RTK Lesson 3 Flashcards
Walking Stick
丨
*Primitive Element
A cane or walking stick. Quite pictographic. It carries with it the association of lameness, or whatever else one associates with a cane. SOMETIMES it is laid on its side, but when it is, it is driven through the middle of something. Thus, it will not to be confused with “one.”
A drop of
丶
*Primitive Element
The meaning of this mark is obvious from the moment you see it. But what, exactly is it a drop of?
In general this is written from right to left, but sometimes it is slanted left to right.
Olden Times
旧
(Walking Stick, Day)
A walking stick is needed for days of Olden Times, and since days, too, get old, at least insofar as we refer to them as the “good old days.”
Oneself
自
(Drop of, Eye)
Japanese point to their nose when referring to themselves. The nose, which can be thought of as a little drop that Mother Nature has placed between the eyes.
*This primitive can maintain its meaning of Oneself, but it may be better to remember it as Nose or Nostrils, both because of the story linked above, and that it is the first element in the kanji for nose.
White
白
(Drop of, Sun)
The color white is a mixture of all the primary colors, as we see when a prism breaks up the rays of the sun. Thus, a single drop of sun spells white.
*As a primitive this Kanji can maintain its meaning, or take on a more graphic meaning of White Bird or Dove. This is because it appears on the top of the kanji for bird.
Hundred
百
(One, White)
Japanese refer to a persons 99th birthday as a “white year” because white is the kanji you are left with when you subtract one from a hundred. Think one plus white year is a hundred.
In
中
(Walking Stick, Mouth)
Getting something IN from the outside. Like prying open a resistant mouth with grandpa’s walking stick to get medicine in.
Thousand
千
(Drop of, Ten)
As we see a drop of above ten, think of an eyedropper trying to squeeze two more zero’s alongside the number ten to make a thousand.
Tongue
舌
(Thousand, Mouth)
Mouth and Thousand naturally form the idea of tongue when one thinks of a thousands mouths able to speak the same language, or as we say, “sharing a common tongue.” See the image literally; a single tongue bring shared by thousands of mouths.
Measuring Box
升
(Thousand, Needle)
This is the character for the little wooden box the the Japanese use to measure things, as well as for drinking saké out of. Imagine the outside spike with a thousand needles and this quaint measuring box becomes a drinker’s nightmare!
Rise Up
昇
(Sun, Measuring Box)
To measure the sun we need to start from where it shall Rise Up from. By the way, that is the Land of the Rising-Up Sun.
Round
丸
(Drop of, Nine)
When we speak of “round numbers,” or “rounding a number off,” we mean to add an insignificant amount to it to bring it to the nearest ten. For instance, if you add just a wee bit, the tiniest drop, to nine, you end up with a round number.
*As a primitive, this takes the meaning of a fat man. Think of a grotesquely fat man whose paunch so covers the plate that he is always getting hit by the pitch. Hence a round baseball player becomes fat man.
Measurement
寸
(Drop of, Ten)
This Kanji once stood for a small measurement before the metric system was introduced to Japan. It meant one-tenth of a shaku. The character appropriately represents a drop of ten (with a hook!).
*As a primitive, we shall use this to mean glue, or glued too. It is so common that a story is not necessary.
Elbow
肘
(Part of the Body, Glue)
We say “elbow grease” when we associate someone hard at work. This Kanji gives us part of the body that has been glued to the task.
Speciality
専
(Ten, Rice Fields, Glue)
Regions in Japan are famous for their specialities, whether its Shizuoka strawberries, Aomori apples, or Niigata saké. The thing to remember is that the whole region, or an area comprised of many fields are working together to make the speciality. Thus, ten fields glued together shall produce some sort of speciality.
