Bronze depicts a severed head suspended upside down in a tree, as a punishment. Traditional form 縣 (which distorts the ‘tree’ component in bronze), has 系 855 (‘joined threads’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘hang’. Came to be used in Chinese for a similar-sounding word meaning ‘district, county’, and then in Japanese for ‘prefecture’. MS1995:v2:1020-22; KJ1970:379; YK1976:158; OT1968:787. For the modern form we suggest taking the top element as 目 76 ‘eye’ and the remaining strokes as a stand.
Mnemonic: KEEP AN EYE ON THE STAND AT THE PREFECTURAL SHOW
292
L3
庫
KO
storehouse
10 strokes
車庫 SHAKO garage, depot
倉庫 SŌKO warehouse
冷蔵庫 REIZŌKO refrigerator
Bronze . Has 广 127 ‘building’, and 車 33 (‘vehicle, chariot’) as semantic and also as phonetic indicator. (The associated early Chinese pronunciation of 車 was closer to SJ KO than SHA – the latter reading reflects a later Chinese pronunciation). Originally, a building to house chariots; later, became more general in meaning. MS1995:v1:452-3; KJ1970:390; YK1976:168; AS2007:182.
Mnemonic: VEHICLE LEFT IN STOREHOUSE
293
L3
湖
KO, mizuumi
lake
12 strokes
琵琶湖 BIWAKO Lake Biwa
湖岸 KOGAN lake shore
湖水 KOSUI lake
According to Mizukami, possibly originates in the simpler bronze form (= 沽, now an unrelated NJK meaning ‘trade’). 湖 consists of 氵 42 ‘water’, with 胡 (NJK originally ‘flesh beneath jaw’) as phonetic with, here, associated sense ‘large’. MS1995:v2:766-7, 1072-3; KJ1970:393; YK1976:168. We suggest taking 月 as 月 18 ‘moon’ along with古 121 ‘old’.
Mnemonic: OLD MOON SEEN IN WATER OF LAKE
294
L3
向
KŌ, muku/keru/kau/kō
turn, face, beyond
6 strokes
向上 KŌJŌ improvement
向こう側 mukōgawa opposite side
前向き maemuki forward-looking
OBI shows a dwelling with a window, apparently north-facing. Mizukami, Ma and Yamada take ‘face toward’ or ‘direction’ as later meanings; Qiu explores this topic in detail. Katō sees the graph as specifically a high window facing north, but takes the core meaning to be the window itself, with the meaning of ‘facing’ resulting from being used as a substitute for a more complex NJK character 卿 (now meaning lord) relating to facing each other at the meal table. ‘Turn’ and ‘beyond’ are extended meanings. MS1995:v1:210-11; MR2007:369; YK1976:175; QX2000:217-8; KJ1985:102-3.
Mnemonic: TURN TO THE HOUSE WITH THE HIGH WINDOW
295
L3
幸
KŌ, saiwai, sachi, shiawase
happiness, luck
8 strokes
幸運 KŌUN good fortune
不幸 FUKŌ misery, bad luck
幸いに saiwai ni fortunately
Seal . Late graph (Shuowen). Consists of i] 夭, showing a figure with head bent down, meaning ‘delicate, beautiful’, but borrowed in early Chinese for similar-sounding word meaning ‘calamity’ (Mizukami), ‘premature death’ (Katō), with ii] 屰 ‘inverted’ (see 675) (Ogawa), ‘avoid’ (Katō), giving overall sense ‘good fortune’. The graph elements show distortion in progression from seal to standard script, and Qiu notes that as part of the evolutionary process what was originally a separate graph in seal script for another word meaning ‘wooden handcuffs’ also ended up having the same shape in block script as 幸 . MS1995:v1:296-8; KJ1970:402-3; OT1968:323,300; AS2007:559-60; QX2000:190. We suggest using 辛 1535 meaning ‘sharp/bitter’ as a mnemonic.
Mnemonic: EXTRA SHARP STROKE BRINGS HAPPINESS AND LUCK
296
L3
港
KŌ, minato
harbor, port
12 strokes
空港 KŪKŌ airport
入港 NYŪKŌ port entry
港町 minatomachi port town
A late graph (Shuowen) . Has 氵 ‘water’ 42, and 巷 (NJK, ‘streets of settlement’) as semantic and phonetic, meaning ‘road, path’, giving water lane for boats, and by extension ‘harbour’. KJ1970:163; YK1976:184-5; OT1968:594. We suggest taking the upper-right element as 共 484 ‘together’, and the lower part as 己 866 ‘self’.
Mnemonic: FIND ONESELF TOGETHER WITH WATER IN PORT
HONE STONE WITH TWO FUNNY STICKS
