; a late graph (Shuowen). Has 日 66 ‘sun’, and 京 110 (‘capital’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘light’ (Katō, Yamada) or ‘demarcate’ (Ogawa, Tōdō). The latter sense derives from the clear boundary or line of demarcation between light and the shadow cast by an object; in Tōdō’s word-family ‘firm/clearly demarcate’, together with 境 680 ‘boundary’. KJ1970:83; YK1976:150; OT1968:470; TA1965:394-6.
Mnemonic: SUNNY CAPITAL IS A BRIGHT SCENE
495
L3
芸
GEI
art, skill, plant
7 strokes
芸術 GEIJUTSU art
手芸 SHUGEI handicraft
芸者 GEISHA geisha
OBI ; seal (埶); traditional 藝. Late, post-Shuowen graph (originally ‘kneel on the ground and plant something’) is regarded as the original way of writing what was later changed in shape (distorted) to 埶 (same meaning). Later, 艹 53 ‘plant, grass’ was added to 埶, to give ‘plant vegetation’ (Qiu says ‘sow and plant’); the seal equivalent of this graph is given in Shuowen. Finally, 云 83 (‘say’, ‘cloud’) was added as a phonetic; this is felt to derive from CO 耘 (‘remove weeds’). The modern form 芸 is felt to be an abbreviated version of 藝, taking the top and bottom elements only. (It is not believed to originate from a one-step process of combining 艹 ‘plant’ with 云 as phonetic, which was the process that generated the homomorphic yet totally separate earlier graph 芸, listed in Shuowen and meaning ‘[type of] fragrant plant’.) ‘Art/skill’ are extended meanings. MS1995:v1:270-72, 12-14; KJ1970:353-4; MR2007:265; YK1976:151; QX2000:329-30; DJ2009:v1:54.
Mnemonic: THEY SAY THAT PLANTING IS A SKILLED ART
496
L3
欠
KETSU, kaku/keru
lack, gap, omit
4 strokes
欠席者 KESSEKISHA absentee
欠点 KETTEN a fault
欠け目 kakeme a break, rupture
OBI ; seal . OBI form is pictograph of person kneeling and yawning. Mizukami and Katō follow Shuowen explanation of seal form as steam or vapor rising, but Qiu treats as just a miscopying of the earlier pictograph. The graph 缺 is conventionally treated in Japan as traditional form of 欠, but 缺 is separate graph made of 缶 1141 ‘pot’, and 夬 (CO, meaning disputed; ‘pull bowstring’, etc.) as phonetic with associated sense ‘open’, giving originally ‘pot opened up’, i.e. ‘damaged/broken pot’. Despite separate origins, 缼 and 欠 have been used interchangeably from early on, at least in Japan. Reflecting this, 缺 is listed as traditional form of 欠 even in the Jōyō kanji Lists for 1981 and 2010. ‘Lack’ is an extended sense derived from generalisation of original meaning ‘chipped/damaged pot’ for 缺. Since ‘lack’ is a meaning found for both 缺 and 欠 in modern Chinese too, this suggests possible word-family link or cross-contamination in these two graphs not just in Japanese but in Chinese usage also. Note: the graph 缼 also exists, but is stated by Yamada to be erroneous. Not listed in Kangxi zidian, and probably evolved as a cross-formation from 缺 and 欠. MS1995:v1:696-7; QX2000:96,109; KJ1970:367; YK1976:152-3; SS1984:248; GY2008:1063; OT1968:239. Suggest taking graph as 人 41 ‘person(s)’ and 冖 ‘roof/house’.
Mnemonic: HOUSE LACKS PEOPLE
497
L3
結
KETSU, musubu, yuu/waeru
bind, join, end
12 strokes
結婚 KEKKON marriage
結果 KEKKA result
結び目 musubime knot
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Has 糸 29 ‘thread’, and 吉 1196 (‘good fortune’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘bend’ (Katō, Yamada) or ‘fasten tightly’ (Tōdō, Ogawa). Either interpretation gives ‘tie knot in thread/rope’, and then by extension the more generalized ‘join up’; ‘conclude, tie up’ is a further, figurative extension. KJ1970:230; YK1976:154; TA1965:784-7; OT1968:777. We suggest 士 521 ‘samurai’ and 口 22 ‘mouth’.
Mnemonic: BIND SAMURAI’S MOUTH WITH THREAD
498
L4
建
KEN, KON, tatsu/teru
build, erect
9 strokes
建設 KENSETSU construction
建立 KONRYŪ* erection
建物 tatemono a building
Bronze forms /; seal . Has 聿 400 (writing brush held upright), and 廴 – a determinative apparently set up in error by the Shuowen compiler on the basis of the small seal form for this graph, but the older bronze form shows the original way of writing featured 聿 with not 廴 but as semantic and phonetic, meaning ‘move slowly’ (Yamada, Katō, Mizukami) or 辵 ‘go, move forward’ (the full form of 辶/辶: see 581) (Mizukami). Overall meaning is ‘move writing brush’; the brush is held upright for writing, and so usage later extended to ‘hold/stand timber (etc.) upright/erect’, and by further extension ‘build’. MS1995v1:460-1; KJ1970:383-5; YK1976:157,383-5.
