Rikusho System

The rikusho system ( six ways of writing) is an overview of the six ways in which kanji
originated. The first four categories explain the way characters were originally formed and the last
two, how the use of characters has evolved over time giving rise to new meanings.

Japanese
English name Description Examples
name

= mountain
1. Pictographs characters representing objects
shkeimoji = tree

= above
characters representing concepts by
2. Simple ideographs = below
shijimoji symbols
= in

++=
3. Compound two or more existing kanji combine (tree) (forest)
ideographs kaiimoji to make a single character
(mouth)(bird)(sing)

4. Phonetic-
ideographic characters
+
one part represents meaning; other
(water)(blue/sei)(pure)
keiseimoji part represents sound
Pronouncedsei

= enjoyable
5. Derivative original meaning may have changed = sound
characters tenchmoji over time ( = music)
raku = relaxed

(t) = sacrificial
used for phonetic value without
6. Phonetic loans vessel
kashamoji relation to original meaning
tfu

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Introduction to Chinese Characters: Kanji

There are thousands of kanji characters (10,000 in the Japanese language), but to
easily read a Japanese newspaper one needs to know only about 2,500 kanji. In 1981
the Japanese Ministry of Education decided to specify 1945 kanji specifically to be
taught in schools in Japan. These 1945 characters are called the jouyou ("daily use")
kanji. If you have a goal to learn as many kanji as possible, these are the ones to learn
first. You can start with elementary school first grade and work your way up through
high school. Although it seems a daunting task to learn 2000 or more characters, the
literacy rate in Japan for people over age 15 is 99%! For practical purposes, there is a
national Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) you can take that will rank you
according to your reading ability of kanji. Your rank determines whether or not you
can enter a Japanese university, or get a job in Japan. There are some good web sites
to help you study for this exam (see the links below).

Although we can't be sure, it is generally accepted that Buddhist monks brought Chinese texts
back to Japan around the 5th century. The Japanese adopted Chinese characters into the written
language. Unlike Chinese, Japanese grammar involves conjugations of words, which required the
addition of various word endings (for example, masu forms). These conjugations were added
using hiragana letters, which of course do not have meanings but provide sound only.

Before you begin to write the kanji, please study the Introduction to Kanji PowerPoint in
eLearning, and the text and links below. You should have a basic knowledge of stroke
order, on and kun readings, okurigana, furigana or yomigana, radicals, and the origins of kanji. If
you know the Chinese language, be aware that Japanese characters are not always the same in
shape, and definitely not the same in pronunciation! Japanese characters generally have at least
two to seven pronunciations -- these can be of Chinese origin (on reading) or indigenous
Japanese pronunciation (kun reading). Although on readings were derived from original Chinese
language, very few kanji are pronounced the same in Chinese. So, if you are a native Chinese
speaker, you will be able to write the characters very nicely from day one, and probably
understand meanings of many words, but you will not be able to read aloud and make any sense
to Japanese speakers! It is difficult to know which reading is needed in a word, but usually
the on reading is used when a word is made up of only kanji, and the kun reading is used when
there are hiragana characters attached to the word (okurigana).

Kanji can be separated into different categories. You are not responsible for memorizing these
terms, but this information is very interesting and useful for your study:

Shoukei-moji ()
These characters are "pictures" of the object they represent. For example, is
an eye, is a tree, etc. The current forms of the characters are very different
from the original, and it is now hard to see the origin in many of these
characters. This kind of character is often called a "pictograph" in English
(shoukei -- is also the Japanese word for Egyptian hieroglyphs). These

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 make up a small fraction of modern characters, but occur frequently as radicals
within more complex kanji.

Shiji-moji ()
Shiji-moji are called "logograms", "simple ideographs", "simple indicatives",
and sometimes just "symbols" in English. They are usually graphically simple
and represent an abstract concept such as a direction: e.g. representing "up"
or "above" and representing "down" or "below." These make up a tiny
fraction of modern characters.

Kaii-moji ()
Often called "compound indicatives", "associative compounds", "compound
ideographs", or just "ideographs." These are usually a combination of
pictographs that combine to present an overall meaning. An example is the
kokuji (mountain pass) made from (mountain), (up) and (down).
Another is (rest) from (person) and (tree). These make up a tiny
fraction of modern characters.

Keisei-moji ()
These are called "phono-semantic", "semantic-phonetic", "semasio-phonetic" or
"phonetic-ideographic" characters in English. They are by far the largest
category, making up about 90% of characters. Typically they are made up of
two components, one of which indicates the meaning or semantic context, and
the other the pronunciation. The pronunciation really relates to the original
Chinese, and may now only be distantly detectable in the modern Japanese
on'yomi of the kanji. The same is true of the semantic context, which may have
changed over the centuries or in the transition from Chinese to Japanese. As a
result, it is a common error in folk etymology to fail to recognize a phono-
semantic compound, typically instead inventing a compound-indicative
explanation. As examples of this, look at kanji with the radical shape,
meaning "to speak": , , , , etc. All these kanji are related to
word/language/meaning. Similarly, kanji with the (rain) radical shape (,
, , , , etc.) are almost invariably related to weather. Kanji with the
(temple) shape on the right (, , , , etc.) usually have an onyomi of
"shi" or "ji". Sometimes one can guess the meaning and/or reading simply from
the components. However, exceptions do exist -- for example, neither nor
have anything to do with weather (at least in their modern usage), and has an
onyomi of "tai." That is, a component may play a semantic role in one
compound, but a phonetic role in another.

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 Tenchuu-moji ()
This group have variously been called "derivative characters", or "mutually
explanatory" or "mutually synonymous" characters; this is the most
problematic of the six categories, as it is vaguely defined. It may refer to kanji
where the meaning or application has become extended. For example, is
used for 'music' and 'comfort, ease', with different pronunciations in Chinese
reflected in the two different onyomi, gaku 'music' and raku 'pleasure.' When
the kanji for "sound" (on - ) is added before , the word is
pronounced ongaku. The idea is "easy listening!"

Kasha-moji ()
These are called "phonetic loan characters." For example, in ancient Chinese
was originally a pictograph for 'wheat'. Its syllable was homophonous with the
verb meaning 'to come' and the character is used for that verb as a result,
without any embellishing "meaning" element attached.

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The most important thing to
know when writing kanji is
stroke order. With very few
excptions, there is only
ONE way to write each
kanji -- you can't just
randomly draw a kanji like
a picture starting wherever
you like, and drawing the
stroke in whichever
direction you like. Most
kanji dictionaries
provide boxes showing the
stroke order, or you can go
online to see videos or
animations of strokes:

Another important aspect is

stroke type. Stroke type is
more evident with brush
calligraphy, but it is just as
important to simulate this
with a pencil or ballpoint
pen. There are 4 basic
types:

(tome: stop - the verb

form is )

(harai: sweep - the

verb form is )

(hane: jump - literally

"decapitate")

(ore: turn a corner -

the verb form is )

It is very difficult to
distinguish the harai and

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 tome sometimes, so it is
always best to watch your
teacher or a video to see
how a kanji is formed.
There are some links below
in QuickTime Video that
show you brush calligraphy
videos of calligraphy
(shodou) experts.

When handwriting kanji, it

is extremely important that
you do not try and copy
print media or word-
processor kanji. They look
very different! The graphic
on the left is handwritten
kanji. ALWAYS practice
writing kanji from a
handwritten example.
Typeface kanji have little
serifs that you should NOT
replicate. Here is a PDF file
of Chapter 4 kanji cards --
the first page is handwritten
and the second page is
typeface: Chapter 4 Kanji
Cards. Print this out and use
as flashcards.

If you forget where to start when forming a more complex

character, keep these 4 basic rules (again, there are always
exceptions) in mindL

1. Top to Bottom
2. Left to Right
3. Horizontal before Vertical
4. Inside before finishing Outside

There is an old saying that also can refer to kanji writing: "You can't
put things in a box that's already closed." So, when you write kanji
with the "box" or "mouth" radical, like , and , you should
never draw the entire box first and then draw the inside part. For

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more details on stroke order, visit Wikipedia Kanji Stroke Order.

Here are terms you must know for this course:

On Reading (onyomi): Original Chinese reading of a kanji character, but Japanized. In

dictionaries, on readings are written in katakana.

Kun Reading (kunyomi): Indigenous Japanese pronunciation of a kanji character. In

dictionaries, kun readings are written in hiragana.

okurigana: The hiragana part of a word (can be an actual part of the word or the
conjugation portion) that begins with a kanji as in and .

furigana / yomigana: Small hiragana characters written over the top of kanji (or on the
right ride when vertical) used to indicate the reading.

Radical (bushu): A portion of a kanji (some kanji are radicals themselves) which can be
used to look up a kanji in a kanji dictionary.

Chapter 4 Kanji
These are the new kanji in Nakama 1a Chapter 4 (you should be able to read and write
them, create words using them, and know both onyomi and kunyomi):

After studying the kanji characters from Chapter 4, you should be able to recognize
the following words:

university first
student big year student (Freshman)
last week

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school
college graduate school
teacher; student
Dr. study abroad (foreign) student
high school graduate life
student

Links to more Kanji information:

Nakama Kanji List
All about Kanji Radicals
The Kanji Site (JLPT Kanji)
Kanji taught in Japanese schools: listed by grade level
Writing kanji calligraphy with a fude brush (QuickTime Video)
Looking up kanji online

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