Seal . A late graph. Has 口 22 ‘mouth; speak’, and 矢 145 (‘arrow’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘hit the mark’, giving ‘describe spot-on/exactly (like a flying arrow to its target)’, and by extension ‘know’. Alternatively, Shirakawa takes ‘arrow’ as being linked to taking an oath to the deities, and interprets 口 22 in his more usual way as ‘receptacle’; ‘knowing’ is then taken as emerging from the process of oath-taking. 智 is a separate graph (NJK) also meaning ‘know’; lower element is originally not 日 66 ‘sun, day’, but NJK 曰 ‘speak’. MS1995:v2:930-31; TA1965:465-7; SS1984:587.
Mnemonic: IF YOU GOT AN ARROW IN THE MOUTH, YOU’D KNOW ABOUT IT!
187
L4
茶
CHA, SA
tea, annoy
9 strokes
茶わん CHAWAN teabowl
茶々 CHACHA interruption
茶道 SADŌ tea ceremony
Very late graph (probably Tang Dynasty). Qiu notes that originally 荼 – a graph comprising 艹 53 ‘plant, grass’, and 余 820 (‘ample’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘bitter’ – denoted a certain bitter plant, and that the modified shape 茶 was apparently devised to refer clearly to another type of plant with bitter leaves, i.e. tea. The occasional use of 187 as ‘make fun of’ or ‘irritate’ may relate to the bitter connotations. QX2000: 326. Though the lower element in the modern form is not quite 余 820, ‘ample’, it may be helpful.
Mnemonic: ALMOST AMPLE TEA PLANTS
188
L4
昼
CHŪ, hiru
noon, daytime
9 strokes
昼食 CHŪSHOKU lunch
昼行性 CHŪKŌSEI diurnal
昼間 hiruma daytime
Bronze ; seal ; traditional 晝. The bronze form has 日 66 ‘sun, day’, and an upper element comprised of a rare graph which has 聿 400 ‘writing brush’ over 乂 (‘mix; cut’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘sun, red, bright’, giving ‘sun makes bright’; meaning extended to ‘daytime’ in contrast to darkness of night (Katō). In another view, the same upper element is equated with 畫 (traditional form of 画 91 ‘picture, stroke’), but like Katō also as phonetic, in this case with associated sense ‘shine with red light’, giving ‘sun shines making Heaven and Earth bright’ (Mizukami). 昼 is based on cursive equivalents of 晝. MS1995:v1:620-22; SS1984:595; KJ1970:491-2. We suggest taking the modern form as 尺 895 ‘measure’, with 日 66 ‘sun’ and a single line as the horizon.
Mnemonic: MEASURE NOON SUN OVER HORIZON
189
L5
長
CHŌ, nagai
long, senior
8 strokes
成長 SEICHŌ growth
会長 KAICHŌ chairperson
長生き nagaiki long life
OBI forms , show a person with long hair, in some cases with a walking stick; Shirakawa notes that only old people were allowed long hair. Tōdō puts the graph in a word-family meaning ‘long’. MS1995:v2:1382-4; SS1984:601; TA1965:348-9. (See also 638.)
Mnemonic: SENIOR CITIZEN RUNS WITH FUNNY LEGS, LONG HAIR STREAMING
190
L4
鳥
CHŌ, tori
bird
11 strokes
白鳥 HAKUCHŌ swan
野鳥 YACHŌ wild bird
鳥居 torii shrine gate
Based on pictograph of a bird , . Note that there is another ‘bird’ graph , occurrent in Japanese as an element in compound graphs (e.g. 集 324). MS1995:v2:1494-5; MR2007:296; KJ1970:11-12.
Mnemonic: IF IT’S GOT WINGS AND FEATHERS, IT MUST BE A BIRD
191
L4
朝
CHŌ, asa
morning, court
12 strokes
朝食 CHŌSHOKU breakfast
朝日 asahi morning sun
朝廷 CHŌTEI imperial court
OBI ; seal . OBI form has 日 66 ‘sun’, 屮 ’plant/plant shoot’ or 艸/艹 53 ‘plants’ and 月 18 ‘moon’, giving ‘sun emerging from vegetation with moon still out’, i.e. ‘morning’. Bronze occurrences commonly had earlier 月 changed to 川 50 ‘river’, maybe to represent near-homophone meaning ‘morning tide, tide’ (later 潮 952) (Shirakawa);
