480531170

1596
摂
SETSU
take, act as proxy
L1
13 strokes
SESSHUintake
SESSHŌregency/regent
SESSEIhealth care
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen); traditional
. Has34 ‘hand’, and (CO, ‘whisper’,
based on reduplication of 31 ‘ear’) as phonetic
with associated sense taken as either i]
‘bring together, collect’, giving ‘bring together,
collect’ (Ogawa, Tōdō), or ii] ‘lift up’, giving ‘lift/
hold up’ (Katō). ‘Take control’ is considered to
be an extended sense (Katō, Ogawa); and as
Katō suggests, ‘act in place of’ is probably a
loan use. Use of the lower right-hand element
of four strokes in is not uncommon
as a convenient reduplicating device used for
abbreviation in popular forms in pre-modern
Japanese texts. (see, for example, 1463)
OT1968:425; TA1965:800; KJ1970:623. We suggest
taking the bottom right element as
duplication, here specifically four.
Mnemonic: FOUR HANDS AND FOUR
EARS – WHO’S ACTING AS PROXY?
1597
L1
仙
SEN
hermit, wizard
5 strokes
SENNINhermit, wizard
SHUSENhard drinker
SUISENnarcissus
Seal form A ( 僊 ) ; seal form B () . Seal
form A consists of 41 ‘person’, combining
with 䙴 (see Note below) ‘raise up, move’;
the explanation in Shuowen notes a connection
with living a long time. Seal form
B (), defined in Shuowen as ‘person in the
mountains’, is considered to be a late, popular
variant of , reflecting the practice of some
individuals of going up into the mountains
( 26) to live and seek immortality (Gu).
There are strong connections here with early
stages of the Chinese philosophy or religion
called Daoism. Note: another seal form
includes two raised hands lifting something
giving ‘lift up, lift up and move elsewhere’
(Mizukami, Shirakawa). Shirakawa takes the
object being raised up specifically as a corpse.
DJ2009:v2:663; GY2008:173; MS1995:v1:464-5;
SS1984:515,520-21.
Mnemonic: PERSON ON HILL IS A HERMIT
AND WIZARD
1598
L2
占
SEN, uranai/u, shimeru
divine, occupy
5 strokes
DOKUSENmonopoly
uranaiSHAdiviner
shimeta!Good! Great!
OBI form: ; seal form: . Has ‘carry out
divination’ (originally, represents cracks on a
flat surface such as a turtle shell or scapula
[shoulder blade, here of cattle or similar]
used in Shang Dynasty divination process:
see also 96), with 22 ‘mouth’, here
‘speak’, giving ‘carry out divination and announce
(outcome), carry out divination and
inquire (into outcome)’. Alternatively, Shirakawa
takes as not ‘mouth; speak’, but as
depicting a receptacle for prayer texts while
carrying out the divination; this, however,
is very much a minority interpretation. ‘Occupy’
is a borrowed meaning. OT1968:144;
QX2000:203; MR2007:283; MS1995:v1:172-4.
Mnemonic: OCCUPIED AS A DIVINER, ONE
GETS TO SPEAK ABOUT CRACKS
474 The Remaining 1130 Characters