Kanji with Tavo

Hey Tumblr! Welcome to my blog. This blog focuses on studying the chinese characters used in both Chinese and Japanese languages by using mnemonics. I'm from Venezuela and I have been studying japanese for almost three years. Follow me on Twitter: @KanjiWithTavo Support this blog on Patreon, look it up by the same name

[kanjiwithtavo]

Kanji: 寺

Meaning: Buddhist temple

Reading: てら 、 ジ  (tera, ji)

Will rendaku apply sometimes? No, the readings stay the same

About the kanji: this is one useful kanji you should remember since it’s a radical and you’ll see it quite a lot like 持つ or 侍. For me, the kanji looks like the top 土 is the roof and the rest is the of the structure with a lamp on the left. 

Words using this kanji:

寺院 ( じいん )： temple

寺社 ( じしゃ )：   temples and shrines

神宮寺 ( じんぐうじ )： Buddhist temple within a Shinto shrine

僧寺 ( そうじ )： Buddhist priest

Example sentence:

京都を訪問すべきだよ。古いお寺や神社で有名だから。

kyouto wo houmon subeki dayo. Furui otera ya jinja de yuumei dakara

You should visit Kyoto, which is famous for its old temples and shrines.

[kanjiwithtavo]

Kanji: 柵

Meaning: fence

Reading: しがらみ、サク (shigarami, saku)

Will rendaku apply sometimes? No, the readings stay the same

About the kanji: the kanji is made by two radicals, the first one being 木 meaning “tree” and 冊 meaning something put together. So the way you can see this kanji is reading those two ideas as “wooden stuff put together”, or in other words, a fence. But if you like more visualizing the kanji as if you are actually seeing the meaning of it, 冊 really looks like a fence and 木 it’s just telling you what is made of. 

Words using this kanji:

電気柵 ( でんきさく )： electric fence

鉄柵 ( てっさく )：   iron railing or fence

立入禁止柵 ( たちいりきんしさく )： no-entry barrier

柵状組織 ( さくじょうそしき )： palisade layer

Example sentence:

隣の家との境を示す柵がある。

tonari no ie to no sakai wo shimesu saka ga aru

There is a fence marking the boundary between our yard and the neighbor's

[kanjiwithtavo]

明けましておめでとうございます！

Happy new year!

In Japan, New Year’s celebration is a little bit different compared to other countries, people go to temples in the night, they decorate their houses with special flowers, write wishes on a red envelope, etc. That's why I decided to give to include it on my last day of the year's drawing.

I want thank all the people who has supported me from the very first day to the ones who joined me this year. The blog has amazingly grown bigger although I haven't been that active. I'm very happy people find it useful. That's the main reason why I do it. I got some more ideas so you may expect some coming coming up in the next weeks.

I wish you all a happy 2017 and that you achieve your goals. Don't give up on Kanji!! 今年に頑張りましょう！！

[kanjiwithtavo]

What do you use to make the drawings?

I use Macromedia Fireworks 8 (yup, it's old)

[kanjiwithtavo]

Kanji: 年

Meaning: year

Reading: とし、ネン (toshi, nen)

Will rendaku apply sometimes? No, the readings stay the same

About the kanji: One way to remember this kanji is seeing as a graph of what the meaning of year is: the revolution of a planet around a star. The orange stroke ノ is just the the relation between the planet and the star. The second part in red 丁 could be seen as the axis/position of the sun. Lastly, the white lines and the mirroed version of “ユ” is the actual orbit of the planet. Next time you do this kanji, just remember each piece and try imagining you’re describing the actual meaning of the character!

Words using this kanji:

年代 (ねんだい)： era

年月 ( としつき)：   months and years

年鑑 ( ねんれい )： yearbook

年中 ( ねんじゅう )： throughout the year

Example sentence:

新年もよい年でありますように。

shinnen mo yoi toshi de arimasu you ni

May the new year bring you happiness!

[kanjiwithtavo]

Kanji: 笑

Meaning: smile, laugh

Reading: わら、え、ショウ (wara, e, shou) 

Will rendaku apply sometimes? No, the readings stay the same

About the kanji: I always saw this kanji as a cat with the eyes like “^.^” and the mouth at the bottom. I hope you get this image stuck in your head and see smiling cats from now on 笑ｗｗ

Words using this kanji:

笑い ( わらい)： laughter

笑顔 ( えがお )：   smiling face

笑い話 ( わらいばなし )： funny story

笑い出す ( わらいだす )： to burst into laughter

Example sentence:

微笑みつづけなさい。

hohoemi tsudzukenasai

Keep on smiling

[kanjiwithtavo]

Kanji: 流

Meaning: current,  flow

Reading: なが、リュウ、ル (naga, ryuu, ru)

Will rendaku apply sometimes? No, the readings stay the same

About the kanji: as one of the previous kanji covered in a few posts ago, this kanji is composed by the radical of water  氵 . Second we have other half which will bring you closer to the kanji. We can see the kanji for “river” 川 under some sort of radical which looks like the mix of these two radicals  亠 厶 . Since we have the river, we could imagine that weird radical above as a bridge where  亠   can be upper or lower part of the bridge, and the  厶 could be the hole in the bridge where the water of the river is flowing. Finally you ca mix all of that and create a story like “The water 氵 of the river 川 flowing under the bridge ( 亠 +  厶 )

Some of the radicals have been covered in previous posts:

Water radical ( 氵 )

River kanji ( 川 )

Words using this kanji:

流れる ( ながれる)： to flow

流通 ( りゅうつう )：   circulation of money or goods

流域 ( りゅういき )： (river) basin

流動的 ( りゅうどうてき )： fluid

Example sentence:

川はこの橋の下流で別の川と合流する。

kawa wa kono hashi no karyuu de betsu no kawa to gouryuu suru

The river meets another below this bridge.

[kanjiwithtavo]

Hey, just so you know, your last post has "Kanji: 汚" in it and not this "Kanji: 宿" :)

There’s always that little part that I always forget to change. Thanks!!! :D

[kanjiwithtavo]

“I decided to lodge in the cabin until the snowstorm goes away”

Kanji: 宿

Meaning: inn, lodging, relay station,dwell, lodge

Reading: やど、シュク (yado, shuku)

Will rendaku apply sometimes? No, the readings stay the same

About the kanji: I have always seen this kanji as a person staying in a cabin or hotel next to a drawer or any furniture you can imagine. With this idea, you can make a story with it and remember this kanji much easier.

Words using this kanji:

宿泊 ( しゅくはく )： lodging

宿屋 ( やどや)： inn

宿直 ( しゅくちょく )： night watch

宿帳 ( やどちょう )： hotel register

Example sentence:

宿屋といってもまるで丸太小屋のようだ。

yadoya to itte mo marude marutagoya no you da

The inn was no better than a log cabin.

[kanjiwithtavo]

“After the tsunami, Fukushima Nuclear Plant’s wastes began polluting the sea”

Kanji: 汚

Meaning: dirty, pollute, disgrace

Reading: けが、よご、 きた、オ(kega, yogo, kita, o)

Will rendaku apply sometimes? No, the readings stay the same

About the kanji: first we start with the left radical 氵 which means “water”. On the right hand side, we have this part of the kanji which using the mnemonic above can help you see it as a pipe from a factory trowing toxic waste. Mix these two ideas and you can easily relate it to “polluting water” and with that you get the meaning “polluting” faster.

Words using this kanji:

汚染 (おせん)： pollution

汚い ( きたない)： dirty

汚職 ( おしょく)： corruption

汚水 ( おすい )：sewage

Example sentence:

工場は廃棄物で海は汚染された

koujou wa haikibutsu de umi wa osen sareta

Factory waste has polluted the sea.

[kanjiwithtavo]

“At dawn you can see the sun’s light over the river”

Kanji: 光

Meaning: ray, light

Reading: ひかり、コウ、 (hikari, kou)

Will rendaku apply sometimes? No, the readings stay the same

About the kanji: I always say this kanji as three sun rays in the sunset by a river. Also, you may also hear the word 灯 which sounds almost the same and mean almost the same thing but it’s not. So be aware there are actually two words for light.

Words using this kanji:

光線 ( こうせん )： beam

光沢 ( こうたく )： brilliance

光る ( ひかる)： to shine

光景 ( こうけい )： scene

光年 ( こうねん )： light year

光合成 （ こうごうせい )： photosynthesis

光輝 ( こうき )： brightness

Example sentence:

闇とは光がないことです。

yami to wa hikari ga nai koto desu

Darkness is the absence of light.

[kanjiwithtavo]

Kanji: 川

Meaning: stream, river

Reading: かわ、ゼン、 (kawa, zen)

Will rendaku apply sometimes? Yes, the first reading will change to がわ depending on the word having this kanji

About the kanji: coming originally from the pictograph of a stream of water, the kanji later came to be used for the word “stream” and “river”. In Japanese, it mostly refers to the word “river”. In Chinese, 河 is used more often than 川 to mean “river”, the latter is more for “stream”

Words using this kanji:

川上( かわかみ )： upstream

川岸 ( かわぎし )： riverbank

川流れ ( かわながれ )： being carried away by a current

川路 ( かわじ )： river’s course

天の川 ( あまのがわ)： Milky Way

滝川 （ たきがわ )： rapids

アマゾン川 ( あまぞんがわ)：amazon river

Example sentence:

川は山から下って湾に注いでいる。

kawa wa yama kara kudatte wan ni sosoiteru

The river descends from the mountains to the bay below.

[kanjiwithtavo]

Kanji: 門

Meaning: gate, counter for cannons

Reading: かど、と、モン、 (kado, to, mon)

Will rendaku apply sometimes? No, the readings above are the same in every word having this kanji

(Don’t know what “rendaku” is? Check this post )

About the kanji: since the first time I saw this kanji, it always looked like some sort of gate leading to the festival with two Japanese lanterns on the top. I believe seeing it this way helps you guess the meaning of the kanji really quick

Words using this kanji:

門番 ( もんばん )： gatekeeper

門限 ( もんげん )： closing time

門出 ( かどで )：leaving one's own house (e.g. when going to war)

門外漢 ( もんがいかん )： outsider

肛門 ( こうもん )： anus

入門 （ にゅうもん )： entering an institution

大門 ( だいもん )： large front gate

Example sentence:

門番は門を通りぬけるのを許してくれた。 

monban wa mon wo torinukeru no wo yurishitekureta

The gatekeeper permitted me through the gate.

[kanjiwithtavo]

Kanji: 主

Meaning: lord, chief, master, main

Reading: ぬし、おも、あるじ、 シュ、ス、シュウ(nushi, omo, shu, su, shuu)

Will rendaku apply sometimes? No, the readings above are the same in every word having this kanji

(Don’t know what “rendaku” is? Check this post )

About the kanji: this kanji always looked like a hierarchy chart. The word at the top 社長 means “the director of the company” or “president”. Therefore, it’s easier for me to associate it with the word “lord”

Words using this kanji:

主人 ( しゅじん )： head (of a household)

主人公( しゅじんこう )： protagonist

主体 ( しゅたい )： sovereignty

主権 ( しゅけん )： look

主義 ( しゅぎ )： leading part

主役 （ しゅやく )： notice

主題 ( しゅだい )： subject

Example sentence:

日本の封建時代には、 最大の土地を所有した領主は「 大名」と 呼ばれた。

Nihon no houkenjitai ni wa, saidai no dochi wo shoyuu shita ryoushu wa "daimyou" to yobareru

In feudal Japan, the lord with the largest land holdings was called a "daimyo."

[kanjiwithtavo]

Kanji: 目

Meaning: eye 

Reading: め、ボク、モク (me, boku, moku)

Will rendaku apply sometimes? No, the three readings above are the same in every word having this kanji

(Don’t know what “rendaku” is? Check this post )

About the kanji: One of the first kanjis I learned. I easily remembered it after a great Chinese professor and friend of mine showed me the origin of the kanji. As shown above, it’s basically a squared version of the drawing of a vertical eye. 

Words using this kanji:

目的 ( もくてき )： aim

目覚まし ( めざ まし )： opening one’s eyes

目上 ( めうえ )： superior

目つき ( め つき )： look

目撃 ( もくげき )： witnessing

注目 ちゅうもく )： notice

人目 ( ひとめ )： public gaze

Example sentence:

美しいということは全く見る人の眼による。

utsukushii to iu koto wa mattaku miru hito no me ni yoru

Beauty is altogether in the eye of the beholder.

[kanjiwithtavo]

Took me a while to do this animation so I think it deserves a second moment this week!

[kanjiwithtavo]

Kanji: 目

Meaning: eye 

Reading: め、ボク、モク (me, boku, moku)

Will rendaku apply sometimes? No, the three readings above are the same in every word having this kanji

(Don’t know what “rendaku” is? Check this post )

About the kanji: One of the first kanjis I learned. I easily remembered it after a great Chinese professor and friend of mine showed me the origin of the kanji. As shown above, it’s basically a squared version of the drawing of a vertical eye. 

Words using this kanji:

目的 ( もくてき )： aim

目覚まし ( めざ まし )： opening one's eyes

目上 ( めうえ )： superior

目つき ( め つき )： look

目撃 ( もくげき )： witnessing

注目 ちゅうもく )： notice

人目 ( ひとめ )： public gaze

Example sentence:

美しいということは全く見る人の眼による。

utsukushii to iu koto wa mattaku miru hito no me ni yoru

Beauty is altogether in the eye of the beholder.

[kanjiwithtavo]

Kanji: 束 

Meaning: bundle, sheaf, ream

Reading: たば、ソク (taba, soku)

Will rendaku apply sometimes? No, both readings are the same in every word having this kanji

(Don’t know what “rendaku” is? Check this post )

About the kanji: I have always seen this kanji as three flowers tied by a ribbon 口 around. Basically just have an image of three things tied by something. This way you can get easily the kanji-image connection. 

Words using this kanji:

束ねる ( たばねる)： dialect

花束( bouquet )： method

束縛理論 ( そくばくりろん )： binding theory

約束 ( やくそく)： promise

札束 ( さつたば )： roll of banknotes

収束 ( しゅうそく )： conclusion

二束 ( ふたたば )： two bundles

Example sentence:

本はひとまとめに束ねてあった

hon wa hitomatome ni tabanete atta

The books were tied up in a bundle.