Lesson 3 Flashcards
Olden times
[35]
旧
olden times = good old days
a literal old sun walking with a walking stick
- walking stick, sun/days
oneself
[36]
自
The little drop that mother nature placed between your eyes, your nose. Japanese people point to their nose when they refer to themselves.
*a drop of (something), eye
*P: oneself/nose, nostrils
white
[37]
白
one drop of sunlight contains all the primary colors, making it white
*a drop of (something), sun
*P: white/ white bird, dove
hundred
[38]
百
The Japanese refer to a person’s 99th birthday as a “white year” because ‘white’ is the kanji you are left with if you subtract ‘one’ from a ‘hundred’.
One year past your “white year” is your hundredth year
*one, white
in
[39]
中
Remember the trouble your mother had getting medicine in your mouth? Chances are it crossed her mind more than once to grab something handy, like your grandfather’s walking stick, to pry open your jaws while she gets the medicine in you.
*walking stick, mouth
thousand
[40]
千
Imagine squeezing two more zeros out of an eyedropper alongside the number ten to make it a thousand.
*a drop of (something), ten
tongue
[41]
舌
Think of a thousand mouths able to speak the same language, or as we say “sharing a common tongue”. If you take the saying literally you can imagine a single tongue being passed around from mouth to mouth.
*thousand, mouth
measuring box
[42]
升
This is the character for the little wooden box that the Japanese use for measuring things, as well as for drinking sake out of. Simply imagine the outside as spiked with a thousand sharp needles, and the quaint little measuring box becomes a drinker’s nightmare!
*thousand, needle
rise up
[43]
昇
By counting the number of times the sun rises up (sunrises), you can measure the number of days in a year. Image of counting the days by scooping up small suns with the measuring box.
*sun, measuring box
round
[44]
丸
you just need to add the tiniest drop to nine to make it a round number, ten.
*P: round/fat
measurement
[45]
寸
This kanji used to stand for a small measurement used prior to the metric system, a bit longer than an inch, and from there acquired the meaning of measurement. In the old system, it was one-tenth of a shaku (frame 1151). The character is one drop of a ten (with an added hook).
*a drop of (something), ten
*P: glue/glued to
elbow
[46]
肘
Instead of the familiar “grease” we usually associate with the elbow of someone hard at work, the kanji gives us a part of the body that has been glued to its task.
*part of the body, glue/glued to
specialty
[47]
専
A specialty refers to one’s special “field” of endeavor or competence, the area they are good at. Few people remain content with a single specialty and usually extend themselves in other ‘fields’ as well. This is how we come to get the picture of ten fields glued together to represent a specialty.
*ten, rice fields, glue (ten rice fields glued together)
Dr.
[48]
博
Think of a Dr. who is a specialist with a needle (an acupuncturist) and let the drop at the top represent the period at the end of Dr.
*needle, drop, specialty
*P: acupuncturist (w/o the needle)
P: magic wand
卜
A walking stick with a drop of a magic stone on top turns it into a magic staff/wand.
*drop, walking stick
*P: magic wand/fortune-telling
fortune-telling
[49]
占
A magic wand plus a mouth = fortune telling!
*magic wand, mouth
above
[50]
上
The primitives show a magic wand standing above a floor - magically.
*magic wand, floor
below
[51]
下
The magic wand was hanging just below the ceiling, all on its own.
*ceiling, magic wand
eminent (famous and respected w/in a particular sphere)
[52]
卓
The word eminent suggests a famous or well-known person. So all you need to do - given the primitives of a magic wand and a sunflower - is to think of the world’s most eminent magician as one who uses a sunflower for a magic wand (like a flower-child who goes around turning the world into peace and love).
*magic wand, sunflower
P: mist
left half of 朝
Mist falls early in the morning, like little needles of rain, to assure that the sunflower blooms early as we have learned it should.
*needle, early/sunflower
morning
[53]
朝
On the right we see the moon fading off into the first light of morning, and to the left, the mist that falls to give nature a shower to prepare it for the coming heat. Imagine a crescent moon tilting over to spill mist on your garden of sunflowers.
*mist, moon
derision (mockery/ridicule)
[54]
嘲
The bad feeling of having done the wrong thing created by words spoken in derision often leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the one who speaks them. Kind of like the bad aftertaste you have in your mouth if you do the ‘wrong thing’ and go to bed without brushing your teeth - or what we call “morning mouth”.
morning mouth (mouth in the morning) > bad taste in mouth > speaking words of derision leaves a bad taste in my mouth
*mouth, morning
