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834
灰
KAI, hai
ashes
L3
6 strokes
SEKKAIlime
hai-irogrey
KAZANbaivolcanic ash
Bronze ; seal ; traditional 灰 . Has 8
‘flames/fire’, and taken as variant of 2003
(originally ‘hand’). ( might seem unlikely as a
variant shape for , but clerical forms for do
exist which are close in shape to, albeit with the
diagonal going from top left to bottom right).
All commentators take as ‘flames/fire’, but
835
L3
拡
KAKU
spread
8 strokes
KAKUDAImagnification
KAKUSANdissemination
KAKUSEIKIloudspeaker
interpretations of here differ. Mizukami takes
semantically as ‘hand’, giving ‘rake cinders by
hand’, or ‘ash’. Katō and Yamada take instead
as phonetic with associated sense ‘use up’, to
give ‘what is left when fire dies out’, i.e. ‘ash’.
Ogawa also takes as phonetic, but with associated
sense ‘black’, giving ‘fire burns leaving
something black’, i.e. ‘ash’. We think of ash today
as grey, but Mizukami notes that originally ash
color meant ‘black’ (though rather unclear).
SK1984:131; MS1995:v2:794-5; KJ1970:148-9;
YK1976:87; OT1968:615. Take as ‘hillside’.
Mnemonic: HILLSIDE ABLAZE, REDUCED TO
ASHES
Seal ; traditional . Has 34 ‘hand’,
and 127 (modern ‘wide, spacious’) as
semantic and phonetic, giving ‘pull with the
hand and spread out’. YK1976:95; KJ1970:325;
OT1968:406.
Mnemonic: SPREAD HANDS WIDE
836
革
KAKU, kawa
leather, reform
L3
9 strokes
KAKUMEIrevolution
KAKUSHINreform
kawaKŌbatannery
Bronze ; seal . Typically taken to represent
pictographically a small animal offered as
sacrifice and left exposed to the elements until
its bones are bleached white, hence meaning
‘bleached bones of a small animal; skeleton’.
Advocates of this view (Katō, Yamada, Ogawa)
regard ‘leather’ as a loan usage. Because some
of the bronze forms show a pair of hands also,
alternatively taken to mean ‘stretched, dried
hide of an animal’, i.e. ‘leather’. Tōdō is of this
latter view, being in his word-family ‘stretch
taut’. Mizukami lists both views. ‘Renew’ may be
regarded as an extended sense (and by further
extension ‘reform’), based on the new use for
the animal hide. KJ1970:474; MS1995:v2:1432-3;
OT1968:1094; YK1976:95. Difficult in terms of
mnemonics. We suggest taking the graph as a
whole as a splayed out (sacrificed) animal with
horns, head, body, long back legs, and tail.
Mnemonic: SPLAYED OUT ANIMAL PROVIDES
LEATHER: NEED FOR REFORM?
837
L1
閣
KAKU
cabinet, chamber
14 strokes
KAKKAYour Excellency
NAIKAKUCabinet
KAKUGICabinet meeting
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 231 ‘gate’,
and 462 (originally, ‘descend [and stop]’;
now ‘each’) as phonetic with associated sense
‘descend and stop’, giving ‘securing bolt’ (vertical
bolts used to keep leaves of a gate in place
without moving). Senses such as ‘mansion,
chamber, Cabinet’ are loan usages. YK1976:96;
KJ1970:192-3; OT1968:1059.
Mnemonic: EACH GATE LEADS TO CABINET
262 The 181 Sixth Grade Characters