Reading Japanese Kanji - a Pocket 3-Step Guide

116 Pages·2016·3.54 MB·English

Whats it all about?
Reading Japanese
Kanji
- a Pocket 3-Step
Guide
AP Malcolm A Moore Ph.D.
E
a あ i い u う e え o お
Pronunciation
ka か ki き ku く ke け ko こ
kya きゃ kyu きゅ kyo きょ
The Japanese syllabary consists of fve vowels alone and *ga が gi ぎ gu ぐ ge げ go ご
combined with consonants k (also used to make g), s (also used gya ぎゃ gyu ぎゅ gyo ぎょ
to make g and z), t, n, m, h, y, r and, along with a single lone sa さ shi し su す se せ so そ
sha しゃ shu しゅ sho しょ
n. Sound values are /æ//ɪ//ʊ//eɪ//əʊ/ elongated to /aː//iː//ʊː//
* za ざ ji じ zu ず ze ぜ zo ぞ
əʊ/ by addition of a u, う.
ja じゃ ju じゅ jo じょ
Whether written in hiragana or katakana (or kanji) the
ta た chi ち tsu つ te て to と
pronunciation is very like the equivalent in English. Unlike
cha ちゃ chu ちゅ cho ちょ
most other languages there is very little stress on particular da* だ ji ぢ zu づ de で do ど
sylables within words, each receiving the same degree of na な ni に nu ぬ ne ね no の
emphasis, although a fnal su, for example in desu or imasu, nya にゃ nyu にゅ nyo にょ
is often biten of with rapid speech to dess’ or imass’. There ma ま mi み mu む me め mo も
is no la in Japanese, ra being pronounced somewhat as a cross mya みゃ myu みゅ myo みょ
ha は hi ひ fu ふ he へ ho ほ
between the two. The wo syllable is actually pronounced o
ba ば bi び bu ぶ be べ bo ぼ
when standing alone as the object particle. The n which is the
bya びゃ byu びゅ byo びょ
only consonant letter not followed by a vowel may become
pa ぱ pi ぴ pu ぷ pe ぺ po ぽ
similar to an m when sounded before a b or p.
pya ぴゃ pyu ぴゅ pyo ぴょ
*The dakuten or ten ten, when placed in the right hand ya や yu ゆ yo よ
corner of a kana change the sound, for example from ka to ra ら ri り ru る re れ ro ろ
ga . Similarly, the han dakuten also known as maru, or small rya りゃ ryu りゅ ryo りょ
circle, changes the sound from ha to pa: wa わ n ん wo を
By use of youon combination sounds are created by writing Use of a small tsu character between syllabary elements
a symbol that ends with the sound -i, like ki, chi, ki, mi, bi indicates an extended consonant which actually sounds like a
and adding it to a smaller than usual character for ya, yu or yo, very short pause in between the two, giving a hard edge, like
generating kya and kyu, for example. elongates the vowel. rokku ろっく
A 3 Step Guide - Kanji Elements A 3 Step Guide - Kanji Elements
Published by:
Asian Pacifc Education Press, Ltd Whats it all about?
Copyright © 2015 APE Press Limited
43 Meechai Mansion, Asoke-Din Daeng
Bangkok 10400, Thailand
Reading Japanese
Designed/compiled by Malcolm A Moore
ISBN 9 Kanji
All rights reserved
Set in Times New Roman/Kozuka Mincho Pr6N and printed in
Thailand on acid free paper by Craftsman Press, Ltd.
- a Pocket 3-Step
Guide
Watch out for other APE Press
publications in the:
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History in Maps Series
Shirt Pocket Folder Language Series
P Malcolm Moore Ph.D.
Shirt Pocket Tool-box Language Series A
What’s it Al About? Series E
Pronunciation (inside front cover)
Preface and Contents
Preface
Introduction to Kanji . . . . . . 1-4
If you really serious about wanting to come to terms General . . . . . . . . . 1
with learning Japanese for a lifetime in Japan, being able Types of Kanji . . . . . . . 3
to read kanji is essential. Only by repeated exposure The Three-Step Method . . . . . . 4
through reading can you continuously expand your
Section 1) . . . . . . . . . 6-18
vocabulary so that you start to comprehend more and
The System - Classifcation of Kanji . . . 6
more of what is going on around you. This booklet is Natural Elements . . . . . . . 6
an attempt to help you by providing a simple three-step Man and the Body . . . . . . . 8
system to find Housing and Household Items . . . . 10
the readings of Animals . . . . . . . . . 11
new examples Weapons and Transportation . . . . . 12
which will act Element locations
1) On the left - Hen . . . . . 14
to reinforce the
2) On the right - Tsukuri . . . . 15
learning process.
3) At the top - Kanmuri . . . . 16
The more you
4) At the bottom - Ashi . . . . . 17
read, the more
5) Enclose top/left - Tare . . . . 17
you assimilate, 6) Enclose left/base - Nyou . . . . 18
the more you use, the more fuent your Japanese will 7) Enclose other - Kamae . . . . 18
become. It is a mammoth task you have set yourself but, Section 2) . . . . . . . . . 19-70
one step at a time will allow you to gradually improve Section 3) . . . . . . . . . 71-192
and before you know it you will be reading newspapers
Appendix 1) Kanji by Stroke Count . . 193-209
and starting on your frst novel.
Appendix 2) Syllabaries . . . 210-211
Happy learning!
Kanji Elements (inside back cover)
Malcolm Moore
Notes:
nI tdor utc ino t o Kanji
Genear l nI tdor utc ino
The Japanese language appears surrounded by a mystique of
diffculty and vagueness (albeit unwarranted!) and its relation-
ships to the other languages of the world remain a question for
discussion. However, there are clear similarities with Korean
regarding grammar and possible further links to members of
the Altaic group spoken in Siberia and Central Asia.
The earliest extant document in Japanese, the Kojiki
or ‘Record of Ancient Matters’, dated AD 712, is written
entirely in Chinese characters, or ak nji (literally Han China
symbols) in Japanese, and it is unclear how the words were frst
pronounced - whether using the Chinese pronunciation directly
or the Japanese words for the objects or concepts expressed.
Over time, however, the Japanese became adept at producing
alternatives, one the original Japanese word with a borrowed
kanji and the other generally a paired kanji word with the
Chinese pronunciation at the time of introduction. Usually the
latter would be considered more formal and educated, as was
once the case for words of French origin in the English language.
In addition to the simple semantic links, phonetic usage was
also employed so that ak nji with no pictoral relationship were
selected purely for their pronunciation.
This then led to simplifcation and production of the uniquely
Japanese syllabaries of consonant plus vowel known as ak na
(after the original ak ir na for temporary letters). Since these frst
A 3 Step Guide - Kanji Elements 1
served the purpose of aids to memory they were written at the list of 1,850 offcial ak nji . Of these, some 881 were designated
side of the actual Kanji, and were therefore termed ak ta (side) as the basis for elementary education and therefore termed
ak na . From these developed the more cursive style ih ar ag na , kyouiku kanji (education kanji), taught in set order in the
now employed for grammatical functions, like infectional word six grades of elementary school. The Jouyou kanji Hy ou
endings and particles. The ak taak na are now mainly used for (common use character list) of 1981 contains 1,945 in total
foreign loanwords. Both are set out with their derivations at the (996 uoyk iuk ak nji ) and these are now regarded as the essential
back of this booklet. uoR maji (Roman alphabet) provides a third basis for elementary and high school education. Employment of
script for writing foreign acronyms like WHO, and home- grown non-included ak nji , for example in newspapers, is sometimes
expressions like OL for ‘offce lady’. accompanied by the hiragana equivalent.
Traditionally, Japanese writing was vertically from top to Regarding Japanese vocabulary, there is a wealth of
bottom, right to left, as with Chinese. However, now books can alternatives provided by selection and pairing of ak nji with
also found with horizontal script, left to right as in Europe. similar meaning. Japanese borrowed many words from China to
supplement the original aY mat-o tok abo (Yamato or early Japan
Since Chinese characters with the their pronunciations
words) and more recently a large number of ag iar iog or foreign
were borrowed from different regions of China at different
words have entered the language because of the post WWII
times, then Chinese readings for particular ak nji or the no -
infuence of the Americans and other Western countries. There
moy i (ON-reading) can be multiple, although a single reading
are extreme examples where this has resulted in three different
in common use is the case for the majority. nO -moy i words
alternatives as in original Japanese tiro ek sih , Sino-Japanese
can be recognized generally as pairs of Chinese characters
ak iay uk , and foreign ayk nseur , all meaning cancellation.
used together. The kun-yomi (kun reading) refecting the
original Japanese word for the object or concept in the picture
py T es fo Kanji
is characterized, in contrast, by a single kanji followed by
ih ar ag na to provide the grammatical context. Chinese characters fall into distinct categories which are
illuminating as to how they were slowly derived over time.
Given its complexity it is not surprising that there have
The frst is the pitc argo ph , or a simple picture of a physical
been movements from time to time to introduce a completely
object like a tree 木 or mouth 口. The symbol expresses a
romanised version of the Japanese script without ak nji , as was
simple abstract concept like up/above 上 or down/below下 ,
indeed carried out in Korea, but as in China, the characters
while the ideargo ph is a combination of two or more symbols
appear to be here to stay. However, there have been attempts
or pictographs providing a particular meaning in combination,
at limiting the number of ak nji which children need to learn to
like the sun日 coming through a tree 木 for east 東, the direction
gain fuency and the Japanese government, in 1947, issued a
2 A 3 Step Guide - Kanji Elements A 3 Step Guide - Kanji Elements 3
of the early morning sun. The pictographs and symbols are
the elements of the present booklet, the focus for identifying
a particular kanji and finding its meaning in the present
pocket guide.It should be remembered, however, that the vast
majority of ak nji combine semantic with phonetic elements Setc ino )1 Kanji
(see Henshall, 1988) so that it is not usually possible to infer
the meaning from the individual ak nji components employed. ElementsaR/ diac ls
ehT erhT e-step eM tdoh
The rationale for long-term learning with the three step
approach adopted here is reinforcement by repeated exposure.
All but the most simple ideograms are
For each ak nji , decide on the basic element and its location made up of two or more elements or
and fnd in SECTION 1.
Use the element name to establish the meaning and -NO moy i radicals, each originally corresponding
reading in SECTION 2. to some natural force/material or man-
Progress to the compound word with the stroke count in
SECTION 3. made artifact in the environment.
As you become more familiar with each encounter then you
can increasingly skip the frst and second steps and go straight
to the compound. This is a challenge, forcing you to think in
terms of the individual components of ak nji at the same time
as experiencing the roles that elements/radicals play, whether
semantic or phonetic. sU e tI !
The author hopes that it is commensurate with the admittedly
formidable task at hand and the pocket size means it can always
be within grasp - whenever and wherever you have a moment.
However, there is only one way that it will work - if you read,
read and read some more - and . . .ad infnitum.
4 A 3 Step Guide - Kanji Elements A 3 Step Guide - Kanji Elements 5
(tsuihc -ak nmuir ) or under the remainder (tsuihc -asih ), with
The System - Classifcation of Kanji
the connotation of ‘ground’ or ‘of the earth’. The kanji for water,
The system used for the present book corresponds loosely mizu 水, undergoes simplifcation to three dashes termed sanzui,
to Nelson’s 12 step Radical Priority System but rather than for example here in juice or shiru 汁, located on the left of water
employ the 214 radicals or elements a simplication has been or liquid related ideograms (sanuz i-eh n ). Water in its solid form
adopted to allow all the kanji covered to be categorized into 130 as ice or kouri implies stiff or freezing when observed on the
groups. Wherever possible the groupings have been subdivided left in 冷 meaning cold (ni-sui ). For our purposes wind or kaze
as to location within the ak nji to allow speedy access, but for 風 does not form an elemental basis for other kanji, but fre or
assistance where the number in the group is very large, the stroke hi 火 is found on the left in a squeezed form e.g. 灯 in a number
number has been followed. of fame-associated kanji (ih -eh n ).
For classifcation purposes, characters have been divided The sun or hi 日 may be discerned on the left (another
so that the listed component is: ih -eh n ), above (ih -ak nmuir ) or below other components (ih -
1) on the left (eh n ); asih ), in many cases imparting the feeling of bright or shining.
2) on the right (tsuuk ir ); The moon, tsuki 月, is also present in a small number of kanji,
3) at the top (ak nmuir ); generally on the right ( getsu-tsukuri ). This should not be
4) at the bottom (asih ); confused with an identical appearing element on the left which
5) enclosing from the top (taer ); is derived from the kanji for fesh as described below. Light
6) enclosing from the left and bottom (nuoy ); rays may be encountered as three slanting lines on the right, for
7) enclosing from elsewhere (ak mae ). example in colour (san-tsuuk ir ). Rain or ame 雨 is found at
the top of almost all ideograms dealing with the weather (ame-
The “radicals/elements” in their various locations are listed ag sih ar ).
below the explanations for reference and then alphabetically The physical surroundings have been an obvious source
with their associated meanings in different forms in Section 2. of inspiration, with felds or ta 田 found above below or on
the left ( ta-ez n ), and mountains or yama 山 either on the left
aN tuar l Elements
(ay ma-eh n ) or above (ay ma-ag sih ar ), in geography associated
First to consider in our kanji element survey are the physical ideograms. The basic element in the metal-related kanji is that
elements themselves, earth and water, wind and fire. The for gold or money, kin or kane 金, always located on the left
frst, tsuchi 土, forms the basis of a relatively large number of side (ak ne-eh n ). A similar situation exists for stone or ishi 石
compounds, being found either on the left (tsuihc -eh n ) over where its appearance on the left (isih -eh n ) denotes rock-like
6 A 3 Step Guide - Kanji Elements A 3 Step Guide - Kanji Elements 7
attributes. The tree or ki 木 is present in a very large number of kanji 目 is generally found to the left of other components in
kanji, in the majority of cases on the left (ik -eh n ), but also less sight related compounds (me-eh n ), while with the addition of a
frequently below (ik -asih ) or above (ik -ag sih ar ). Split wood pair of legs to make see or miru 見 it adds this connotation when
is present in two forms on the left as 片 or 壮 ( ak ta-eh n ). on the right or below (miur -tsuuk ir a/ sih ). The ear or mimi 耳
Continuing with the plant kingdom, the very important role that plays a similar role for the auditory world being found on the left
the ubiquitous bamboo or take 竹, played in the Far East in days (mimi-eh n ). The mouth or guchi 口 is readily recognizable on
gone by is refected by its presence in a simplifed form above the left (uk ihc -eh n ), above or below (uk ihc -asih ag/ sih ar ) other
other elements in a range of kanji, particularly in those related components in a reasonably sized series, and the tongue or shita
to writing, as in brush 筆 (taek -ak nmuir ). The humble shell 舌 is present in a small number of kanji on the left (sih ta-eh n ).
or kai 貝 also occupied an essential position in society, with its However, the most numerous of the speech-related ideograms
presence under (ak i-asih ) or on the left (ak i-eh n ), very often include the say or iu 言 character which forms a basic element
applied to signify fnancial affairs or payment. on the left for a long list (nog -eb n ).
Regarding the limbs, the hands or te 手 denote a myriad of
aM n and teh doB y activities that one would expect from such versatile appendages,
with the squeezed element either being located on the left (te-
Man or hito 人 forms the essential element in a very large
eh n ) in the vast majority of cases or below (te-asih ), examples
number of ideograms, being located as an upright fgure on the
being utsu 打 for hit, and ageru 挙 for lift up. Related is show or
left as in 仏 (nin-eb n ) or above as in 合 (nin-ak nmuir ). Woman
shimesu 示 generally on the left but sometimes below (sih mesu-
or onna 女 similarly plays an elemental role denoting a female
eh na/ sih ). The most simple representation of legs forms a handy
relation when observed on the left ( onna-hen ).The mother
recognition base for a few kanji, as for small children 児 (ih t-o
or haha 母 and child 子 pair may also be used in accessing a
asih ), but of far more application is the kanji for foot or ashi 足
small number of ideograms (ah ah -asih and uoyr/ok -ez n ). The
, which when observed on the left (asih -eb n ) gives a stepping
latter grouping has been used as a depository for a number of
or dancing connotation. Go or iku 行 , enclosing from two sides
visually related kanji based on a simple form (了)which means
(gyou-gamae ), also signifes movement. Further movement
understand.
associations are indicated by nyou elements enclosing like an
Going on to the parts of the body, we start off with the head
L-shape from the left and below, examples being noberu for
or atama 頭 , whose right hand portion originally meant head
elongate 延 (en-nuoy ), advance as in ou or pursue 追 (sih n-
and subsequently page and is located in the same position in a
nuoy ), and run or hashiru 走 (suo -nuoy ).
number of related kanji (uo ag i-tsuuk ir ). The simple eye or me
Kanji for internal organs can be recognized by the presence
8 A 3 Step Guide - Kanji Elements A 3 Step Guide - Kanji Elements 9