The number of pen strokes needed to write the kanji.
4. The entry number for the kanji in The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary.
5. Some common readings of the kanji in Japanese. Those readers wishing to know which readings are of Chinese origin (on-yomi), and which are of Japanese origin (kun-yomi) should refer to a dictionary such as The New Nelson.
6. Sample vocabulary words. The pronunciation is given in small capitals over the sample word. A macron over a vowel (as in the one on the letter U of the word SŪGAKU in the above example) indicates that the vowel sound is long. The that accompanies this book gives native-speaker pronunciation of the readings and the vocabulary words.
7. The meaning of the kanji is written in capitals.
8. Many kanji contain elements that can be stand-alone kanji, or elements that are common radicals closely associated with a particular meaning. When the story that accompanies each illustration allows, these kanji and radicals are highlighted in brackets.
CHAPTER 1
NUMBERS and COLORS
数
number, count, math
13 strokes NN2353
kazo(eru), kazu, sū
SŪ 数
GAKU 学
mathematics
KAZO 数
E え
RU る
to count
Grains of rice (米) were COUNTED by a woman (女) at a folding table.
色
color
6 strokes NN4956
iro, shiki
KI 黄
IRO 色
yellow
KE 景
SHIKI 色
scenery
A snake has patterns of COLOR and a barbed tongue.
Numbers 数
一
one
1 stroke NN0001
hito(tsu), ichi
ICHI 一
one
HITO 一
TSU つ
one [thing]
ONE stroke for ONE.
二
two
2 strokes NN0072
futa(tsu), ni
NI 二
two
FUTA 二
TSU つ
two [things]
TWO strokes for TWO.
三
three
3 strokes NN0008
mi(tsu), san
SAN 三
three
MI 三
TSU つ
three [things]
THREE strokes for THREE.
四
four
5 strokes NN0938
yo(tsu), yon, shi
YON 四
four
YO 四
TSU つ
four [things]
four [things]
五
five
4 strokes NN0077
itsu(tsu), go
GO 五
five
ITSU 五
TSU つ
five [things]
FIVE is only a four-stroke kanji, but there are FIVE segments.
六
six
4 stroke NN0371
mu(tsu), roku
ROKU 六
six
MU 六
TSU つ
six [thing]
Two strokes away from eight (八), you have SIX.
八
eight
2 stroke NN0369
ya(tsu), hachi
HACHI 八
eight
YA 八
TSU つ
eight [thing]
In EIGHT hundred years, the volcano that looks like an EIGHT will erupt.
The number of pen strokes needed to write the kanji.
