Daily Stroke Order Practice

[TehFlashBang]

2024年2月28日「水」

漢字：襟
訓読み：えり
音読み：キン
Jisho Page

メモ：Moving back up a bit to a Kanji that can mean “Neck” or “Collar”, as well as the word “Nape (of the neck)”.
It seems that I’ve been doing a lot of hard to left-right balance Kanji. Hopefully I’ll start to get better at them if I keep working at it.

Drawing Practice

The next two big things I’m trying to work on is Heads and Hair. I’m not too great at either, and I’ll probably be doing a lot of basic art practice drills, like drawing straight lines, and working on making better circles.
I’ve found a couple good videos to follow for different side-profiles and angled faces, so I will be focusing on those! If I have any more cool updates on my drawing journey, I’ll continue to sneak them into these posts!

[TehFlashBang]

2024年2月29日「木」

漢字：背
訓読み：せ、せい、そむ.く、そむ.ける
音読み：ハイ
Jisho Page

2024年3月1日「金」

漢字：腰
訓読み：こし
音読み：ヨウ
Jisho Page

2024年3月2日「土」

漢字：胴
訓読み：N/A
音読み：ドウ
Jisho Page

メモ：I’m starting to wonder if I might be getting a bit burnt out.
Posts on this thread may be a bit more scarce moving forward, but I’ll be doing my best to keep doing a character a day, even if I don’t post it right away.
For all the other learners out there, remember that the most important thing is to take care of yourself. You won’t have the energy nor mental capacity to learn if you don’t.

If anyone wants to help fill in the gaps, feel free to! Expect to see me in the future!

[TehFlashBang]

Hello Everyone,

Instead of posting out each individual character I’ve been practicing as of late, I’m just going to post the sheets below.

Body-Related Kanji

Today’s Kanji was 睫、a not commonly seen character for 「まつげ」、or “Eyelashes”.

I’d like to get a nicer notebook in the future, one actually designed for writing Kanji in. Hopefully I can make this a reality soon, as I am starting to run out of pages in my current notebook.

Along with that, here is a little update on my drawing progress.

Drawing

From day 13 and 19 respectively. I haven’t had many other pieces I like as much as these two, but I have been working at it almost every day, time permitting.

Even with my lack of motivation at the moment, I’ve found some actual enjoyment out of drawing—at least when I get them to a point where I think they’re really good—and I have a number of friends who are cheering me on as I continue my venture into this new hobby.

Overall, I’m still not feeling too well, but hopefully as I continue to do my best and strive to make improvements to better myself and my life, things will get easier.

I hope everyone who reads this is well.

[TehFlashBang]

2024年3月13日「水」

漢字：心
訓読み：こころ、-ごころ
音読み：シン
Jisho Page

メモ：A simple character with a lot of complex uses, as well as being a common radical in many other Kanji.

[matt_in_mito]

Your post inspired me to look at the nitty-gritty of this kanji for the first time in ages, and lo-and behold, I managed to surprise myself. I did about an hour on this, so obviously it’s going to be today’s character, but I thought I should check in here first to share my thoughts.

I started thinking about the style. There are a few kanji whose style changes depending on whether you’re writing on a PC, smartphone, etc., or by hand. 心 is one of those few, but here are a few more:

OK, so I wrote on the versions that would come out of a computer, implying that the way they are written is incorrect. That is not the case, and any Japanese person who saw your writing would absolutely understand it, so please don’t think of it as a mistake. However, it’s true that people don’t really write like that.

One other important thing about 心 that I picked up at my calligraphy class is the shape:

I still can’t get it quite right and my teacher is always hammering it into me that the bottom is flat and the top rises.

Another little thing…
While I was researching for this post, I discovered a few ways of writing 心 that I’d never encountered before today. These are writing styles that I don’t practice and have never practiced, so please do with this information anything that you will…

印相体

篆古印

篆書

Kanji is fun to learn!

[TehFlashBang]

Very interesting information, as always. さすがマットさん！
Personally, even knowing the more proper way to write 「心」、I’m likely going to continue writing it out “incorrectly” unless I’m planning on doing proper calligraphy for the symbol, simply because I find it simpler from a “words per second” writing standpoint. The way I end up writing the 3rd and 4th stroke is as though it’s a solid line, just with lifting my pen up slightly between them, which works best for me.
It all comes back to one of the reasons I’m so interested in other people’s writing of Kanji, and that is handwriting.
While there may be objectively correct ways of doing certain things, people have developed their own handwriting styles so distinct from each other that when copying someone else’s handwriting, minute differences can reveal forgeries when viewed with a close eye.
There’ll always be a difference between writing for writing, and writing for art, as English calligraphy looks a lot more beautiful than a university student’s scrawled lecture notes, and that is another part of written language that I love and appreciate.
Tangent aside, thank you for always supporting my kanji journey. Your useful information and interesting trivia always tickles the inquisitive part of my mind, and for anyone reading who hasn’t already, please check out Matt’s Own Thread for great characters and neat trivia.

[matt_in_mito]

@TehFlashBang

Personally, even knowing the more proper way to write 「心」、I’m likely going to continue writing it out “incorrectly” unless I’m planning on doing proper calligraphy for the symbol, simply because I find it simpler from a “words per second” writing standpoint. The way I end up writing the 3rd and 4th stroke is as though it’s a solid line, just with lifting my pen up slightly between them, which works best for me.

I’m going to attempt to change your mind on this, and hopefully I can haha!
OK, so we both know that stroke order is very important, and we both use that as the baseline for our kanji writing and the threads that we have on here. I think that the mistake I made on my post from yesterday was that I put you under the impression that I was talking about calligraphy. While I did show you how to write 心 in a calligraphically correct(ish) style, the point I was trying to make wasn’t one about calligraphy - I was trying to say that literally no Japanese person every writes 心 in that way. I may need a disclaimer just in case I get replied to by one of the only Japanese people who does, but I promise you that I have literally never encountered any Japanese person who writes it that way.

Just with the 心 character, it probably won’t cause you any problems at all, as everyone can read and understand it. Your problems will arise when 心 appears in other characters. Take 思, for example (which will become today’s character for this reason).

When I’m scribbling down notes to my colleagues, it will often come out something like this:

This is not calligraphy, and it is really quite scruffy, but the reality is that the vast majority of people will scribble notes like this every day, and more importantly, for your average Japanese person, it’s readable.

@TehFlashBang

The way I end up writing the 3rd and 4th stroke is as though it’s a solid line

This is absolutely fine, but when your way of thinking is applied to 思, if you were scribbling a note down for a colleague, it may end up looking something like this:

With some imagination, I can guess what this is, but to some Japanese people it could potentially be unreadable.

Anyway, let me know what you think. Obviously, it’s healthy to disagree and all that, but I’m genuinely interested in what you think.

[TehFlashBang]

2024年3月14日「木」

漢字：思
訓読み：おも.う、おもえら.く、おぼ.ず
音読み：シ
Jisho Page

メモ：How about I do it too?

@matt_in_mito

I was trying to say that literally no Japanese person every writes 心 in that way.

I may have tried to be a bit too close to digital for a lot of my practice 心’s, but if I were to scribble it:

This is about what I come up with.

One of the things I’m confused about is your mention that the top of the 心 character should rise, and the bottom should be flat. In a majority of the resources I have for handwritten fonts and such, The fourth stroke is both longer and lower than the third, but in your examples it almost seems that the opposite is the case.
Is this a calligraphy thing, or does every native write in this way? I’d love more examples, time permitting and folks permitting, of course.

@matt_in_mito

Your problems will arise when 心 appears in other characters. Take 思, for example

At the risk of sounding dumb, I don’t write radicals the same way when they’re in their various different forms. Obviously I strive to follow stroke order to the T, but as you can see previously from when I wrote out 憶 earlier in the thread, It didn’t come out anywhere close to your prediction. For a majority of my 思 practice today, I tried to scribble it as though I was writing a note, and maybe it’s just because I’m new, but no matter how fast I go I don’t think I’ll ever drag my pen like you do in some of your examples.

A more isolated scribbled out 思 for reference

If with this added context and these examples you still think my handwriting could end up being a problem, I’ll heavily consider working on it, but for the life of me I don’t see it being a big issue for me personally. Whenever I write something out for someone, English or otherwise, I prefer to make it as readable as possible, and would only really be scrawling to myself as a note for something. Maybe all the months of time I’ll lose for doing this will catch up to me someday, but I’m okay with that.

All in all I do enjoy conversations like this, and any more notes/commentary is welcome. If anyone else wants to chime in I’d love to see more of the handwriting cases for 心 and 思 from the rest of the community too!

[Lutabanga]

What a coincidence! 心 came up in my writing deck yesterday and your tips helped me a lot. ありがとうマットさん

[matt_in_mito]

@TehFlashBang

Is this a calligraphy thing, or does every native write in this way? I’d love more examples, time permitting and folks permitting, of course.

Good question. I’ll ask my calligraphy teacher the next time I speak to him.

@TehFlashBang

At the risk of sounding dumb, I don’t write radicals the same way when they’re in their various different forms. Obviously I strive to follow stroke order to the T, but as you can see previously from when I wrote out 憶 earlier in the thread, It didn’t come out anywhere close to your prediction. For a majority of my 思 practice today, I tried to scribble it as though I was writing a note, and maybe it’s just because I’m new, but no matter how fast I go I don’t think I’ll ever drag my pen like you do in some of your examples.

@TehFlashBang

If with this added context and these examples you still think my handwriting could end up being a problem, I’ll heavily consider working on it, but for the life of me I don’t see it being a big issue for me personally. Whenever I write something out for someone, English or otherwise, I prefer to make it as readable as possible, and would only really be scrawling to myself as a note for something. Maybe all the months of time I’ll lose for doing this will catch up to me someday, but I’m okay with that.

Yeah, I think that’s absolutely fine then. Everyone has different handwriting and some are more scruffy than others. Outside of my calligraphy, I’m super scruffy, which is why stroke order is so important, because if you scribble down a scruffy note, making a mistake on the stroke order makes it look like a different character entirely.
I don’t think you need to spend any time working on your handwriting, as long as it can be read properly. My point was just that there are a few (not many) characters that should be different when handwritten compared to when input on a computer.

[CursedKitsune]

Matt’s on the money here. Some characters look totally different handwritten. Actually most look different because they end up scruffy but that’s a slightly different issue to balance. It is interesting watching learners post carefully written kanji and asking “is this legible” compared the the chicken scratch I have to read in real life. As Matt says, stroke order and a sense of balance are very important for being able to read handwriting. Anyway I’ll post a bunch of 『思う。』from some old homework sheets I have at hand and you can see the variety. For reference I would say none of these are particularly messy as it’s quite an easy kanji to write. As Matt said, the balance tends to be flat or kind of a wedge shape going up to the right (for 心).

[TehFlashBang]

Super interesting examples. Thank you for sharing!

[TehFlashBang]

2024年3月15日「金」

漢字：臓
訓読み：はらわた
音読み：ゾウ
Jisho Page

2024年3月16日「土」

漢字：額
訓読み：ひたい
音読み：ガク
Jisho Page

メモ：A couple tough ones, at least when it comes to stroke number. Not sure why Jisho lists 「はらわた」 as a Kun’yomi reading for 臓 but if anyone can find a use-case for it I’d love to see it.
Starting to focus my practice on actual “up to speed” writing where I work to write the kanji out quickly but legibly, at least to me. I think these two look pretty good.

[TehFlashBang]

2024年3月17日「日」

漢字：乳
訓読み：ちち、ち
音読み：ニュウ
Jisho Page

メモ：Another missed body part that I wasn’t even thinking about. Can mean “Breast”, similar to 胸、but is also a part of the word 乳首、or “Nipple”. This word is often shortened to TKB across the internet and various message boards (TKB → Ti 「ち」Ku 「く」 Bi 「び」) and is often considered to be a dirty word. Another interesting usage of 首 being repurposed for other body parts, like 手首 and 足首.

[TehFlashBang]

2024年3月18日「月」

漢字：肺
訓読み：N/A
音読み：ハイ
Jisho Page

メモ：While 胸 can also be used to refer to your lungs, a more specific word for it is 肺、or maybe even 肺臓、but that seems less common, and may be used in more medical environments.

[TehFlashBang]

Hoo boy, I made my bed and now it’s time to lay in it.

2024年3月19日「火」

漢字：肝
訓読み：きも
音読み：カン

2024年3月20日「水」

漢字：脈
訓読み：すじ
音読み：ミャク

2024年3月21日「木」

漢字：腱
音読み：ケン、キン

2024年3月22日「金」

漢字：腎
音読み：ジン

2024年3月23日「土」

漢字：膜
音読み：マク

メモ：With these, I’ll be ending my Body-related Kanji Journey. I’m struggling to find new Kanji every day, and I believe there are more important kanji for me to be studying going forward. If I find another Kanji that’s related to the body/bodily functions, I’ll likely just tack it on in a normal daily post sometime.

[TehFlashBang]

And for those interested in my continuing art journey:

Daily Art Practice

I’m coming up on 30 days here soon. Here are a couple notable sketches I’ve done since last time.

Still having problems with drawing chins and such, but I think I know where one of my major flaws has been coming from when it comes to making faces, so hopefully they’ll start to look better here soon. Bonus points if you know what characters are in the sketches!

[TehFlashBang]

2024年3月24日「日」

漢字：臍
訓読み：へそ、ほぞ
音読み：セイ、サイ

メモ：Oops, forgot one.
I was just going about my day, watching some videos for studying/relaxing when this word came up. It’s always interesting how when you’re starting to learn a new language, you really don’t know just how many words you don’t know. It works like that with a lot of new skills, and it’s very easy to convince yourself you know a lot more than you do, especially when you’re very new to a field.
After writing it out a couple times though, it’s pretty clear to me why it’s more commonly written out in Kana alone, as I don’t think very many people would want to write this out unless they had to. It’s not a particularly difficult Kanji, it’s just cramped, and hard to write very fast, at least for me.

[TehFlashBang]

2024年3月25日「月」

漢字：嬢
訓読み：むすめ
音読み：ジョウ

メモ：This was an interesting one. I really liked the feel of writing this out.

Daily Art Practice

Yesterday was day 30 of doing art. I’ve attached day one and day 30 to compare the two. Hopefully there will be more to compare in the future.

[skullclutter]

Your art has come a long way in such a short time! I hope you’ve seen as big an improvement with your kanji as well.