIST. Taking the keyword to connote DILUTING the vital humors if the body, we can imagine our acupunk performing his task with FLOWERS in place of needles, using the hollow stems to pipe WATER into the body.
299落fall
When WATER falls, it splishes and splashes; FLOWER petals fall, they float gently in the breeze. To EACH thing it’s own way of FALLING.
388是just so
Sun’ ‘Mend’ -It just so happens that *sun*shine can *mend* your gloomy spirits.
340討chastise
WORDS that are used to CHASTISE stick to us like GLUE in a way no other WORDS can.
350談discuss
In almost every attempt to DISCUSS an issue, one side of the discussion gets upset and starts an INFLAMMATION of WORDS. Literally the cuss in disCUSS.
302輝radiance
Radiance, RAYdiance. Take advantage if the first syllable of the keyword to think of the RAY of light to the left. Now add the glittering CHARIOT that is emitting those RAYS and you have radiance. The CHARIOT leaving a glittering RAY behind it is the picture of Radiance
317周circumference
Look closer at your LIDDED CROCK and you will see little ruler marks along it’s bottom edge. This is so you can use it to calculate the CIRCUMFERENCE of your MOTORCYCLE HELMET; just begin at a fixed point and turn the LIDDED CROCK around it, keeping it flush against the side of the HELMET, until you come back to your starting point. If you kept track of how many turns and part-turns your LIDDED CROCK made, you now know the CIRCUMFRENCE.
286車car
The two strokes for front and back represent the wheels, the carriage in the middle is where the fuel goes in. In Japan, cars are ran by rice from RICE FIELDS.
333故happenstance
An *OLD TASKMASTER* is no happenstance (coincidence). The older you get the more rigid in your ways.
337計plot
WORDS and a meter’s NEEDLE combine to form the sense of PLOT; to talk over plans and to calculate a course of action.
220妹younger sister
The younger sister in the family is the WOMAN in the family who, like the newest branch in a tree, is NOT YET old enough or mature enough to do everything the elder sister can do.
267注pour
Picture POURING WATER from a lighted CANDLESTICK. What could be more ridiculous, or simpler, as a way to recall this kanji.
364威intimidate
Here see a MARCH of WOMEN demonstration on behalf of equal rights, something extremely INTIMIDATING to the male chauvinist population.
229模imitation
Think of the
279辻crossing
Instead of TEN, we use it to depict a CROSS, and set it on a ROAD to create a “CROSSING”
386赴proceed
“Don’t *run* into trouble,” Dumbledore tells Harry. “#Proceed# with caution with your *wand* out.”
372渉ford
(A shallow place in a river or stream allowing one to walk or drive across) To FORD a body of WATER means to WALK across it.
262呈display
The trick to remembering this kanji lies in associating the keyword with the line from the nursery rhyme about 4 and 20 blackbirds Baked In a pie: “Wasn’t this a dainty dish to set before the KING?” If we think of DISPLAY in terms of that famous line, and the KING with his head back and his MOUTH wide open, as 4 and 20 blackbirds fly in.
226寛tolerant
The HOUSE of FLOWERS or “hothouse” has become a metaphor for a narrow-minded, biased, and intolerant attitude distrustful of change. TOLERANCE, in contrast, is open-minded and welcomes novelty. The way to encourage TOLERANCE in those who lack it first to have them SEE through their out hothouse attitudes.
258珠pearl
Make sure you know that that is the kanji for JEWEL. Think if the most enormous PEARL you have ever seen, a great VERMILLION-colored BALL sitting on your ring, and making it extremely difficult to move without falling over from the weight of the thing.
327書write
The sage talks rapidly with his TONGUE WAGGING IN HIS MOUTH, sounds like gibberish until you see the scribe trying to hurriedly keep up with his nonsense with a BRUSH writing down what ever is said.
380証evidence
WORDS that testify to the CORRECTNESS of some fact are classified as EVIDENCE. (Here we see a good example of how the more common primitive elements take the “strong” position to the left, even though it has more strokes)
212札tag
The TAGS you see hanging TREES in public places are helpful to identify what sort of TREES they are. Next time you see one, imagine the bit if wire that fixes the TAG to the branch as a large FISHHOOK. REALLY imagine it.
314景scenery
Scenery is depicted as the SUN rising over a CAPITAL city, which is a bit of natural scenery the city dwellers themselves rarely get to see!
320吉good luck
Here we see a SAMURAI standing in a street with an open MOUTH, which people walk up to and look deep down inside for GOOD LUCK. Just like how people look down wells… WELL LOOKS LIKE IT’S NOT A WELL, BUT A WELL-DRESSED GENTLEMAN.
285巡patrol
A virtual FLOOD of motorcycle police washing down a ROAD is this kanji’s image for a PATROL.
336警admonish
意味:warning or reprimand someoneThe idea of being admonished for something already sets up superior-inferior relationship between and you the person you are supposed to stand in AWE if. While you are restricted to answering in honorifics, the superior can use straightforward and ordinary words. Honorifics above WORDS.
363誠sincerity
The sure sign of SINCERITY is that one’s mere WORDS are TURNED INTO deeds.
300冗superfluous
意味: unnecessary, ESP. When being more than enough. Picture a WEATHER VANE(those chicken wind shit) beneath a regal CROWN. It is only not superfluous but makes a perfect ass out of the one who wears it,
306坑pit
Suddenly a WHIRLWIND appears and it begins to dig into the SOIL like a drill until it makes a deep PIT.
281造create
Think of CREATING as making something out of nothing. Then recall how the WAY of REVELATION laid out in the bible begins with the story of how God CREATED the world out of a dark and chaotic nothingness.
215燥parch
Tip: *goods* + *wood/tree* : This combination of primitives appears four times in Heisig, so it’s worthwhile giving it a name. I suggest “*furniture*” (a common type of *wooden goods*). REF: *parch* (FRAME 215) , {671}, {1369}, {2035}. Story: It’s been so parched recently that your *furniture* suddenly catches *fire*.
293略abbreviation
EACH FIELD has its own abbreviations (Chemestry, etc) Needless to say, the “stronger” primitive-that is to say, the simpler and more often used one-take the dominant position on the left, even though the story would read then off the other way around.
345詠recitation
If you study some *words* for a recitation, there is a good chance they will be stuck in your memory for all *eternity*.
311亭pavilion
Think of all the PAVILIONS (space needle for example) at County Fairs or World Expos you have wandered into or seen advertised in the media, and you will no doubt see rising up among them rising up among them the towering TALL CROWNED NAIL (CROWN being a revolving restaurant)– that architectural monstrosity that has become a symbol of science and technology at such events.
354試test
When a manufacturer produces a new STYLE for the market, the first thing that is done is to run a TEST on consumers, asking them to SPEAK their opinions frankly about the product. Never mind the anachronism (because the kanji was there well befit out capitalistic market system) if it helps you remember.
368銭coin
Those special GOLD-colored tokens minted each year for the MARDI Gras and thrown into the crowds from people on the FLOATS give us the kanji for COINS.
389題topic
The “TOPIC” of the day’s newspaper must be placed JUST SO at the top of the PAGE to attract attention
222株stocks
Stocks bought as sold on the market by the tens of millions each day get their name from a comparison to a healthy TREE, in which one takes “STOCK” in the hopes it will grow and produce more and more TREES like itself. Usually good stocks are referred to as “blue stocks”, but here we are asked to associate it with the color VERMILLION, perhaps because one can assess the value of a tree from the color of it’s autumn leaves.
393誕nativity
When you are being born ( #nativity# ), your mother’s WORDS are PROLONGED. (Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis huuuuuuuuuuuuuurtss a lottttttttt~!! Owwwwwww!!!)
236桃peach tree
To associate the PEACH TREE with the primitive for a PORTENT, recall the famous Momotaro, the Peach boy. The boy was caught a giant PEACH which a boy was born out of. The boy was destined to perform heroic deeds, his birth also PORTENDED his great misfortune. Thus the TREE that is associated with a PORTENT of coming evil comes to be a peach tree.
377武warrior
With a QUIVER OF ARROWS set on one’s back, the goal of the WARRIOR depicted here is not to attack but merely to STOP the attack of others: the oldest excuse in history.
238犬dog
We know that LARGE takes on the meaning of the St. Bernard dog when used as primitive. The DROP added as a 4th and final stroke means that it has to do with a normal sized DOG. Compared to the St. Bernard, is no more than a DROP in the kennel.
396衣garment
At the top, we see a TOP HAT, and at the bottom a pictographic representation of the folds of a GARMENT. If you break the “4-fold” fold into 2 sets of 2 strokes. When it appears to the left, it shall mean CLOAK, the bottom, SCARF, rare occasions the element can be torn across the middle, meaning TOP HAT AND SCARF. Keeping it’s original shape, GARMENT.
257宝treasure
Every HOUSE has it’s treasure, as every their knows too well. While the things we TREASURE most are usually of sentimental value, we take the original sense of the term TREASURE here and make it refer to JEWELS kept in one’s HOUSE.
366減dwindle
A group of unquenchable MOUTHS set out on a MARCH across the country, drinking WATER wherever they can find it until the WATER supply has DWINDLED to a trickle, triggering a national disaster.
358栽plantation
On a fruit PLANTATION it is the TREES that one is particularly grateful for at the time of THANKSGIVING. Imagine yourself inviting a few representative TREES from the fields and orchards to join you around the table to give thanks.
276鎮tranquilize
The first lie-detector machines of the twentieth century worked by wiring pieces of METAL to the body to measure the amount of sweat produced when questions were asked. It was discovered that nervousness produced more sweat, indicating subconscious reactions when the TRUTH was getting too close for comfort. Nowadays, people can take drugs that tranquilizer them in such a way to neutralize the effect of the device. Which means other means have has to be developed.
344話tale
The WORDS of the TONGUE is basically a TALE. Why you say? It’s because a tale is something “Talked”, not something read from a book.
217末extremity
Shows us a branch is longer than the main branch, indicating that the tree has reached the EXTREMITY of growth, so it’s branches stop spreading and start drooping downwards. 未 > 末not yet grown > full extremity
316舎cottage
A LIDDED CROCK with an UMBRELLA over it gives us an image of a design for a COTTAGE.
223若young
We see a FLOWER held in the RIGHT hand. You can imagine yourself in a magical harder where FLOWERS picked with the RIGHT hand grant eternal YOUTH; and those picked with the left, premature senility. Go ahead, see what happens when you pick it with both hands… >:)
365滅destroy
Picture a MARCH of FLAMES (Fire Benders) demonstrating against the Water Nation for their right to DESTROY, but being doused with WATER by the WATER NATION.
315鯨whale
The WHALE swallows a whole school of fish, who turn their insides into a proper little FISH-CAPITAL.
331敗failure
The angry TASKMASTER is acknowledging the FAILURE of a CLAM, the taskmaster scolds clam into marine school.
273釣angling
The character we learned for fishing for frame 184 refers to the professional, net-casting industry, while the ANGLING of this character refers to the sport. The odd thing is that your ANGLING rod is a GOLDEN LADLE which you are using to scoop GOLDfish out of a river.
370止stop
Take it as a rather crude drawing of a footprint: the first three strokes represent the front of the foot and the last the heel. The big toe (stroke sticking out to the right) on the right indicates that this is a left foot.
234苗seedling
To avoid the confusion of “rice-seedlings” to appear later, we shall take these seedlings out of their agricultural setting in the RICE FIELDS and into the frame of the Brave New World surgery, where “ideas” or “values” are being implanted into BRAINS like seedlings to insure a harmonious society. You only need to imagine them taking root and breaking out into a FLOWER right through the tops of the skills of people walking around on the streets.
260狂lunatic
A LUNATIC is literally one driven made by the light of the moon, and the most famous of the “lioness” are the legendary lycanthropes or “wolfmen.” Sometimes the transformation is temporary. To remember this kanji, imagine one going in all fours, going looney and setting himself up as a KING OF A PACK OF WILD DOGS that roams about and terrorizes innocent suburban communities.
290前in front
Picture the BUTCHER hacking away with his knife at a slab of meat with a pair of ram’s HORNS placed IN FRONT of him.
254塔pagoda
Left we see a mound of DIRT. And to the right, FLOWERS made to FIT together. The two sides combine to create a great PAGODA made of FIRTA, with FLOWERS by the tens of thousands FITTED together for the roofing if each of the layers. Imagine yourself placing a FLOWER to be FITTED into this building.
319士gentleman
The shape of this kanji, slightly differing from that die SOIL by virtue if its shorter final stroke, hints at a broad-shouldered, slender-waisted warrior standing at attention. When feudalism collapsed, these warriors became Japan’s GENTLEMEN.
342詔imperial edict
A law put into order by an Emperor is an IMPERIAL EDICT, spoken with the force if unquestionable law, is made up of WORDS intended to SEDUCE the masses– for fear or respect.
369浅shallow
An entourage of FLOATS going from one town to the next must always seek a SHALLOW place to cross the WATER. Try to picture if they don’t…
357賊burglar
From a BURGLAR’S point of view, a FIESTA is an occasion to take II h old lock picking NEEDLE and break into the unattended safe filled with the family SHELLS (old form as money)
288軌rut
Two meaning for this keyword. One about a CAR being stuck in a RUT unable to get out and also a BASEBALL team who can’t win a game because it has fallen into a RUT of losing.
378賦levy
A certain portion of SHELLS (money) is collected by the WARRIOR from the local Viagra as be passes through to defray (pay) the costs of keeping the land safe, this is called a LEVY ( a tax, fee, or fine)
205植plant
You’ve seen people practicing the Japanese art of bonsai TREES, they twist and cripple these saplings to grow into what they desire. A real way to PLANT a young TREE is to set it into the earth in such a way that it can grow up STRAIGHT.
237眺stare
To give someone the “evil EYE” is to STARE at them, wishing them evil… >:) The roots if the superstition are old and almost universal throughout the cultures of the world. Being stared at is depicted as an EYE that PORTENDS evil.
211本book
Recalling books are made out of paper, and paper made out of TREES, one might think of a book as a slice of a TREE. Can you see the “cross-cut” in the trunk if the TREE? Picture it as a chain-saw cutting you out a few BOOKS with which you start your own private library.
244猫cat
Knowing how much dogs love to to chase CATS, imagine a PACK OF WILD DOGS planting “CAT-SEEDLINGS”, until they are harvested as a crop of CATS for the to chase and torment. If you begin from the keyword and think if a “crop if cats” you will not confuse this story with the apparently similar story of two frames ago.
240黙silence
Character for SILENCE shows is a BLACK CHIHUAHUA. Actually, her name is darkness, as I am sure you remember from the famous song about SILENCE. “Hello Darkness, my old friend…”
330攻aggression
The special CRAFT of successful TASKMASTERS is their remain constantly on their AGGRESSIVE side, never allowing the underlings a moment to ponder a counter-aggression. What goes on in their head is beyond terrifying, with so much hate, it’s no wonder he’s so aggressive.
263全whole
WHOLENESS suggests physical and spiritual health, “having your act together.” The kanji-image for wholeness depicts being “KING under your own UMBRELLA,” that is, giving order to your own life.
255王king
Pictograph of a KING’s scepter here that suits your own idea of what it should look like. You might even begin with the basic element for I BEAM and then try to fit the remaining third stroke in. That’s one fucked up looking scepter for a KING.
265理logic
The image of LOGIC, we are given something like a central JEWEL in a COMPUTER, like the JEWELS in old clocks that keep them running smoothly. Try picturing yourself making your way through all the RAMS and ROMS and approaching this shining JEWEL, a chorus of voice and a blast of trumpets in the background heralding the great seat of all-knowing logic.
374肯agreement
Seeing FOOTPRINTS on someone’s FLESH indicates a rather brutal way of having secured that person’s AGREEMENT. (Imagine BOA Hancock)
335言say
Tod all things we can do with out MOUTH, speech requires the greatest distinctness and clarity. Hence the kanji for SAY has four little sound-waves, to show the complexity of the task.
394礎cornerstone
Features like *stones* and *groves of trees* are the cornerstones of a happy *zoo*.an important quality or feature on which a particular thing depends or is based.
208村town
Village was associated with rice fields. This one is a step up on the evolutionary path to cities, shows a circle of TREE GLUED TOGETHER to measure off the confines of a town
382定determine
In The Karate Kid, the boy must prove his determination by MENDING his teacher’s HOUSE in various ways.
390堤dike
making a dike is all about arranging the *soil just so…*
284辺environs
To keep the ENVIRONS clean and safe, you could cement DAGGERS in the ROAD, blade pointed upwards, so that no polluting traffic could pass by. You could, if you were an ecologically minded terrorist.
339訂revise
After completing the first draft, you go over it (REVISE it) by NAILING down your WORDS and hammering them into shape.
353式style
Take STYLE in a sense of some fashion or model. And Let the element ARROW and CRAFT stand for the well-know. STYLE or shirts known as “ARROW shirts” because of the little ARROW sewn on each one.
334敬awe
Standing in AWE of someone, you get self-conscious and may try to speak in FLOWERY PHRASES out of veneration(speaking in respect) or fear. The TASKMASTER at the right is drilling you in the practice of your “honorifics” The TASK MASTER in me drilled me to speak in FLOWERY PHRASES when speaking to higher ups.
297処dispose
Both the stretching out of the WALKING LEGS and the little but of WIND tucked in on the right suggest using one’s legs to kick something out of the way, or DISPOSE of it. Japan has no trash cans, so all you can do is wish to use the wind your kicks has to dispose of it.
401哀pathetic
A drunken sod in a tattered TOP HAT and soiled SCARF with a giant MOUTH guzzling something or other gives us a PATHETIC character role in which W.C Fields might find himself right at home.
242荻reed
Those cattails in swamps that are called REEDS which are furry FLOWERS to make them look like a tail of a cat. This is a good way to get rid of some troublesome PACK OF WILD DOFS: lure them into a swamp with REEDS with the cattail FLOWERS and set fire to the swamp…
280迅swift
Here we see a CROSSING in the form of a barbed FISHHOOK, suggesting a swifter alternate not only to the roundabouts used in Europe but also to the “cloverleaf” design used on superhighways in the United States. CROSS ROADS made from FISHHOOKS, resembles cloverleaf ROADS that gives us a SWIFTER way to get to places.
308享receive
TALL CHILDREN receive more attention. TALL CHILDREN grow up to make better wide RECEIVERS. Take your pick, depending on whether you like American Football or child psychology, at some particular TALL CHILD mine, you can really understand why they RECEIVE a lot of attention.
241然sort of thing
Reverting back to the time when dog was widely eaten than it is today, we see here a large cauldron boiling over an OVEN FLAME with the FLESH of a CHIHUAHUA being thrown into the whole concoction to make it into a “hot-diggity,dog-diggity” SORT OF THING.
309塾cram school
Welcome to our cram school: you will *receive* a *rounded* education on our *grounds*.
322荘villa
The VILLA pictured her is filled with exotic FLOWERS at every turn, and has a pair if TURTLE-SAMURAI before its gates. Picture NINJA TURTLES standing by the gates of a Bill Gate’s Villa. A home everyone would like to rob.
403猿monkey
This clever little MONKEY has captured an entire pack of WILD DOGS, locked them inside a LIDDED CROCK, and wrapped the whole thing up in a silk SCARF to present to the dogcatcher.
214案plan
With the elements RELAX. TREE suggests a hammock strung between two TREES in your backyard, and you stretched out in it, hands folded behind your head, planning something or other. We do this from time to time: kicking up your legs and daydream about the best PLAN of action to take. Especially when confessing your love to someone.
210机desk
Desk is the wonderful rough WOOD of which it has been hewn and the WIND that blows across it, sending your papers flying all over the room. These two elements, written in that order, how to dictate how to write the character.
376歴curriculum
A CURRICULUM is a *calendar* that replaces days with reasons to *stop* having fun.
310熟mellow
Imagine *tall children* sitting *round* the *fire* toasting marsh-#mellow#s.
346詩poem
Since silence is treasured so highly at a Buddhist Temple the WORDS spoken there must be well chosen. Perhaps this is why Monks in the temple often read poems, since they are profound.
291各each
“Suum cuique” goes the popular Latin proverb. A certain disease of the English language makes it almost impossible to translate the phrase without gender bias. In any event, here we see someone walking with his/her MOUTH between his/her WALKING LEGS, giving us an image if “to EACH his/her own”
313涼refreshing
It’s very hot during the days, we need something REFRESHING such as a cold shower (the WATER), we picture an entire CAPITAL city treating itself to one, and in full view of everyone.
325覚memorize
The idea of MEMORIZING things is easily related to the SCHOOLHOUSE; the idea that MEMORIZING involves SEEING things that are bit really there should make it easier. You’re in a SCHOOLHOUSE and you are trying to MEMORIZE things by SEEING things in your head. To memorize things, you SEE your old SCHOOL HOUSE days to remember
385超transcend
意味:be or go beyond the range or limits of (something abstract, typically a conceptual field or division) When one is RUNNING after something, the goal that SEDUCES one is said to TRANSCEND the seeker.
213暦calendar
Look at it from the reverse order, from bottom up. First we see the primitive for DAYS, the way to begin a CALENDAR. Next we see a GROVE OF TREES growing under a CLIFF. Picture calendar with many DAYS and a picture of a GROVE under a
287連take along
What are you meant to TAKE ALONG in this kanji are not things but people. The image for the CAR on the ROAD should ground your image. Picking up your friends to TAKE them ALONG to wherever you are going.
264栓plug
Plug as in the sense of a cork or stopper used to seal the mouth of a bottle, water faucet, or something with liquid running out of it. Think of TREE, UMBRELLA, BALL. Imagine a TREE with a faucet in the side out if which tennis BALLS are flowing, with balls bouncing everywhere, you fight back with your giant beach UMBRELLA into the TREE to PLUG it up!
224草grass
The custom of seeding GRASS randomly or in some particular pattern with the FLOWER called crocus, which blooms each year in EARLY spring. As the GRASS begins to turn green after winter has passed. These tiny FLOWER dot up here and there. Look out your window at a patch of grass and have it spell out your name with FLOWERS once as a sort of EARLY harbinger of spring.
259現present
Don’t think if a “gift” here, by of the PRESENT moment, as a distinct from the future and past. The kanji gives us a BALL in which we see the PRESENT– obviously a crystal BALL that enables us to SEE things going on at the PRESENT in faraway places.
332枚a sheet of
In English, flat objects are SHEETS. This kanji depicts the TASKMASTER whipping a TREE into producing more sheets against it’s will.
328津haven
You see tiny boats throwing poor mortals in a stormy sea like so many corks, the Great Master took it’s BRUSH and drew little inlets of WATER where the hapless creatures might seek shelter. A safe place which is what we call a HAVEN.
235兆portent
Depicts a back of a turtle, the two sloping vertical strokes representing the central ridge and the four short strokes the pattern. Think of reading turtle shells as a way to foretell the future, and in particular things that PORTEND coming evils.
233膜membrane
The PART OF THE BODY first affected by a walk in the GRAVEYARD is the skin, which gets goosebumps. We save the kanji for “skin” and use MEMBRANE instead. Think of being scared through and through that the goose flesh moves from the outside in, giving you goose MEMBRANES
231墓grave
The mounds of SOIL with crude wooden crosses set at their head suggests those boot-hill GRAVES (on a rocky hill) that comes from cowboy lore. Odd thing is SOIL comes UNDER the graveyard, rather to it’s left, where we might expect. Just think of the bodies as “lying under boot-hill”
361成turn into
Let the phrase “turn into” suggest some sort of a magical change. What happens here is that the PARADE marching down Main Street TURNS INTO a DAGGER-throwing bout between competing bands. Note how only one stroke has to be added to make the change.
343詰packed
A piece of writing that is pregnant with meaning and needs to be reread several times to be understood we refer to colloquially as “packed.” The character sees the WORDS as sealed tightly inside an AEROSOL CAN.
307高tall
First we see the MOUTH under the extraterrestrial’s glass HOOD, and then the MOUTH under the TOP HAT of one of his mates who has tried on the strange earthling’s headgear only to find that it makes him look much, much TALLER than everyone else.
261皇emperor
An EMPEROR, as we all know is a ruler– something like a KING but higher in status. The WHITE BIRD perched above the KING, elevating him to IMPERIAL heights, is the messenger he sends back and forth to the gods to request advice and special favors, something that WHITE BIRDS have long done in folklore throughout the world.
292格status
If you see TREES as a STATUS symbols (as they might be if you live in Japan’s congested cities, where greenery has become something of a luxury item), then EACH might be aiming to have his/her own TREE, just to keep up with the Suzukis.
298条twig
Gellopto to made WALKING LEGS for his little Pinocchio from two TWIGS of a TREE, giving him a set of “TWIGGY” shanks.
312京capital
When we think of a CAPITAL city, we think of TALL skyscrapers dwarfing the endless swarms of LITTLE folk scurrying here and there about our business.
239状status quo
Did you ever hear the legend if the TURTLE who fell in love with a CHIHUAHUA but could not have her because their two families did not like the idea of their children intermarrying? Like all stories of Ill-fated love, this one shows the young upset the STATUS QUO with an emotion older and more powerful than anything: Blind love
392延prolong
This character is kind if pictographic image of how PROLONGING is a clever way of STOPPING things by trying to STRETCH them out a little bit at a time (the extra DROP at the top of STOP) by imagining yourself prolonging something, you can really, physically, stretch.
362城castle
A mound of DIRT being TURNED into a CASTLE (the imagination of your child like mind on a beach)
252茶tea
Tea is made from tea leaves, but the tea plant itself has it’s on FLOWERS, which can be quite beautiful and add a special flavor to the tea. With the image of a terrace of a FLOWERING tea bushes, picture a number of brightly painted and very long WOODEN POLES. With a tiny UMBRELLA at the top to shade the delicate tasting tea FLOWERS.
247告revelation
Folklore throughout the world tells us of talking animals who show a wisdom superior to that of human beings, and that same tradition has found it’s way into television shows and cartoons to our own century. character depicts REVELATION through the MOUTH of a COW, suggesting oracular utterances about truths hidden to human intelligence.
245牛cow
Can you see the doodle of a cow that has been run over by a steam roller? The small dot in the first stroke shows it’s head turned to one side, the next two strokes the four legs.
329牧breed
When it’s time to BREED new cattle, the bull is usually willing but the COW is not. This the TASKMASTER to the right forces the COW into a compromising position, so to speak, so that she and her mate can BREED. Cow needs the TASKMASTER to BREED, to do the dirty deed.
268柱pillar
The pillar here is the WOODEN beam that stands at the entrance to a traditional Japanese house. Carve it in imagination into the shape of a gigantic CANDLESTICK and your work is done.
230漠vague
Think of the keyword having to do with something viewed through a haze, or in the twilight and from a distance, so it’s outlines are VAGUELY discernible. Now we are back again to the essence of the true GRAVEYARD. WATER maybe taken as the waves crashing up against the rocks, anything that helps you associate vagueness with the graveyard and keep it distinct from the imitations we met in the last frame.
295額forehead
As Miss Manners will be the first to tell you, out of respect, one does not look straight into the eyes of one’s GUESTS, but focus on the top button of their collar. Here, however, you are told to look above the eyes to the FOREHEAD of your GUEST.
256玉jewel
The DROP here in the KING’S SCEPTER, which is exactly what you would expect it to be: a precious JEWEL handed down from of old as a symbol of his wealth and power. (A drop of Jewel)
360茂overgrown
The sense of the keyword overgrown is of something growing luxuriously, through not necessarily in excess– in this case a whole PARADE of weeds (outcast FLOWERS). By way if exception, the FLOWERS take their normal place OVER the enclosure.
270銑pig iron
Pig Iron refers to iron on the crude form in which it emerges from the smelting furnaces. Or all the various forms METAL can take, this one shows us metal BEFORE it has been refined. Imagine two photographs labeled “BEFORE” and “AFTER” to show the process.
351諾consent
The WORDS of the YOUNG do not have legal validity unless backed up by “parental CONSENT” even if a little girl says FUCK ME, it doesn’t have parental consent.
209相inter-
The prefix INTER- stirs up associations if cooperation among people. “TREE…EYE” with only a slight leap of imagination, those two words call to mind the scriptural proverb about taking the block of TIMBER out of one’s own EYE before helping your neighbors remove the splinters in their eyes. What a more useful rule for INTER-human relationships.
373頻repeatedly
After someone broke my heart, it kept occurring in my HEAD repeatedly, over and over again, as if having one’s HEAD WALKED on
269金gold
We want to depict bars of GOLD bullion with an UMBRELLA overhead to shade them from the heat ( perhaps to hide them as well) the bullion is made by melting down all the SCEPTERS of the kingdom, DROP by DROP, and shaping them to bars.
216未not yet
Suggests something not quite done yet. More concretely, it shows is a TREE that shows new branches spreading out, leaving one with feeling that the TREE has a ways to go before it reaches maturity.
207朴crude
As all magicians who have passed their apprenticeship know, one makes one’s WAND out of a hazel branch and is careful not to alter the natural form of the WOOD. For the magic wand derives it’s power from its association with the hidden laws of nature, meaning the tree must be kept in it’s CRUSE form.
303運carry
The man who time traveled to our world is being picked up by a row of CHARIOTS swinging down low to our ROADS to CARRY them back to their home.
253合fit
The kanji FITS literally, top to bottom, as a MEETING of MOUTHS, which is a rather descriptive way of speaking of a romantic kiss. This kanji invites us to imagine what happened to the romance of a certain unfortunate couple whose MOUTHS didn’t FIT.
305夢dream
To have a DREAM after going to bed us really the CROWN to a perfect EVENING. The FLOWER petals over the EYES (instead of the “sand gunk” that Westerners are used to finding when they awake in the morning) only confirm the image of a pleasant DREAM.
391建build
To construct a BUILDING, you first draw a set of plans (DRaw with the writing BRUSH) and then s-t-r-e-t-c-h your drawing out to scale in reality.
206枯wither
What makes a TREE to Wither up, and perhaps even die, is a kind of arteriosclerosis that keep saps from flowing freely. Usually this is due to simple OLD age, as this character shows us. Picture a wrinkled OLD TREE withering away.
398装attire
The character for ATTIRE can be remembered as a picture d what we may call a “TURTLE-SAMURAI” sweater. At the top we see the TURTLE-SAMURAI and then bottom the element for GARMENT.
250介jammed in
The idea of getting something jammed into is depicted by having a WALKING STICK get JAMMED INTO an UMBRELLA frame by someone shoving it into a occupied umbrella slot by the door. Left is the curved handle, right is the stick. Imagine two people tugging their properties like two kids in a restaurant.
301軍army
The CROWNED VEHICLE here is a “chariot”, symbol of an ARMY.
355弐II (two)
This is an older form of the Kanji for TWO. Think of TWO arrows in a QUIVER, standing up like the numeral II
324学study
The CHILD in the little red school house, he is there to do the one thing, which is STUDY. Everyone through schooling knows well enough that STUDY and learning are different. A child in the schoolhouse is only there for one thing, studying.
371歩walk
FOOTPRINTS that follow one another a FEW at a time indicate walking.
399裏back
An innocent looking TOP HAT AND SCARDT lying there in front of you, turned over, reveal a hidden COMPUTER sewn into the BACK of each– obviously the tools of a master spy. Such experiences teach one always to have a look at the BACK side of things.
271鉢bowl
Let bowl suggest a large and heavy GOLDEN bowl into which you are throwing all the BOOKS you own to mash them into pulp, for some outrageous reason you will have to think up yourself.
219味flavor
A tree that has NOT YET finish growing, it produces fruit with a full flavored when the official taster (the MOUTH to the left) determines that full FLAVOR has been reached, the tree is pruned (cutting limbs) back so that it remains permanently NOT YET grown. Pruning is used to stimulate fruit growth
347語word
The character for SAY focused on the actual talking, the kanji for WORDS stresses that fact that although it is “I” who SAY them, the WORDS of a language are not my own. You can see the clear distinction between I and WORDS just by looking at the kanji.
375企undertake
To UNDERTAKE a project is to take some idea floating in the air and STOP it do that it can be brought down to earn and become a reality. Here we see some UNDERTAKING made to STOP under a beach UMBRELLA.
397裁tailor
You might think here of GARMENTs that have been specially TAILORED for THANKSGIVING celebration to look like traditional Pilgrim garb.
221朱vermilion
The orange-red color we call VERMILLION is found in nature during the fall when the leaves lose their sugar and begin to change color. Depicts the last leaf on a tree in the fall (the drop hung on the first stroke), the final leaf have NOT YET fallen as it one day must. Look at its color–VERMILLION.
218沫splash
The splash refers to the dash of WATER against the rocks, with all the foam and spray that this creates. If you think of SPLASH in a sense that a wave has run it’s full course and reached its EXTREMITY, namely the seashore, and you can remember this somewhat rare kanji.
277道road-way
When in traffic, we are NECK and NECK to the car next to us who is also annoyed about how long they have been stuck on the same ROAD. We refer to traffic as bottleNECK
251界world
As the WORLD gets more JAMMED with more and more people, there is less and less space. Imagine yourself taking an air flight over a WORLD so densely populated that every bit of it is sectioned off like a gigantic checkerboard(RICE FIELD). You can see movement taking place as more is being JAMMED INTO that already narrow space.
321壮robust
Robust means strong and vigorous, meaning healthy. What is more stronger than a TURTLE SAMURAI. Like the Ninja Turtle!
318週week
Picture a ROAD with 7 markets in it, One for each day of the WEEK. When you have walked one complete LAP on this road, you shall have competed a week.
296夏summer
In the summer, beaten by the heat, your HEAD hangs down nearly as far as your WALKING LEGS, or rather, your “dragging legs”
