A kana chart, along with mnemonic illustrations and stories to aid memorization can be found on pages 8–13.
The Building Blocks of Kanji
Kanji can be broken down into smaller components referred to as “radicals,” which are linked to either the pronunciation or the meaning of the kanji. Radicals come in various sizes and shapes. For example, the entire kanji can be a radical: 山 (yama – mountain) is both a kanji in and of itself, and a radical. Radicals can also be incorporated into more complicated kanji and can appear in different positions in each kanji—all or part of the top, bottom, left, or right portions of a kanji. Each kanji has one “core” radical from which its meaning or pronunciation is derived and by which it can be classified. Here are some examples of one radical and the many kanji in which it is found:
山 YAMA, meaning mountain (entire kanji)
島 SHIMA, meaning island (bottom left)
岸 GAN, as in
仙 SEN, meaning hermit (right); also found in the name of a northern city,
The kanji 山 is clearly a pictograph representing “mountain.” Some kanji, however, though they may have been meaningful pictographs thousands of years ago, are less relevant today. In this book, I have taken the liberty of giving some more obscure kanji “new” meanings so that they can be more easily memorized.
How To Use This Book
The kanji in this book are roughly grouped by similar radical or meaning. Each kanji is illustrated with a drawing to help you visually remember some distinctive part of that kanji. A story accompanies each illustration as a further aid to memorization. The elements of each illustration and the accompanying information are broken down and explained on page 14.
The accompanying provides native speaker pronuniciation of the readings of every kanji in the book, along with models of the sample vocabulary words that are given for each kanji. Each vocabulary word is followed by a pause in the recording to allow you to repeat the word yourself.
The index at the back of the book lists all the basic meanings that are given for the kanji at the head of each entry.
Whether you bought Japanese Kanji Made Easy because you are simply curious, or whether you are formally studying Japanese and its writing system, this book has been designed to be entertaining. I sincerely hope that you enjoy looking at, reading, and learning with this book as much as I enjoyed creating it. It is my further hope that these drawings and descriptions inspire you to create your own mnemonic hints, in a fun and abstract way. Think creatively and enjoy the experience of learning more about kanji and the Japanese writing system.
Michael L. Kluemper
THE KANA: ひらがな HIRAGANA
A
あ is a swooshing set of strokes like the A in dAnce.
I
い is the shape of the sides of your mouth as you make a long E sound.
U
う is an ear with someone at the back of the class yelling “oo!”, “oo!” to answer a question.
E
え is a similar shape to the letter Z, but with the vowel sound found in the British pronunciation of “zEd”.
O
お can be pictured as an Oval planet in orbit.
KA
か looks like a KArate kick.
KI
き looks like a KEY turning in a lock.
KU
く is the mouth of a PaKUman.
KE
け is like the KE in basKEt.
KO
こ is the shape of the mouth of a hungry KOi fish.
SA
さ is like a SOck that might be better spelled as SAck.
SHI
し is like a fiSHIng hook.
SU
す has a loop in the second stroke and is long like a noodle in SOUp.
SE
せ - is in the shape of e and sounds like “e”(as in Egg) with an “s” in front.
SO
そ - is shaped like the end of a SOfa.
TA
た - sounds like the TA in a spinning TOp and looks like the lines it makes as it turns.
CHI
