| SAMPLE SENTENCE: | |||||||
| この | 白い | 馬 | の | 名前 | は | “雪” | です。 |
| kono | shiro·i | uma | no | na·mae | wa | “yuki” | desu. |
| this | white | horse | name | “snow” | is | ||
| = This white horse’s name is “Snow”. |
KANJI #8
| 口 | MOUTH |
Meaning
Along with the literal meaning of “mouth” and things oral, the kanji also relates to openings in general, from caves and harbors to taps and bottles, for instance.
Remembering this kanji
Has there ever been a more famous MOUTH than that of Dracula? We will use this image of a vampire to suggest the word “mouth” in our stories from now on; a few other simple characters will be treated like this as well.
Common Pronunciations
Common ON reading: KŌ (コウ)
Common kun reading: kuchi (くち)
Note how the kun-yomi for this kanji can become voiced when it appears in the second position, as it does in the fifth example below.
kun-yomi suggestion: “coochie coochie coo”
Create your on-yomi keyword and enter it in the table at the back of the book. After that, write your sentence to remember the on-yomi and kun-yomi readings in the box below.
Less Common Pronunciations
Less common ON reading: KU (ク)
Less common kun readings: none
| COMMON WORDS AND COMPOUNDS | ||
| 口 | mouth | kuchi くち |
| 人口 | person + mouth = population | JIN.KŌ ジン.コウ |
| 早口 | early (fast) + mouth = rapid speaking | haya.kuchi はや.くち |
| 口語 | mouth + words = colloquial language | KŌ.GO コウ.ゴ |
| 出口 | exit + mouth = exit | de.guchi で.ぐち |
| 口先 | mouth + precede = lip service | kuchi.saki くち.さき |
| SAMPLE SENTENCE: | |||||
| この | 国 | の | 人口 | は | 少ない。 |
| kono | kuni | no | JIN·KŌ | wa | suku·nai. |
| this | country | population | few | ||
| = This country has a small population. |
COMPONENT #9
Though it looks similar to the kanji for “mouth”, this component is larger and always completely surrounds whatever happens to be inside it (like a prison should!); this difference can be seen clearly in Entry 9.
KANJI #9
| 回 | ROTATE |
Meaning
Here we see the difference between the “prison” component and the kanji for “mouth”. Note that the interior part of this kanji is written following the first two strokes of the prison walls, and becomes enclosed by the final stroke at the bottom. All characters of this type have the same pattern.
The general sense of this kanji relates to the ideas of rotation and going around in both space and time. It can also refer to the vicinity of things (neighborhoods and surroundings, etc), and is well-known to Japanese baseball fans as the character used to denote innings.
Remembering this kanji
It was a great relief for everyone when the vampire was finally put in prison. It soon became obvious, though, that he could not be kept with the rest of the cons; his offer to “ROTATE the blood” of everyone made them suspicious. The end result, as might be expected, was solitary confinement, a bad enough development for the vampire that became even worse when he turned into a bat; flying in endless ROTATIONS apparently brought on some nasty dizzy spells.
Common Pronunciations
Common ON reading: KAI (ヵイ)
Common
