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14
休
KYŪ, yasumu
rest(ing)
L5
6 strokes
KYŪJITSU holiday
KYŪSEN truce
natsuyasumi summer break
OBI . A ‘logical compound’ type character
which signified rest in the shade, being made
up of /41 ‘person’ next to 73 ‘tree’. This
widely accepted interpretation is supported at
some length by Qiu, who rejects Shirakawa’s
interpretation of early forms of this character as
‘person’ next to ‘standing grains’. QX2000:209-
211; GY2008:278-9; AS2007:542; SS1984:171-2.
Mnemonic: PERSON RESTS AGAINST TREE
15
玉
GYOKU, tama
jewel, ball
L3
5 strokes
GYOKUHAI jade cup
tamatsuki billiards
medama eyeball
OBI forms show pieces of precious stone
(probably jade discs) strung together on a cord
. Though the shape of this graph stood in
contrast to 5 ‘king, ruler’ at the OBI stage,
the shapes of the two became less distinctive
in bronze, and in the seal forms they were
virtually indistinguishable. In clerical script,
was commonly written with a dot, no doubt
to help distinguish it from . Note, though,
that as a determinative in compound graphs
(e.g. 692 ‘appear’), the dot in is omitted
in the majority of cases. The meaning ‘ball’ for
is Japanese-only usage. KJ1970:283,933;
MS1995:v2:850-63; MR2007:218; SK1984:490-91.
Mnemonic: STRING OF BALL-LIKE JEWELS FIT
FOR A KING
16
L5
金
KIN, KON, kane
gold, metal, money
8 strokes
KIN’YŌbi Friday
KONJIKI gold color
kanemochi rich person
Variations in shape in the earliest occurrences
/ , namely bronze inscriptions, have led to
different interpretations. Shirakawa takes the
small dots or dashes as representing lumps of
cast metal (bronze). Another view additionally
treats the main part of the graph as depicting
an arrow at the top and an ax lower down
(Wen). Different again is a view (Katō) which
breaks the graph down into two semantic
elements: 64 ‘earth’, together with dots to
represent something in the earth, and then an
abbreviated form of 138 (‘top/cover’) as a
phonetic indicator. At an early stage in China,
often used in the sense of ‘bronze’, then sometimes
‘gold’, and by extension metals in general.
SS1984:208; KJ1970:955-6; WL2010:410. We
suggest remembering by using 5 ‘king’.
Mnemonic: KING KEEPS TWO GOLD NUGGETS
UNDER COVER
17
L5
空
KŪ, sora, kara
sky, empty
8 strokes
KŪKI air
sorairo sky-blue
karabako empty box
Bronze . The top five strokes (of the modern
form) depict the entrance to a hollowed-out pit,
or cave 860, i.e., something empty; subsequently
extended to mean ‘sky’. The lower element
125 (‘work, tool’) serves as a phonetic,
with an associated sense of ‘hole’. References:
SS1984:220; KJ1970:401; MS1995:v2:974-5. We
suggest remembering by using in its meaning
of ‘work’.
Mnemonic: WORK TO OPEN THE ROOF TO
SEE THE EMPTY SKY
The 80 First Grade Characters 51