227 Creating a Crack on Animal Bone for Divination in Ancient China (甲骨文字)

甲骨文・上海博物館

For quite some time, I wished to see with my own eyes what the backs of the oracle bones from the Shang 商 dynasty (in Japan, 殷Yin is more frequently used) looked like. Last December, at the small calligraphy museum in Tokyo, I was thrilled to find an oracle bone that was flipped over, showing two rows of deep wedge-shaped notches by knife. The glass display case was so low that I had trouble seeing the details, so I started to take a photo for a later examination. My excitement quickly dissipated when a museum staff member walked up and told me to delete the photos taken from my iPad. She repeated, “No photos, even without the use of a flash”. (In contrast, The Tokyo National Museum allows you to take photos if no flash is on.)

Since then, I have been looking for an image of the back side of an oracle bone. Just the other day, I came across three interesting video clips on the Internet. I am going to share these short video clips here with the links for our readers. The first and the third ones are from the Smithsonian. (The Smithsonian Institution is a group of museums, libraries, and education centers created and supported by the U.S. Government. Many of the facilities are located in and around Washington, D.C.). The second video is from BBC, U.K.

Video 1. Oracle Bone, Shang Dynasty (3 minutes 46 seconds)

Link: https://smarthistory.org/oracle-bone/ on Smarthistory

Two researchers from the National Museum of Asian Arts (Smithsonian) visit the Shanghai Museum in China and discuss an oracle bone that has an inscription on an oxen shoulder bone from 1191-1181 B.C.E. Their conversation gives you a general explanation about oracle bone scripts.

Video 2. Oracle Bones of The Shang Dynasty | Harry Potter: A History Of Magic | BBC Select (3 minutes 47 seconds)

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHYF-o7tQ4o

This video is from the BBC. At 1:05, outside with a fire going on the ground, two British scholars (from the University of Edinburgh and an archaeologist) try to create a dent in the back of the bone by applying the tip of a burning wooden rod, hoping a crack or two would appear on the right side. They succeeded.

The curators at the British Library discuss a few bones, including the view of the back side of the bone with two rows of deep dents where heat was applied (at 2:58).

Video 3. This 3000-year-old “Oracle Bone” Helps Pick a Shang Dynasty Queen (3 minutes 28 seconds) on Smithsonian Channel

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmpGLb5_K3g

Another video on the Smithsonian Channel includes a reenactment of a divination ritual in the Shang dynasty. The dramatized reenactment demonstrates the fact that how cracks on the surface were to be interpreted even in ancient times was a mystery (or even arbitrary). At 0:40, a researcher at the National Museum of Asian Art discusses an actual historical bone shown in the picture on the left here.

After seeing three samples (including the one I could not bring home), I now think that there may have been more than one method of creating cracks in the bone. But for now, much of my curiosity has been satisfied.

Oracle bones were processed with heat and a knife to carve in the first place and were buried in the ground for over three thousand years until the turn of the 20th century. On top of that, they were transported to various places in less-than-perfect protective wrapping; the fragile bones were even more fragmented and damaged. A new excavation in ancient sites may produce more bones, and researchers may share their new findings with new technology with the public.

My final thought. A large part of oracle bone-style scripts are pictographic, and we can identify their intended original meanings with some imagination. The creators of oracle bone scripts succeeded in capturing the intended meaning in such a simple yet strong image. During the preparation of The Key to All Joyo Kanji (2023), I was always amazed at the simplicity, lifelike imagery, and straightforwardness of the oracle bone script. Sometimes, I smiled at them. They reassured me that I was looking at the beginning of kanji and that there is an unmistakenly link in writing between ancient creators and modern users like us. Thank you very much for your reading. Noriko (April 19, 2024)

If you are new to this blog, I invite you to read the previous articles in which I analyzed the photos of oracle bones I took at the Tokyo National Museum and the photo from Yomiuri Shinbun.

• (1) No. 218-The Oracle Bone at Tokyo National Museum 2 東京国立博物館の甲骨文　August 31, 2022. https://kanjiportraits.wordpress.com/2022/08/31/the-oracle-bone-at-tokyo-national-museum-2/

• (2) No. 140-Oracle Bone Writings at Tokyo National Museum and the Kanji 王旺士仕 王・旺・士・仕　November 13, 2016.

• (3) No. 91-The Kanji 徳待役後従 – ぎょうにんべん 徳・待・役・後・従 (1) October 25, 2015. The photo was from Yomiuri Shinbun.

226 Cowries as Money in Kanji (2) – Bronze Vessels for Cowries from the Dian Kingdom – The kanji 貯

1. The Kanji 貯 from a Bronze Vessel to Keep Cowries

Many pictographic characters came from objects used in the life of ancient times. In the previous posting, we saw that the shape 貝 originated from a domed-shaped marine mollusk called cowrie (cowry) that was used as money to exchange goods. Among the 2,136 Joyo kanji, in addition to 23 kanji discussed under the Common shape 79a 貝 “shell, monetary value; valuable” in The Key to All Joyo Kanji (numbered SG-1693 through SG-1716), 20 more kanji contain the component 貝, extending its meanings from a shell to money, valuable stuff, trade, wage, substance, fortune, poverty, celebratory, purchase, to penetrate (from a string of cowries) and so on.

In the lineage of the kanji 貯 “to save up, lay up,” the earliest character in the oracle-bone style of the Shang (Ing) period, 1, had a domed-shaped cowrie inside the vessel, which had a lid at the top and feet at the bottom. In bronzeware-style characters 2 and 3, the vessel and the cowrie are separated to the top and the bottom. In the seal style, 4, following the general rule that bushu used as a semantic element is to be placed on the left and the phonetic element placed on the right side was observed. In kanji, the vessel was split into 宀 and 丁 for the sound cho and the meaning. According to Ochiai (2022: 755-757), the same origin also became the kanji 價(価) “price, value.” Having a lot of cowries in an ornate bronze vessel to keep cowries called 貯貝器 was the symbol of family wealth and social position.

2. Bronze Vessels for Cowries from the Dian Kingdom 滇国

The ancient Dian Kingdom was situated in the Yunnan 雲南 region in the extreme southwest corner of China, neighboring current Myanmar (Burma), Laos, and Vietnam from the third to first centuries BCE. In contrast, the capitals of the ancient dynasties, such as Anyang 安陽 (1 on the map on the left) for Shang 商/Ing 殷, Xianyang 咸陽 (2) for Western Thou 西周, Luoyang 洛陽 (3) for Eastern Thou 東周, Xi’an 西安 (4) for Qin 秦 and the Eastern Han 前漢 were all located along the Yellow River 黄河 kooga, which runs in the northern region of China (Map on the left).

The last king of the Dian kingdom 滇国 (tenkoku in Japanese) was defeated by the Han emperor Wu 武帝, the emperor who restored the Han dynasty (後漢 gokan in Japanese, Later Han, or 東漢 Eastern Han). It was only as recently as the 1950s, when the archeological excavation of the Yunnan region began, and many bronze artifacts that illustrated the various aspects of life vividly were found in the tombs in the kingdom.

Fifteen years ago, the Chinese National Museum brought some of their treasured bronze artifacts to the Tokyo National Museum. Luckily, I was in Japan for the New Year holiday then and got to see the exhibit. The intricate beauty of the work exhibited fascinated even my young family member and he took a couple of photos (the photo on the left). It is the view of the lid of the cowrie vessel named 祭祀場面銅貯貝器 “The bronze cowrie vessel of religious rite scene” that was placed on a round drum-shaped vessel with the feet and handles with tigers. It is dated between the second and first centuries BCE. Under the roof of the raised floor structure to which the guests walked up the stairs, the chief celebrant or nobleman sat on a tall chair to have a feast with the guests who sat on the floor. On the left of the chief celebrant, people are dissecting sacrificial animals for the rite; on the right are various animals being kept; and behind him includes a man tied to a pillar for sacrificial killing in a rite for an abundance of a harvest. Yes, a human sacrifice. I was quite taken aback when I realized it. I am citing this description from a printed book (『悠久の美』), but out of respect to the copyright, I do not show you them here. Instead, I searched the Internet for our readers to see the details of the scenes. There are a few sites that one can make out with the help of a translation feature on a computer or smartphone.

3. A few links that have photos of bronze cowrie vessels and other artifacts from the Dian kingdom

(a) The first site is https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20210318A03QOJ00.  This shows the details of the scene in my photo 祭祀場面銅貯貝器 from the various sides.

(b) The next is 祭祀場面銅貯貝器 Copper shell storage vessel for sacrificial scenes, the same name as (1), but more gruesome. https://baike.baidu.hk/pic/祭祀場面銅貯貝器/8244420/1/242dd42a2834349b033bae578fbd02ce36d3d4391093?fr=lemma&ct=single#aid=1&pic=d53f8794a4c27d1e3098fe741bd5ad6edcc438c0

For English explanation: https://baike-baidu-hk.translate.goog/item/%E7%A5%AD%E7%A5%80%E5%A0%B4%E9%9D%A2%E9%8A%85%E8%B2%AF%E8%B2%9D%E5%99%A8/8244420?_x_tr_sl=zh-TW&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

(c) The third one 西南シルクロード紀行』 -第2章石寨山 の青銅器文化.  The site is maintained by a group of Japanese people who travel along the Silk Road and other areas on bicycles as a hobby—a fascinating idea. The site shows a few different bronze cowrie vessels. Even though it is written in Japanese, you may be able to find a way to translate it into your language.  The URL is https://silkroad-tanken.sakura.ne.jp/katsudou_tp16/others/shishido_seinan_silkroad/shishido_seinan_2/shishido_seinan_silkroad_2_.html. In particular, 青銅器４「殺人祭り」というすごいネーミングの貯貝器. In the religious service wishing for an abundance of the harvest, sacrificial offerings were not limited to animals but included a human sacrifice, possibly a criminal. The depiction is so real, and we can see that one body is missing a head.

4. The Gold Seal of the Dian King

Before we leave the topic of the kanji 貯, there is something that can relate to Japanese history – The gold seal of the Japanese king given by Han.  After the Dian kingdom was defeated and resolved into the Han dynasty, the Dian culture diminished and was forgotten. Some scholars were even skeptical about whether the excavation site was indeed the ancient Dian kingdom or not until the gold seal of the Dian king (photo above) was discovered in one of the tombs. It coincides with the description in a Chinese chronicle (Chronicle 史記) that when the Dian king surrendered, the Han emperor Wu gave him the gold seal in 109 BCE. The handle of the gold seal has a coiled snake, and the characters are engraved. This characteristic of the Dian king’s seal is also found in another gold seal 160 years later — In 57 CE, when a Japanese king sent an envoy to the Chinese Han court, the Emperor gave him a gold seal. That was 漢委奴国王の印 “the seal of the Japanese king given by (Emperor Guangwu 光武帝 of) Han.” Please read the previous posting 8 The Gold Seal of the Ancient Japanese King 漢委奴国王印. (The photo below is from a postcard by Fukuoka City Museum.) The gold seal of the Japanese king is the oldest written kanji found in Japan.

 I hope that the links I cited work in your country and that you can get a good translation into your language using the translation feature you might have. I am afraid that those links may not last for a long time.

I wish you and your family a happy and healthy 2024.  2024年が皆様にとってよいお年でありますように　 憲子 (January 14, 2024)

225 Cowrie as Money in Kanji (1)- The kanji 貝

A few years ago in the two postings, I discussed that the kanji 貝 came from a cowrie. ( #168-The Kanji 貝貨貯貢賃得負貿貴遺潰-”cowrie”貝 (1)  貝・貨・貯・貢・賃・得・負・貿・貴・遺・潰  2017年6月17日 and #169-The Kanji 実貫慣賛鎖価賜唄-“cowrie”貝 (2)  実・貫・慣・賛・鎖・価・賜・唄   2017年6月24日). In the new book The Key to All Joyo Kanji published this year, 23 kanji were discussed in the Cowrie group (except 続) (79a 貝 “shell, monetary value; valuable” [from a cowrie] 貝実売続得価買負貴敗貨遺賛賃貯貿貫慣貢鎖唄賜賭潰 (Williams 2023: 345-349). In this posting, I would like to share some photos of the cowries that I have taken. 

What is a cowrie?  The Oxford Dictionary explains it as “a marine mollusk that has a smooth, glossy, domed shell with a long narrow opening, typically brightly patterned and popular with collectors.” In Japanese it is called koyasugai 子安貝 or takaragai 宝貝.

1. The characteristics of the shape

The three photos on the left show three different views of one of the cowries that I got three decades ago at a souvenir shop in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia on our family trip. The sizes, colors, and patterns of various cowries vary such as creamy color and dark brown, with or without dot patterns on the dome. This particular sample above measures 70 mm x 52 mm x 37 mm in height and is on a large side. Cowries are known to live in warm oceans such as the Indian Ocean and, the Southern and Eastern China Sea. I have read that they also exist in Africa. For our interest in kanji history, the cowries that were used in ancient China came from the Southern China Sea, possibly by way of Vietnam.

2. Beginning of the kanji shape 貝

Even though the overall shape of a cowrie is a domed egg shape, the aperture side is flat because that is the side that the shell attaches itself to the rock at the sea bottom. The edges of the aperture usually have a teeth-like pattern. In the earliest oracle-bone style precursors of the kanji 貝 (such as 1 and 2 above) more than three thousand years ago those teeth-like shapes were also preserved in diagonal lines. The lines became horizontal lines in bronzeware writing (3 and 4), in seal-style writing (6), and further in kanji.

3. Cowries as money 貝貨

I noticed that the Oxford Dictionary also adds in its explanation of cowrie as “the flattened yellowish shell of the money cowrie, formerly used as money in parts of Africa and the Indo-Pacific area.” This description also applies to ancient Chinese use.

For the beauty and rarity of cowries in the inland life during the Ing 殷 (Shang 商) and Thou periods, they were treasured and used as currency to obtain other stuff. They were also used as prizes and valuable presents to give. The archeological find, such as the one shown on the left, tells us that the dome side of the shell was shaved flat and/or that a hole was drilled.(The photos of the ancient cowrie on the left are taken from the Bank of Japan site.) The holes were made to tie many shells together. Using two strands of cowries together also became the writing shown on the right: the non-Joyo kanji 朋 for the sound hoo. When イ bushu ninben added, it meant “friend; to help.” (The image is taken from Shirakawa 2004.)

4. Cowries as a charm?

Writing this article has been on my mind for quite some time. This afternoon at a craft shop called Michaels, when I was looking for some materials for a Halloween decoration, a puzzling surprise caught my eye. They were charms made of small cowries (the photo on the right.) What’s more, these two pairs of cowries were shaped into ancient money! – The dome was cut flat, exactly the way that archaeological finds look, except for gold and silver coloring. I examined the back of the sheet for the origin of the product. Like many inexpensive items (only $7) nowadays, they were from China. I began to wonder if there is a legend somewhere in the world, possibly in China, that a cowrie charm that looks like ancient money would bring you good fortune. These are not exactly pretty to me, but they may make a good conversation piece.

On my way back home, I also stopped by a large Korean supermarket. At the seafood section, on top of the glass case, there was a display of pretty seashells of various kinds from around the world, including a couple of large cowries. Seashells have the magical power to take us back to memories of the precious time by the ocean that we spent with family or friends. I may go down to the basement to pull out an old container of the seashells that we picked up at the Moroiso beach on the Miura Peninsula south of Tokyo many many years ago. There may be small cowries hidden there because I have read that some cowries live in the sea around Okinawa and Taiwan too.

Back to the kanji history. Precious cowries were kept in a special bronzeware container called 貯貝器 chobaiki. Using my photo of the bronzeware container from the first century B. C. I was planning to discuss a chobaiki in connection to cowrie. But, I came to realize, with quite a shock, just a few days ago that those bronzeware involve human sacrifice – not a subject one can talk lightly at all. It may take a little more time to get my mind settled a little.)

Happy and safe Halloween!  – Noriko (October 31, 2023)

224 Four Videos on Seal-style Writings in Modern Japan on PAGE

I have uploaded a four-part video series, “Discover Kanji Precursors in Modern Japan －町で発見漢字の古代文字 on a separate PAGE. These videos used to be on iTunes-U American University as a part of Bushu: the Kanji Makers video series, even though the videos were not exclusively about bushu. The story takes the form of our Auru Sensee visiting Japan and discovering that if you pay attention to your surroundings, you can come across many ten-style (seal-style) characters, not just in a seal imprint but also on dedication panels of stone steles, historical site signs, designs, etc.

In Part 1, Perry’s Black Ships and the Steles of Bakumatsu-Meiji Figures, we visited the Uraga channel at the mouth of Tokyo Bay, where the US squadron led by Commodore Matthew Perry first landed in 1853 amid the self-imposed isolation of the country (鎖国 sakoku). The story of the first encounter between a not-so-high-level Japanese official and Perry’s official conducted in Dutch is told along with the engraved prints that recorded them. (Years ago, my husband and I happened to obtain the first edition of Narrative of The Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan at an antiquarian bookstore in London, but I had never sat down and actually read the book until then. It turned out to be quite fascinating reading). Also, hearing my interest in Bakumatsu-Meiji era stone steles (石碑 sekihi), my old college friend brought the Shinpei Eto’s stele in Toranomon to my attention. The seal-style name of the old library of Keio University discussed in my earlier article is also revisited.

In Part 2, Steles in Kamakura and Japanese Writing History, we discuss the steles for tourists in Kamakura, a town I frequented since childhood. In addition to the seal-style writings, the background texts of these steles written in contemporary Japanese tell us how Japanese writing styles changed within a short period. The kanbun 漢文 (classical Chinese-style writing) translation of President Fillmore’s letter, which Perry brought for the Tokugawa bakufu 徳川幕府, posted on the online site of the National Diet Library, gives us an excellent chance to discuss how kanbun worked.

A personal seal called 判子 hanko is a day-to-day use for person proof in Japan in place of a signature. Part 3 Seals in Modern Japan begins with a Japanese king’s gold seal (金印 kin-in 漢委奴国王) during the Yayoi period, bestowed by a Late-Han emperor in 57 CE. Even though by that time kanji was used in China, 篆文 (ten-style characters), the last ancient character style, continued to be used in seal – thus, in English, seal style. It also discusses why some kanji have two on-readings 音読み (go-on and kan-on).

In Part 4 Designs Around the Town, we see some examples of designer’s writings inspired by ancient styles on a storefront sign, tourism ads, an inconspicuous panel in Yokohama Chinatown, and so on. We also look at an unlikely match of a modern graphic designer Kiyoshi Awazu and 3,300 years old oracle bone-style characters. With his artistic struggle to create images that are fresh, unsoiled, and unique in modern life, Awazu relived the creative life of ancient character creators by copying oracle bone-style characters. The seal-style characters called tensho (篆書) in Japanese are still practiced in calligraphy, and a modern book affirms that kanji is still intrinsically connected to the origin of each component.

You cannot live in Japan without kanji coming into view wherever you go. Those kanji just give you pragmatic information to help your life, and kanji become mundane and evoke no imagination. Years ago, when I first started to incorporate kanji origin into my classroom teaching, on my arrival in Japan in the summer, I felt like every street sign I saw from a bus, taxi, and train was challenging me with a puzzle – “Can you analyze those kanji into components and recall the ancient shape with the meaning for every component?” When I could solve it, I felt I was on the right track in pursuing my idea. But as I assimilated into Japanese life in a few days, such imaginations dissipated completely. I was disappointed but, at the same time, felt relieved because it was such an intense mental exercise. A similar experience happened for the following few summers. Next time you visit Japan, or you go out, if you live in Japan now, I suggest you try taking up this challenge yourself. It will give you an experience that no Japanese person sitting next to you on the train would imagine what your mind is doing. You probably will feel proud of yourself for being able to solve the puzzle.  – Have a good day. Noriko (May 22, 2023)

223 The Page for the 90 Bushu Video

Kanji learning is essentially self-study. A classroom teacher can spend little time on kanji because their time would be better spent teaching grammatical structures, vocabulary building, speaking skills, and reading comprehension. So, when I was a classroom teacher, I had to come up with various supplementary materials that our students could use outside class time. One was the etymology-based explanation of the lesson kanji named Illustrated Kanji Anatomy. The PDF files for the elementary-level textbook called Genki (published by The Japan Times) were shared on the publisher’s site, and over 150 Japanese teachers in many countries requested them by email. I am grateful to these classroom teachers for their interest and their students’ input. The Illustrated Kanji Anatomy eventually developed into my 2010 kanji reference book (The Key to Kanji – A Visual History of 1100 Characters).

Another teaching material for outside-of-class learning was the bushu video clip series of 90 bushu. Our students were assigned several bushu video clips and worked on a worksheet as homework, and in the classroom, when we had a short time left after a lecture, we would review the meaning of the bushu shapes with flashcards in a game style. It was a helpful and fun activity.

The readers of this blog may have advanced beyond that stage, but for those who would like to firm up the understanding that kanji is a composite of recurring parts, part of which is the bushu, I have revised the Page. The video clips may be repetitious if you watch many, but you might just pick a few that puzzle you. These video clips used to be open to the public on the old iTunes-U American University site since 2011. The iTunes-U was a venue that Apple offered to many academic institutions and not-for-profit organizations to post videos and PDFs for educational purposes in many countries. Apple discontinued iTunes-U worldwide in 2022.

The link to the Page is: https://wordpress.com/page/kanjiportraits.wordpress.com/217. (For some reason, there are five bushu that I am unable to upload at the moment. When I find the solution, I will add the links to them.)

Have a good weekend.  – Noriko (Apil 14, 2023)

222 The Key to All Joyo Kanji Minor Revisions

(1) Paper Book Revision (Paperback and Hardcover)

A newer version in a slightly smaller (8” x 10”) and lighter paperback and hardcover are now available. The inside remains the same. We just trimmed the blank spaces around the texts to make the book lighter and easier to handle. Accordingly, the prices at online and retail bookstores have been reduced a little in some markets.

During the transition period from the old paperback to the new paperback, you might find ordering a paperback a little tricky. Currently, for instance on the Amazon Japan site, for paperback books two prices are showing. Look for the one at 3,520 yen (including a 10% consumption tax in Japan) in the book size 8”x10” with the ISBN 979-8-218-18052-2, rather than the higher priced one in the book size 8.5”x 11”. (The two paperback books have different ISBN.)

(2) The eBook Application Revision

In the eBook version you can use the menu feature that the device provides as follows:

–Click the menu (three lines with dots), then the list of the Kanji Common Shapes and the kanji in the Kindle application (such as the one in the blue frame below) or Apple Book on iPhone (as in the red frame below) and iPad appears. The iPhone/iBook menu also shows the page numbers. When you touch the item with a finger or click it with your mouse, the book jumps to the corresponding page.

Please do not forget that there are four types of indices at the back of the book to find the kanji you are looking for. Regrettably, however, the feature to jump from the SG number on those indices to the corresponding page is not available at this point.

(3) Updating the Application

If your device shows only the SG number (with no kanji) in the earlier eBook (purchased in January through early February in 2023) of the Kindle device/application and Apple Books on iPhone/iPad, please REINSTALL the application (i.e., delete the application from your computer/device and reinstall it.) It may take a little time to update due to the large file size. Warning—you lose the notes you may have made in other books.

These minor revisions are made to help you to use the book easier. The contents are exactly the same as the original.

Hope you will find the book useful in your kanji study. Thank you for your reading. – Noriko (April 5, 2023)

221 Sample Pages for The Key to All Joyo Kanji and Free Kindle App

I. View as many as 49 sample pages on The Key to All Joyo Kanji online

A couple of days ago, a friend in Tokyo told me that you could view a substantial number of sample pages of The Key to All Joyo Kanji (from page 1 through page 49) on the Japanese Amazon site. The contents of the eBook and the paper books (paperback and hardcover) are the same, and it would give you a fuller picture of what this book is like. So, I did some digging.

The sample pages can be viewed on the amazon.co.jp site only. As of now, Amazon in other countries does not carry this feature. Here is how you do it:

1. Visit: amazon.co.jp

2. Type in Search: The Key to All Joyo Kanji. Three versions appear –  Paperback, Hardcover, and Kindle version.

3. Choose: the Kindle version

4. Click 試し読み tameshiyomi, which is the “Look Inside” feature. (It is located above the front cover image.)

5. Inside, you can view from the cover through page 49.

6. Please note: On the full version of the eBook, the page navigation of the 432 common shapes will allow you to jump to the corresponding page. Also, there are four types of indices at the end of the book to allow you to search for a particular kanji manually.

II. Read the eBook on your desktop or phone using Free Kindle App

I do not have a Kindle reader device myself. But now that I downloaded the free Kindle application, I can read the eBook version on my desktop. I am happy to have this additional access to the book. It will be convenient for a quick reference right on my desktop, as long as I can sign in to my Amazon account. Free Kindle applications can be downloaded at your local Amazon site in your own language. Here is what I did:

Notes on Apple Books: For some reason, there seems to be a delay in the availability of Apple Books on US devices. I have received a confirmation that the eBook is available on Apple Books on a Japanese device. Outside Japan, they are looking into the situation. Thank you for being patient. – Noriko (February 6, 2023)

[Update on February 8, 2023] I have been told that the region issue has been resolved now, and the eBooks version is available on Apple Books globally. Thank you for your patience. – Noriko

220 The eBook Version for THE KEY TO ALL JOYO KANJI

The eBook version of the new THE KEY TO ALL JOYO KANJI will be out on February 2, 2023, for two types of eBook readers, Amazon Kindle and Apple Books. A company in Tokyo (Voyager Japan) produced it this month and will start to sell it.

Page navigation and a lower price

In addition to the same contents as a paperback (and a hardcover book), the eBook version offers page navigation from the Kanji Common Shapes to jump to the appropriate page. Another advantage is that because it does not involve paper and binding, the price of an eBook could be set lower. Due to the nature of the manuscript containing 5,000 images (such as the common shapes, ancient characters, and kanji stroke orders) in tables, it uses a fixed-layout style (which means images and texts are fixed in exact positions like a page in a print book). Still, a reader should be able to zoom out with two fingers or a cursor on the computer screen. Because of the large file size, it may take time for your device to fully load. (Please read the update named 220 The Key to All Joyo Minor Revision dated 4/5/2023.)

Kanji book for a mature reader

Earlier, I wrote somewhere else that I was preparing a new Joyo kanji reference/study guide with a mature kanji learner in mind. Yes, “mature” was the word. The Key to All Joyo Kanji is intended for a reader who wants to take time to read about kanji and evaluate the explanation themselves based on historical evidence rather than for a quick fix for a kanji quiz the next day. A reader may come to a different interpretation. I very much welcome it because the more time readers spend thinking about kanji, the more likely their knowledge of kanji becomes internalized.

When I imagine someone wanting a book to read on a commuting train heading for work or classes or during lunch break as a desert for the mind, I feel that this additional eBook may have a place.

Have a good read!     – Noriko (January 28, 2023; Rev. Feb 8, 2023)

219 New Kanji Study Guide THE KEY TO ALL JOYO KANJI

I would like to announce that the new etymology-based Joyo kanji study guide/reference I mentioned earlier is finally published in paperback and hardcover and is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble online, and select retailer bookstores in the U. S. The full title is THE KEY TO ALL JOYO KANJI – A STUDY GUIDE USING COMMON SHAPES AND CHARACTER HISTORIES (字源と共通形による常用漢字の学習ガイド).

Fifteen years ago while I was preparing my 2010 kanji reference book primarily for Educational Kanji (The Key to Kanji – A Visual History of 1100 Characters 漢字絵解き. Boston), two facts came to my mind vividly. They are (1) Wherever the same shapes appear in multiple kanji, their meaning (and often sound) is also the same or closely related; and (2) The reason why the same shapes have the same or related meanings across multiple kanji is that they originated from the same origin.

It sounded overgeneralized and oversimplified. But, I thought it would be worthwhile to investigate because if we could group multiple kanji by the shape that they shared, it would allow a learner to focus on the commonality of member kanji while discriminating differences in an efficient, systematic way. It would give us a new way of understanding and retaining the memory of kanji. Cultivating such a view that extends over multiple kanji would be helpful for a kanji learner on an ambitious long journey of learning all 2,136 Joyo kanji.  

Two areas of research or analyses needed to be explored – the origin of the precursors and their development into kanji, and the analysis of components of present-day kanji.

The first step was the kanji etymology. Accounts of kanji origin differ tremendously depending on scholars. I believed that it was vital to have visual images of ancient precursors for me (and our future reader) to be persuaded or convinced of the validity of the account. My search for the photocopies of the precursors of Joyo kanji concluded when I obtained publications for kanji calligraphers [such as Akai 1985, 2010, and others] that contained oracle bone-style, bronzeware-style, and seal-style characters. I recreated more than 4,500 ancient characters by copying those photo images manually and electronically and then created the lineage of precursors for each kanji. Using Shirakawa (2004), which takes character shapes as a primary source for his account, and other accounts published in Japan, an English account of each kanji was written.

The second step was breaking down present-day kanji into components and looking for recurring shapes among them. Altogether 432 common shapes were identified, and all Joyo kanji were sorted into the 432 common shape groups. To guide a reader at different study stages, within a common shape group, its member kanji were rearranged by four study levels from level A (easiest) to D (most challenging). The research on the frequency of kanji use in Japanese publications by Yasuyo Tokuhiro (2014) was very helpful for our study-level designation. The reader can start (or start to review) with the easiest level to more complex kanji, while also reinforcing knowledge of previously learned kanji within the same common shape group.

• Level A (566 kanji) – Beginning level [JLPT N5 and N4]
• Level B (525 kanji) – Intermediate through Pre-advanced [JLPT N3 and N2]
• Level C (520 kanji) – Advanced I level [JLPT N1]
• Level D (525 kanji) – Advanced II level [JLPT N1]

Here is a sample of the table of the Kanji Common shapes. Each common shape row contains its origin, meaning, sound, and the starting SG (Study Guide) number of member kanji with the study level.

Each kanji has the following information:

keytoalljoyokanjitextfourpagesample-2The four-page text sample PDF can be downloaded for a quick examination.

Even though we use the information on historical development, our goal is not the knowledge of kanji history, but rather we develop our own skills to discern the exact makeup of each kanji through examination of the discrete unit of shape-meaning-sound that existed in their ancient precursors. History simply explains why the same shapes reappear in multiple kanji and that those kanji are closely related in meaning and/or sound.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

⭐️The eBook version not available at the moment: Please note that even though the paperback mentions the features of the eBook, it has been taken off the market due to technical issues at my request. I will let you know when it becomes available. [Update on February 8, 2012] The eBook version is now available both on Kindle and Apple Books.

⭐️The availability of a paperback and hardcover book outside the US: Because it came out in the market just a week ago in the US, the immediate availability outside the U. S. is not entirely clear yet. I am currently in Tokyo and have not had a chance to see a copy of the book myself. I wanted to purchase a copy from Amazon Japan (www.amazon.co.jp) to test how it works for readers in Japan. I carefully chose the lowest priced one at 4,315 yen for free delivery (about $33, which is what I expected for a $29.99 book on US Amazon and Barnesandnoble). The caveat is that it says “temporarily out of stock.” I am assuming that the physical books have yet to arrive in Japan. I will have to wait to see how this works out before I get my first copy in my hands!

Lastly, but not least importantly, I would like to thank all the readers of this blog since 2013, which formed the first steps in the years-long process of compiling and completing the project. I sincerely appreciate your continuous interest, encouragement, and comments both in private communication and via this site, and your extraordinary patience in waiting for me to complete my accounts of the entirety of the Jojo kanji. I hope you find the book interesting and valuable to your kanji study. – Noriko (January 10, 2023)

218 The Oracle Bone at Tokyo National Museum 2

Several years ago, in connection with the kanji 王旺皇士仕, I discussed a couple of photos of actual oracle bones from the exhibit at the Tokyo National Museum in the Ueno area in Tokyo (東京国立博物館, 東博). (Many of our readers may not have had a chance to read or remember it, so here is the link.) While I was in Tokyo this summer, I revisited the museum with my family, hoping to see more oracle bones that could be used for the front cover of my upcoming Joyo kanji study guide/reference (The Key to All Joyo Kanji – A Study Guide Using Kanji Common Shapes and Character Histories 共通形と古代文字による常用漢字の学習ガイド). To my great disappointment, only six oracle bones were displayed, all the same as I saw back in 2015. The only consolation I felt is that my new iPad camera may give us better photos with clearer resolution. In this posting, I am going to pick another bone with a new photo (shown on the left) and discuss it.

Part I Appreciating the real oracle bone

What oracle bone–style characters 甲骨文字 are about is explained briefly in the upcoming book as follows:

“In order to divine the future for the benefit of a ruler, a tiny indentation was drilled into a particular spot on the back of a tortoiseshell or an animal bone, to which heat was then applied using a burning stick or heated metal rod. The heat caused cracks to appear on the surface, which were then interpreted as messages from deities. The reading of the cracks was then chiseled onto the bone, in what is now called oracle-bone style characters.”

This oracle bone was chipped on two sides in the ground. Oracle bones are fragile and fragment after having been processed with holes and heat and buried in the grounds for more than three thousand years. However, because the sentence structure had a set pattern, scholars can fill the gap with the knowledge of other bones. On this bone, the eight characters in two lines at the bottom formed the main content text, with its duplicate above it. Oracle bone inscriptions usually had duplicates on either side – the right and the left or the top and the bottom. The characters on the right side, barely visible in the photo, were the record of the divination date. The eight characters read: 貞 旬 亡 □  王□曰吉. (□ indicates that there is no font)

The figure on the right side shows what the corresponding kanji would be for those ancient characters and their literal meanings.

[First vertical line] 貞 “divination; to inquire the deity’s will,” 旬 “(a cycle of) ten days,” 亡 “do not exist,” and □ (misfortune, ill luck).

[Second vertical line] 王 “king, ruler,” □ (???), 曰 “speaking,” and 吉 “good luck.”

The museum curator’s notes displayed by the side say that the inscription meant:  “The king divined (or inquired the deity) whether or not during the next ten days there would be misfortune. From the cracks that appeared on the bone, the ruler declared that there would be good luck.”

From the contents of the inscription, we can see that oracle bone–style characters, which were the oldest precursors to kanji, were created for communication between a ruler and deities in ancient China. The bone is quite small, no more than 4 inches long. And yet, seeing the actual bone that is still shining with life more than three thousand years later with my own eyes is quite moving. I wish more of these were readily available for us, the public, to enjoy rather than only for specialists.

Part II: Analysis of the Present-day Kanji －貞 旬 亡 王 曰 吉 曰

Now, let us connect those ancient characters we have just witnessed to the present-day kanji. The following are the excerpts from the upcoming book, which discusses all Joyo kanji in smaller groups of kanji that share common shapes with historical developments.

[SG-number: the order of kanji in the new book; Letter A, B, C, or D: study level designation; F-number: frequency-of-use order (the smaller the number, the more frequently used, from Tokuhiro 2014).]

1. The common shape 卜 “divination” [from cracks that appeared on an animal bone or a tortoiseshell when heated]   　 Kanji: 外点店占貼訃

2. The common shape 勹 “wrapping around”   Kanji: 均旬句拘匂勾

3. Common Shape 亡 “to disappear, not exist”; boo/ koo/ moo  Kanji: 亡忘荒忙盲慌

4. 王 “king” [from a large, ornate ax belonging to a king, symbolizing power]; oo Kanji: 王皇往旺

5. 吉 “good luck” [from a full container with a secure stopper]; kitsu/ ketsu  Kanji: 吉結

6. 曰 “to say; reason”

The kanji 曰 is not a Joyo kanji and is not discussed in the book. The kanji 曰 originally depicted a mouth from which a voice (some view it as the voice of a deity) is coming out; hence, “to say, speak.”  In Japanese, it is used for the phrases, such as 曰く付き /iwakutsuki/ “with a history,” and 彼曰く /ka’re i’waku/ “he said; what he said is…” In some fonts, it is difficult to differentiate 曰 “to say; reason” (wider, and the middle horizontal line is slightly shorter) from 日 “sun.”

Thank you very much for your reading. – Noriko (August 31, 2022)

217 A Few Notes On Kanji Bushu (部首)

1. Bushu 部首 as section headers in kanji compilation

Setsumon Kaiji Sample Page (許慎, 徐鉉)

In 100 AD, Kyoshin (許慎 Xu Shen in Chinese) compiled 9353 kanji and 1163 variant forms in Setsumon kaiji (説文解字 Shuowen Jiezi in Chinese) by putting all kanji in seal-style forms that had the same partial shapes into 540 sections (部). Each section had a header (首); thus, this classification method is called 部首 bushu (bushou in Chinese) “section header; section index.” The photo on the right shows two pages from the version by Xú Xuàn (徐鉉, 916–991) (The online database link to the Waseda University Library at the bottom). On the right page, the third line gives the bushu (called ukanmuri 宀 in Japanese) with its explanation. The entry kanji starts in line 5 in seal style. We see some kanji that became Joyo kanji in Japanese, such as 家宅室宣向, and on the left page, we see 奥宛宇院. By analogy with Western (or Romance) language analysis in which a word is treated as comprising a constant component as a root (radical) and a variable component as inflection, bushu is termed “kanji radical” in English. The present-day kanji dictionaries in Japanese usually use slightly over 200 bushu, depending on the dictionaries.

2. Top twenty most-used bushu

The distribution of a little over two hundred bushu seen in many kanji dictionaries is extremely lopsided, ranging from 118 entry kanji to 1 entry kanji per bushu among 2,136 Joyo kanji in Japanese.The top ten most frequently appearing bushu covers 776 kanji, which amounts to 36% of the Joyo kanji. They are: (1) 氵(水) bushu sanzui  “flowing water,” appearing in 118 kanji; (2) イ(人) bushu ninben “an act that a person does,” 99 kanji; (3) 扌(手) bushu tehen “an act done by hand,” 95 kanji; (4) 木 bushu kihen “tree, wood; wooden,” 85 kanji; (5) three variations of “heart, mind,” 心 bushu kokoro,忄 risshinben, and 㣺 shitagokoro, 76 kanji; (6) 口 bushu kuchi/kuchihen “mouth, a box of prayers,” 70 kanji; (7) 言 bushu gonben “word, language; to say,” 69 kanji; (8) 糸 bushu ito/itohen “thread, connection,” 64 kanji; (9) 辵 (辶) bushu shinnyuu/shinnyoo “to move forward,” 51 kanji; and (10) 土 bushu tsuchi/tsuchihen “dirt; soil,” 49 kanji.

If we include the next top ten appearing bushu, altogether, the top 20 bushu cover more than half (53%) of Joyo kanji. The next 10 most appearing bush are: (11) 艹 bushu kusakanmuri “plants, grass,” 47 kanji; (12) 月(肉) bushu nikuzuki “part of the body,” 44 kanji; (13) 貝 bushu kai/kaihen “cowrie, money, valuable,” 38 kanji; (14) 宀 bushu ukanmuri “house,” 37 kanji; (15) 日 bushu hi/hihen “the sun, bright,” 37 kanji; (16) 女 bushu onna/onnahen “woman, female, feminine,” 36 kanji; (17) 金 bushu kane/kanehen “metal; mineral,” 33 kanji; (18) 刀刂 bushu katana/rittoo “sword, knife; to cut,” 32 kanji; (19) 阝 bushu kozatohen (appearing on the left side of kanji) “tall hills, mountains, boundary, ladder,” 31 kanji; and (20) 火 灬 bushu hihen, rekka “fire,” 25 kanji.

Twenty bushu covering a little over half of all Joyo kanji is encouraging to us in the sense that we only need to learn a small number of bushu. On the other hand, when a single frequently appearing bushu has so many kanji entries, it loses the usefulness for discriminating many kanji. Knowledge of some bushu is helpful at the beginning level of kanji study, but beyond that, we have to look for other ways to strengthen our recognition and analytical skills. I will come back to this later.

3. Bushu names are in Japanese

Names of bushu are just nicknames given historically by educators and scholars for the ease of identifying a particular kanji in Japanese. For instance, (1) Hen (偏) means “a part on the left side,” such as イ ninben “person; an act done that a person does,” 彳 gyooninben “corssroads,” 禾 nogihen “rice crop,” ネ shimesuhen “religious matter,” 扌 tehen “an act done by hand”, 犭 kemonohen “animal,” 阝 kozatohen (on the left side) “boundary, hills, etc.,” 忄 risshinben “heart, emotion,” 衤 koromohen “clothing, collar.” (2) Kanmuri (冠) means “a crown,” such as 宀 ukanmuri “house, roof,” 艹 kusakanmuri “plant, vegetation”, 癶 hatsugashira “ready to start,” and 耂 oigashira “old person.” (3) Tare (垂れ) means “dangling, hanging” such as 疒 yamaidare “sick,” 厂 gandare “cliff,” 广 madare “eaves, canopy” and 尸 shikabane “dead body, roof, a slumped person, buttock.” (4) Nyoo (繞) means “clinging around,” such as 廴 ennyoo “to extend,” 辶 shinnyuu/shinnyoo “to move forward,” and 儿 ninnyoo “person.” (5) Tsukuri (旁) means the component “on the right side,” such as 攴/攵 bokuzukuri/nobun “to cause an action,” 殳 hokozukuri/rumata “to hit,” 刂 rittoo “to cut; knife,” and 阝oozato (on the right side) “town.”

Do we need to know the name of the bushu? I would say that knowing some names could be helpful when identifying a particular kanji in communication with other people, but beyond that, it is not important. The important thing is to recognize the shape and its meaning.

4. Bushu are based on kyuji

Using the traditional kanji dictionary, you may encounter some kanji listed in an unexpected bushu. This is due to the fact that bushu classification is based on kyuji 旧字 (used before 当用漢字 in 1946, precedents of Joyo kanji in 1981). Some kanji that you are likely to encounter are: Bushu 耳 for the kanji 声 from the kyuji 聲; bushu 至 for the kanji 台 from the kyuji 臺; bushu 黒 for 党 from the kyuji 黨; bushu 黑 for the kanji 点 from 點; bushu 曰 for the kanji 会 from the kyuji 會; bushu 虎 for the kanji 号 from the kyuji 號; bushu 臼 for the kanji 旧 from the kyuji 舊; bushu 貝 for the kanji 売 from the kyuji 賣, etc. There are kanji dictionaries that use new shapes as bushu based on shinji. Also for the order of kanji entry, some kanji dictionaries use bushu, and some use on-reading.

I used to encourage my former students to learn bushu with supplementary study materials because their textbooks did not teach bushu at all. I said bushu told us general semantic background information, and it was very useful. But as we have seen in (2) in this posting when a particular bushu appears in so many kanji, it can lose its effectiveness, and for more advanced learners we need to look further. In the upcoming study guide for Joyo kanji (tentatively entitled The Key to All Joyo Kanji), 432 common shapes are discussed with their kanji entries. Approximately 3 out of 10 kanji used traditional bushu as the common shapes. The rest is discussed with the components from other recurring components. The manuscripts are in the final proofreading stage. When it is all done, I hope to be able to share with our readers the sample of the list of common shapes. I appreciate your patience. Thank you very much for your reading. -Noriko (April 24, 2022)

The photo of Setsumon Kaiji: 許慎, 徐鉉「説文解字」 Place and year of publication: unknown. Page 26 https://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/ho04/ho04_00023/ho04_00023_0003/ho04_00023_0003.pdf Waseda University Library.

216 Kanji with Indicative Marker 2 (指事の要素を含む漢字 2)

In the last posting, we looked at the ten kanji (一二三八十末本上下百) that are classified as Indicative kanji 指事文字/shijimoji/ in Shirakara (discussed as Reference ①). The numerals such as 一二三八十百 were represented by the number of lines, and the locational notions such as “end, base, above, below” (末本上下) were shown by placing a line on another existing shape that is used as a referent. A line does not carry its own meaning but is used to point out a particular spot within a set space. In our exploration, we call this line “an indicative marker.” We also looked at ten more kanji (四半分刀刃世朱未白) that were closely related to those indicative kanji and saw what started as a simple indicative marker created multiple kanji by combining other shapes. Different views on formation type classification found in two other references are also mentioned: References ②-the Kanjigen dictionary and ③-the Kangorin dictionary (shown in [①, ②, ③]).

In this posting, I would like to continue with more kanji that contain an indicative marking stroke. We will see that among some kanji that are typically classified as Pictographic kanji (象形文字), Semantic composite kanji (会意文字), Semantic-phonetic composite kanji (形声文字) and Borrowing kanji (仮借文字), an indicative marking is also used.

1. A line above a person (大天夫元)

The kanji 天 and 夫 are derived from the kanji 大 “large, grand,” which depicted a standing person facing front (a pictographic kanji). For the kanji 天 “the sky, heaven, the top; by nature,” Reference ① explains that it was the top of a person’s head or above that, i.e., the sky. (a pictographic kanji). On the other hand, References ② and ③ take the line above a person (大) as an indicative marker that points out the space above the person (an indicative kanji). The kanji 夫 had a line through one’s head, which is explained as a hair accessory of a bridegroom by Reference ① (and ②). In this view, the line is an integral part of the bridegroom, inseparable from him; thus, the whole shape is a pictographic kanji. Reference ③, on the other hand, takes the line as something that is added to a person (an indicative kanji). The kanji 元 “head, origin, source, former” originated from a sideways view of a standing person. His head is separated from the body for emphasis, but it is still part of a person’s body; thus, all three References take it as pictographic kanji.

The definition of a pictographic formation and an indicative formation is not that self-evident, but here we see that in a pictographic formation, the whole picture is treated as one entity representing a meaning, whereas an indicative formation comprises two separate entities, one of which is a marker indicating a location in relation to another shape.

2. A line under a person “the ground on which a person stands” (立位並普替)

This group has 立位並普替. Placing a line under “a person” makes the kanji 立 “to stand, rise up, become, found, build.” The line under the person represented the ground on which the person was standing. References ① and ② view the line to be a separate semantic feature. Taken with “person” together, they formed a semantic-composite kanji. Reference ③, however, views the bottom line as an indicative mark, pointing out the location where the person was standing; thus, an Indicative kanji.

Adding another shape to 立 created many kanji, including 位並普替. The earlier forms (1 and 2) for the kanji 位 “rank, social standing, approximate amount” were identical to those of 立. It suggests that the original character was inclusive of the present-day meanings of 立 and 位. In 3, a bushu ninben “an act that one does” (イ), and the place a person standing together signified “rank, social standing.” All three References view 位 as comprising two semantic features; thus, a semantic composite kanji. When placing two (or many) standing people side by side on the same ground, it lent the kanji 並 “to stand in line, match; equal, ordinary.” The two standing persons were recognizable through the kyuji 竝, before it was simplified in the shinji (a semantic-composite kanji). When the sun (日) shines over many people standing side by side, it lent the kanji 普 “universal, ordinary, not special.” References ① and ② view it as semantic composites of 並 and 日, whereas Reference ③ takes 並 to be a phonetic feature hu/ho having the meaning of “to spread sideways” and classifies it as a semantic-phonetic kanji.

The last kanji in this group 替 “to replace, substitute; stand-in” comprised “two persons standing” and 曰 “to say” (The non-Joyo kanji 曰 is read as いわく “to say” in literary style.) Two people standing in perspective in 1 showed a new person replacing the earlier person, thus “to replace.” (Reference ① explains that  two people standing in the court, taking turns arguing.)

3. A person’s shin marked “straight” (望呈程聖・廷庭)

Adding an indicative mark on a person’s shin, which is straight, created the form with the meaning “straight.” (It has a short diagonal stroke above 土.) The kanji 望 “to hope, look far, wish” has a complex history, as discussed earlier. (Please refer to The Kanji 望期夢朗湖間—月 and 夕 “moon” (2) posted in March 2016.) It originated from a person with a watchful eye standing on a mound of soil to see a distance. The forms 4 through 7 had an indicative mark over the straight shin, signifying “straight,” which became 王 in shinji. The meanings of 月 “something in the distance” and “a person standing straight looking afar,” and the phonetic feature boo from 亡 altogether gave the meaning “to hope, look far, wish”; thus a semantic-phonetic composite kanji. The kanji 呈 comprised “a mouth or a box of prayers” at the top, and “person with the shin marked standing straight on the ground,” used for the sound tee; thus, a semantic-phonetic kanji. The kanji 程 comprises 禾, the bushu nogihen “rice plant,” and 呈 “to present, turn in straightforwardly,” used for the sound tee. The rice crop was offered in neat piles, giving the meaning “certain length or size, extent, amount”; thus, a semantic-phonetic kanji. The kanji 聖 “sage, saint, sacred,” a standing person’s shin marked with a short line signifying he was on his toes to listen to the words of a faraway deity. Reference ① views the formation to be a semantic-composite kanji, whereas References ② and ③ view it as semantic-phonetic kanji. The three references agree that all of four kanji had 王 used for the meaning “straight” or for the sound tee.

A straight shin that is marked is also seen in the shape 壬 in the kanji 廷 and 庭. For the kanji 廷 “royal court, courtyard,” 1 and 2 had a standing person with a pile of dirt. 3 had two short strokes for “sprinkling spirits to sanctify the ground.” 4 had a standing person used for the sound tee. The long bent line was a wall around a court, which later became the bushu ennyoo 廴 “to extend.” The kanji 廷 is a semantic-phonetic composite kanji. The kanji 庭 comprised the bushu madare “eves of a house” and 廷 used as the sound; thus, a semantic-phonetic composite. The court area outside the house was a “garden.”

4. A line at the bottom (氏底低邸)

The kanji 底低 and 邸have a line under 氏. 氏 depicted a small knife to carve meat for a clan feast, and it meant “clan.” (Another view holds that it was “a flat spoon or ladle.”) With a line added underneath, 氐 depicted a knife shaving the bottom, signifying “low; bottom.” (The shape 氐 is not Joyo kanji.) The kanji 底 comprised 广, bushu madare “eaves of a house,” and 氐 used for the sound tee to mean “a flat area”; thus a semantic-phonetic kanji. The kanji低 “low, short (in height)” comprised イ “a person” and 氐, used for the sound tee to mean “low,” together signifying “a person whose statue is short”; thus,  a semantic-phonetic composite. The kanji 邸 comprised 氐 “a flat area” used for tee and 邑 (阝, bushu oozato “a town”). Two components, one for meaning and the other for the sound tee, together signified “a large house in the capital, where a local lord and his entourage stayed”; thus, a semantic-phonetic kanji.

5. An order indicated by a diagonal mark -ノ (弟第姉)

A short, diagonal stroke can also be an indicative mark. The kanji 弟 “younger brother” is derived from a wooden stake with a leather strap wrapped around the bottom. The short bottom line in 1 through 3 signified “a low in the order.” The shape was used to mean someone lower in the order of a male sibling, that is, a younger brother. References ① and ③ both view this as a single image; thus, a pictographic kanji, whereas Reference ② views the diagonal line as an indicative mark; thus, an indicative kanji. The kanji 第 comprised 竹, bushu takekanmuri “bamboo,” and 弟 used for the sound tee, together signified “bamboo writing tablets tied in a sequence, in good order.” It is a semantic-phonetic kanji. A similar device was also used for 姊 for 姉. Even though the shinji 姉 came from a different origin, the orthographic kanji 姊 had an indicative mark at the top, signifying a woman at the top of the order among sisters is “an older sister.”

In this posting, we have seen how an indicative mark is also employed as an important device in various types of kanji formation. Even though 指事文字 is quite a small number, a similar mechanism is in working in many kanji. I believe it is helpful to us to be aware of this device in understanding kanji.

I am afraid that I have probably squeezed too much stuff in one posting. I appreciate your reading this far.  – Noriko (February 10, 2022)

215 Indicative Type of Kanji (指事文字) 1

Of the four formation types of Chinese characters by rikusho (六書), the indicative formation type (指事文字 shijimoji) is the oldest type, along with the pictographic type (象形文字 shokeimoji). While a pictographic character depicted a tangible object and other matter, an indicative character used a line (or a bulge in ancient form) to show an abstract notion such as a numeral and spatial concept in relation to a reference point. The number of indicative characters is very small. But an indicative marker also appears in semantic-composite characters (会意文字 kaiimoji) and semantic-phonetic composite characters (形声文字 keiseimoji). In this posting, I would like to examine ten kanji (一二三八十上下末本百) that Shirakawa (2004) classifies as indicatives, along with some closely related kanji that are pictographic, semantic composite, or semantic-phonetic kanji.

In this and the next posting, three reference sources were compared:  ① Kaitei Jito by Shirakawa (2004), ② the Kanjigen kanji dictionary by Todo, et al.(1988, 2012), and ③ the Shin-Kangorin dictionary by Kamata, et al. (2004, 2012). The three views are shown in a square bracket [ ] in the order of ①, ②, ③, with the kanji type classifications such as Pct (Pictographic), Ind (Indicative), Sm (Semantic composite), Sm-ph (Semantic-phonetic composite), and Br (Borrowing). The ancient form lineage shown is primarily from Akai (1985, 2010) and Shirakawa (2004).

１. 一二三 [四] – Indicative markers forming a numeral

In the kanji 一, 二, and 三, the number of horizontal bars indicated the numerals one, two, and three. The three references in [①, ②, ③] classify 一二 and 三 to be Indicatives. The same idea of showing the number “four” by four horizontal bars is seen in oracle-bone and bronzeware styles. Later it was replaced by 四 in seal style, which comprised “an enclosure” and 八, an indicative marker, to mean “to divide into two.” For the kanji 四, the three references take different views – ① Borrowing, based on seal style form; ② Semantic composite of two meanings “a square” and “to split into two”; and ③ Indicative, from the four bars as indicative markers.

2. 八 [半分刀刃] and the position of a blade to split

The ancient forms for the kanji 八 “eight, many” signified splitting something into two. References ① and ② take this as Indicative, while Reference ③ takes it as Pictographic. Repeatedly dividing something makes “many.” Placing “a motion of splitting something in two over “a cow” depicted a (sacrificial) cow (牛) cut in half (八), and meant the kanji 半 “half.” Reference ① takes a cow and the motion as one, thus Pictographic, whereas  ② and  ③ take it as a composite kanji. 八 also appears in the kanji 分 “to divide, portion.” To split something, one needs a knife (刀). The kanji 刀 “word, knife” is Pictographic. The question of how the knife is positioned for the kanji 刀 is unclear. Previously I had thought that the knife was placed with the blade down. This view did not conflict with the location of a short stroke on the blade of the kanji 刃 in seal style and kanji. Ochiai (2014: 202-203) suggests otherwise. On reflection, I now think that, in creating a new kanji to mean “to divide,” an ancient creator was likely to put a knife blade, rather than a handle, between the two split shapes, which is Ochiai’s view. In the oracle-bone style forms for 刃, the short-stroke was placed in the upper portion, either as flashing of the sharp blade (in Reference ①) or as an indicative marker (in Reference ② and ③). (An older form reflects the original meaning by a creator.) As for the formation type of 刃, Reference ① treats it as Pictographic and ② and ③ as Indicatives.

3. 十 [世] and a bundle of “tens”

For the kanji 十 “ten, full,” the oracle-bone style form was a single vertical line, and a bulge in the middle in bronze-ware style was added to indicate a bundle of ten, which became a horizontal line. This shape meant “ten.” References ① and ② view the bulge as an indicative marker; thus, the kanji 十 is Indicative, whereas Reference ③ views the kanji as Pictographic. A vertical line with a bulge or a short line in the middle also showed up in the bronzeware style and seal style forms for the kanji 世 “generation, world.” Three “tens” made up the meaning “thirty.” Thirty years was “a generation,” and where generations mingle was “the world.” Reference ① takes this as a single image; thus, Pictographic, while References ② and ③ take it as a composite of three semantic features of “tens”; thus, Semantic-composite.

4. The kanji 末本[朱未] -and an indicative marker on a tree on different positions

The four kanji 末本朱未 demonstrate how an indicative marker on different positions on the same pictographic character changes its meaning. On a tree (木), different parts of a tree, such as a root, trunk, limbs, and the tip of the tree, are pointed out with a line or a bulge. For the kanji 末 “end; last,” a short line was placed at the top part of the main limb in the bronzeware style forms, signifying “end, last.” The three references take it as Indicative. For the kanji 本 “origin, base, book; true,” the bottom of a tree trunk was marked by a bulge or a line, signifying “root, origin.” The three references all agree that it is Indicative. For the kanji 朱 “red, vermillion,” the middle of the tree trunk is marked by a bulge or a line, which signified the color of the inside of the trunk or a freshly cut tree trunk, that is, “red.” References ② and ③ take the middle line as an indicative marker; thus, Indicative. References ① notes that the character was solely used to mean “red” and should be viewed as pertaining to a method of obtaining the color red. The color red used in lacquerware came from vermillion. From that, I conjecture that the connection of this character is from the fact that tree sap taken from the trunk and powdered vermillion mixed to make the lacquer color red. Reference ① views 朱 to be Pictographic, while References ② and ③ take the middle line as an indicative mark; thus, Indicative. In the kanji 朱, a short stroke appears at the top left, and again I conjecture that it might have emphasized differentiating it from the next kanji 未.（I would like to discuss this short stroke on the top left of kanji in the next posting.) For the kanji 未 “not yet, still,” in the oracle bone style forms, the two limbs were outgrowing the center, signifying “rigorous growth, still growing.” In bronze ware style, it was used for the temporal sense of “still” and “not yet completed.” Reference ① takes this as a single image of meaning; thus, Pictographic, whereas Reference ② and ③ take it as Indicative.

5. 上下 – An indicative marker with a spatial reference line

The following two kanji also used a sidebar as a spatial reference point. Adding a line above the spatial reference line meant “top; above; to come up; superior; upper.” A vertical line above the reference line was added in the bronzeware form. The short line next to the vertical line was kept for emphasis in the kanji 上 “top, above, superior, upper; to come up.” What these ancient forms for the kanji 上 “top, above, superior, upper; to come up” got flipped was the for the kanji 下 “bottom, below, lower, inferior; to go down.” 上 and 下 were vertical mirror images of each other. It is also used for the direction of one’s motion and polite verbs.

6. 百 [千] – Use of an indicative marker as a numeral

The kanji 百 “hundred” and 白 “white” had the same sound /hyaku, haku/. 白 was Pictographic, but what it depicted is unclear. The ancient forms for 百 had a horizontal line (一) at the top, which signified “one.” When there were three lines, it meant “three hundred.” (This oracle-bone-style form did not survive.) The horizontal line was viewed as an indicative marker in Reference ①, whereas References ② and ③ take it as a semantic feature signifying a numeral.

Using a horizontal line 一 to signify a numeral is also seen in the kanji 千 “thousand.” The two oracle bone-style forms comprised “a standing person” (人 or イ) and a short line (一) across the shin. There was also a form that meant “three thousand” in oracle bone style (shown in the far right column), with three short lines placed at the shin. (This form did not survive either.) So two kanji, 百 and 千, had a numeral marker. Reference ① takes the kanji 千 to be a semantic-phonetic composite of 一 “one” and the sound /jin, sen/ (人). References ② views this as Borrowing, and Reference ③ takes it as a semantic composite.

In this posting, we compared some kanji from the viewpoint of the indicative type of kanji formation in the 6 sub-groups. They are: 一二三 and 四 as the examples of an indicative marker as a numeral; 八 and its related kanji 半分刀刃, with a discussion of the position of a blade; 十 and 世 with a bundle of “tens”; 末本朱未 with an indicative marker on a tree on different positions; 上下 with an indicative marker with a spatial reference line; and 百 and 千 an indicative marker as a numeral. In examining those, we have also seen that the classification of formation type varies among the three reference sources. The boundary between an indicative marker, a pictograph, and a semantic feature appears blurred. Until last month, after a long break from my postings, I had consciously avoided mentioning a rikusho (六書) classification for each kanji. Now I feel there may be something that we can learn from knowing a few mechanisms of kanji formation. The use of an indicative marker is certainly one of them. It not only creates a character on its own but also is used in a composite formation. Asking a question such as why it is treated as indicative instead of pictographic, why semantic composite is instead of indicative, why a semantic-phonetic instead of indicative, and so on, sometimes helps us learn to analyze new kanji. There are more kanji that I would like to discuss in relation to indicative kanji, but this posting is already too long, so I have to do it in the next posting.

どうぞよいお年をお迎えくださいませ。 Thank you very much for your reading – Noriko [December 30, 2021]

214 The Order of the 50-on Kana Syllabary (五十音順図)

A 50-on kana syllabary table now?

I am sure that many of our readers do not need this reminder because you probably use a Japanese electronic dictionary that takes you to the right spot in a single input in romaji. I am used to the convenience of an electronic dictionary, too. In Japan, however, a large pool of items is likely to be laid out according to the 50-on kana order, such as a membership directory, governmental case files, printed dictionaries, and books on library shelves, to name a few. When you deal with raw materials in Japanese at work, and for research or reference, it is essential to know the general rule of the 50-on kana syllabary order. I have put the ordering number on each mora in red on the chart. I have also written out some rules that I would follow as below (The table can be downloaded:

50e99fb3e9a08650onkanasyllabary-3Download

The General Rules of Ordering in the 50-in kana syllabary

(1) Akasatana-hamayarawa: At a minimum, you need to be able to recall the column (or row in the traditional table of vertical writing) of あかさたな-はまやらわ quickly.

(2-1) A voiceless and voiced kana pair: A voiceless-consonant hiragana immediately follows its voiced counterpart (with two small dots, called 濁点 dakuten): かが-きぎ (and a palatalized set – We will come back to this in (3)), くぐ-けげ-こご, さざ-しじ (palatalization) すず-せぜ-そぞ, and ただ-ちぢ (palatalization) つづ-てで-とど. 

(2-2) はばぱ:  It is not accurate to say a voiced- and voiceless-pair in the columns and rows of はばぱ-ひびぴ (palatalization) ふぶぷ-へべぺ-ほぼぽ. The small circle on the top right (such as on ぱ) is called 半濁点 handakuten, if we translate the kanji 濁 literary, it would be “semi-voicing.” But this traditional term does not fit with phonetics, however. Phonetically, ぱ /pa/ with a small circle has a voiceless consonant /p/, and its voiced counterpart /b/ is ば /ba/ with two small short strokes. /P/ in ぱ and /b/ in ば are “bilabial stops or plosives” pronounced by completely blocking an air passage at the closed lips. On the other hand, /h/ in は is a “voiceless fricative,” in which you let air pass through a narrow passage at the back of your mouth (はへほ), at the palatal area (ひ), or between the lips without closing (ふ).  

[Incidentally, the Hepburn system romanization (ヘボン式ローマ字) uses /fu/ for ふ using /f/ (a labial-dental fricative), but in Japanese, the sound /f/ does not exist, and /hu/ is closer. The romanization such as /shi/, instead of /si/, for し, /chi/, instead of /ti/, for ち, /tsu/, instead of /tu/, for つ, or /ji/, instead of /zi or di/, for じ is according to the Hepburn system. We use another system (訓令式 kunreishiki) in this English blog, except for /sh-, j-, ts-, ch-/.] 

(3) Cya-Cyu-Cyo: All the consonants except the /y-/ row have a set of palatalized consonants after a Ci-column kana (C stands for a consonant) before a Cu-the voiced counterpart rule. きゃぎゃ-きゅぎゅ-きょぎょ, しゃじゃ-しゅじゅ-しょじょ, ちゃ-ちゅ-ちょ (ぢゃ-ぢゅ-ぢょ is rarely used), にゃ-にゅ-にょ, ひゃびゃぴゃ-ひゅびゅぴゅ-ひょびょぴょ, みゃ-みゅ-みょ, りゃ-りゅ-りょ. A palatalized kana counts as a single mora.

(4) By hiragana, rather than pronunciation: Where pronunciation differs from hiragana, hiragana determines the order.

(4-1) A small っ: A small っ (which duplicates an immediately following consonant) is treated the same as the regular-sized つ, and counts as a single mora. For instance, 決して (けっして) pronounced as kesshite, is け-つ-し-て in the 50-on kana order. Similarly, 勝手に (かってに) pronounced as katteni is か-つ-て-に.

(4-2) A long vowel mark (―): A long vowel mark (―) in a katakana word (which duplicates a preceding vowel) is treated as the same vowel as before and counts as a single mora. For instance, The word パーク is a three-mora word paaku パ-ア-ク and comes before the words such as 杯 hai (は-い) and 拍 haku (は-く). 

(4-3) Ceい and Coう: In a kanji compound word (漢語 kango, which is in on-yomi), if the second mora of a two-mora kanji in Cee (written as Ceい) and Coo (written as Coう), い or う is as written in hiragana. For instance 高校 kookoo is こ-う-こ-う, and 提携 teekee is て-い-け-い.

So, everything about the 50-on kana syllabary order (ごじゅうおんじゅん) goes back to the very first day of your Japanese study, when you were first introduced to Japanese sounds. When I recall the order of a-ka-sa-ta-na-ha-ma-ya-ra-wa, I find myself singing in my head a tune such as the one on the right, just like in my kindergarten time. I am sure you do a similar thing in alphabetical order. 

Thank you very much for your reading. – Noriko (December 17, 2021)

213 Formation Types of Educational and Joyo Kanji

What is the difference in the formation types between the two groups of Joyo kanji, the Educational kanji and the latter half of Joyo kanji? The first group, the 1,026 Educational kanji (学習漢字 or 教育漢字), is the list of kanji officially called 学年別漢字配当表 (“Kanji distribution by grade”) that are designated by grade in Japanese-speaking elementary school. The second group, the latter half of Joyo kanji, has 1,110 kanji and is introduced in junior high school. For the latter half of Joyo kanji, during the last three years of their compulsory education, students are to learn to read 300 to 400 new kanji (7th grade), 350 to 450 kanji (8th grade), and the remaining new kanji (9th), while firming up their writing skills on all Educational kanji. The latter half of Joyo kanji is more complex and is used in kanji compound words. The kanji study guideline the Japanese government sets for native-speaking youth is not very relevant to us, other than that writing of the latter half of Joyo kanji is expected to firm up on the senior high school level. Nonetheless, if there is a notable difference between the two groups, we may find it useful.

(1) Educational Kanji (First half of Joyo kanji)

The distribution of the different types of kanji formation among 1,026 Educational kanji is shown in Chart 1. Viewing from the top, clockwise, they are indicative kanji (dark blue) 1%; pictographic kanji (light green) 18%; semantic composite kanji (blue) 31%, semantic-phonetic composite kanji (yellow) 49%; and finally borrowed kanji (dark green) 1%. The three categories on the right side of the chart (indicative, pictographic, and semantic-composite kanji) are those whose shapes originally depicted or reflected the image of their meaning(s). In life, a visual image helps us to grasp what something means instantaneously and intuitively, and what was conceived visually remains strong in our minds. It is reasonable to assume that the same can be said about visual images in kanji study. Tracing back the “lineage” of ancient characters that I have done on this blog (and my ongoing project of a Joyo kanji study guide) is conducted on such a premise. The relationship between the shape and the meaning may not be self-evident in kanji, but by tracing the precursors back to the oldest available shape we can see the connection. The initial understanding and memory of the association of kanji’s shape and its meaning at its origin will dissipate when a learner no longer needs to recall the connection. But in the initial stage of learning new kanji, having a visual connection helps. In this chart, I find it encouraging to know that half of the first 1,026 kanji that kanji learners learn have a strong connection between shape and meaning. Over a thousand kanji are, by any means, not easy to reach. Frankly speaking, in my more than three decades of teaching Japanese in liberal arts colleges in the U. S., I rarely got to teach beyond 600 kanji.

On the other hand, almost the entire half of the left side is semantic-phonetic composite kanji. How do we approach these kanji? The good thing is that, in a semantic-phonetic composite kanji, one component is a semantic feature, so we can find some connection between the shape and the meaning. For a phonetic feature, since we do not know ancient Chinese pronunciation, we cannot resort to our previous knowledge, and we have to learn one by one. (Or, do we really? We will get back to this point in (2), next.) The strategy I suggest is to develop a keen eye to analyze a complex kanji into components.

(2) Latter Half of Joyo Kanji

When we look at the latter half of the Joyo kanji, the story changes. Chart 2 shows the distribution of the 1,110 latter-half of the Joyo kanji. There are no indicative kanji. Pictographic kanji became 8%, a 10% reduction. Semantic-phonetic composite kanji also decreased to 20%, an 11% reduction. Together, those kanji that had a connection between shape and meaning have become 28%, a reduction of 22%. On the other hand, semantic-phonetic composite kanji increased by 23%, and now occupy 72% of the second group. Composite kanji are by nature complex because they are made up of previously existing components. Many semantic-phonetic kanji are of later origins. In creating new kanji, the creator did not have to have an extraordinary imagination and artistic skill and adopted a shape that had the same sound as the existing component. Among the latter half of the Joyo kanji, it is likely that we can find components that we have already learned. For instance, for the newly-encountered kanji 購, as in 購読 “subscription,” we recognize the left side 貝 to have the meaning “cowrie; monetary value” from the previously learned kanji such as 買, 貴, 負, 貨, 貯. The right side 冓 is a component that is already familiar in 講 and 構, having the sound /koo/. Combining the semantic feature component 貝 and the sound 冓 /koo/ gives us a jump start to learning the new kanji. So even though the latter half of the Joyo kanji provides us less information in its shape, consciously training our eyes to analyze simpler kanji into components from an early stage of kanji study will prove to be fruitful.

(3) Joyo kanji

Chart 3 shows the distribution of the 2,136 kanji. Here, Indicative and borrowed kanji combined, 1%; pictographic kanji, 13%; semantic-composite kanji 25%; and semantic-phonetic composite kanji, 61%.

The classification I have used here is based on Shirakawa (2004). Ochiai (2014: 189-190) notes that Shirakawa, whose research focused on ancient shapes, tended to classify semantic-phonetic kanji as semantic-composite kanji, while Kato (1972), whose research focused on sound development, tended to treat semantic composite kanji as semantic-phonetic kanji, and Todo (1988) tended to treat a phonetic feature as having both semantic and phonetic aspects. These are scholarly works. Our interest is finding a way to help us to reach the goal of remembering as many kanji as possible for actual use. With all due respect and sincere gratitude to these scholars and others, I still believe that it is our prerogative as kanji learners to pick-‘n-choose the ones that are most suited to facilitate our study.

Thank you very much for your reading.  -Noriko [November 19, 2021]