That’ll do!
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2023年10月6日（金）
唱
訓：とま.える
音：しょう
英：chant, recite, call upon, yell
書き順
楷書
行書
草書
メモ
The 楷書 version of this character perfectly illustrates the point I make today. Notice the bottom right-hand corner or each radical. On 口, the bottom horizontal line sticks out, but on 日, the vertical one does. Don’t ask me why, but the basic rule is that the bottom right sticks out horizontally on 口 and vertically on any other square- or rectangle-shaped radical.
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Oh how I love 草書! Besides, this is one of the first kanjis I ever learned, as it was “made up” of 口 and 日. 懐かしいねぇ…
This kanji brought back to my mind another kanji I found whilst exploring how loose you can make the strokes in 日. I mean, if all the strokes have to touch one another. I found this kanji: 曰, which looks very much the same as 日 but is in fact a totally different one.
So dot your i’s and cross your t’s. You never know what you are actually writing! 
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You’re absolutely right about 日 and 曰, but I often find that when I’m scribbling something down, I will make that error. However, while it is technically an error, I have literally never seen 曰 (曰く) in any situation other than when it’s being explained to me that it’s different to 日. I actually just checked my calligraphy book and it isn’t even listed, making me think that it’s probably hardly used in modern times at all.
Me too. It’s so beautiful. I just wish I could understand the strokes better than I currently do…
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Funnily enough, I’m reading a light novel at the moment that uses 曰く quite a lot. Particularly stuff like:
マットさんは曰く、「曰く」という言葉はこの時代に滅多に見えない事に関して語っていました。
But come to think of it I haven’t seen it used elsewhere very much either.
Also as a side note I love looking at these posts. I’m terrible with kanji so it’s a great way for me to take a deeper dive and memorize them a bit easier. I even had a conversation with my teacher about 草書体 last week because I thought it was so interesting.
Keep up the great work!
(Novel is 魔女の旅々 btw for anyone curious!)
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珍しさそうです。
Even the sentence itself refers to this rareness, この時代に滅多に見えない!
ところが, of all the kanjis that make up the name of the novel, I find 女 most difficult to get right. @matt_in_mito さん, would you consider to add it up to your list?
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Thanks for saying this. I started it thinking that I might get a couple of interested people and it would just naturally disappear after a month or so, but in contrast, it’s actually growing and becoming more and more popular, so I’m really happy and I’ll keep doing it for the time being. Feel free to post some of your own stuff, too!
This is a testament to the fact that I don’t read novels, like, ever…
I gave it a go, but I often struggle getting it right, too. See what you think! (Post incoming within the next few minutes…)
It’s actually been on my radar for a while, because I find the 草書 style very interesting.
7 Likes
2023年10月7日（土）
女
訓：おんな、め
音：じょ、にょ、にょう
英：woman, female
書き順
楷書
行書
草書
メモ
So, you’ll have probably noticed by my 草書 that the hiragana め was created using this character. This is connected to 雌（めす）, which means ‘female’, mostly in connection with non-human animals, but was probably associated with humans at some point in history. History is my worst subject, so if anyone can shed more light on this than me, please feel free!
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Nice! I like the 行書 version best, it looks to me like a lady in court curtseying. I have trouble with the balancing of the whole kanji itself but the second stroke is 最悪.
As for the 草書 version, 本当にすごくビックリしました: “why did he write ‘め’?”, I thought. Then your explanation cleared it all. (草書 is really baffling, I share your feeling about the understanding of the strokes.)
Now, the next thing that popped up in my head was “what about 男 and 雄 (おす), are they connected in the same manner”?
漢字の書道を教えてくれていつもありがとう!
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It’s one that I hate to write, but get a hell of a lot of satisfaction from getting right. I’m not saying the one I posted today is anywhere near perfect, but I had a go at least…
Yes and no. A barely-used reading for 男 is ‘お’, so there is that connection, but the hiragana お has no connection to 男 as far as I’m aware.
5 Likes
2023年10月8日（日）
戸
訓：と
音：こ
英：door, counter for houses, door radical
書き順
楷書
行書
草書
メモ
The ‘to’ from Mito!
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Apparently お comes from 於 which was used to write the お sound in 万葉仮名(Chinese characters used phonetically).
From 雌 - Wiktionary, the free dictionary " The kanji as used originally in Chinese and in older Japanese with the on’yomi of shi referred more specifically to female birds."
The characters were even apparently based on birds "雄は雌の前で翼を大きく張り広げる。 これを観察した古人は「おす」のこのような形態的特徴を捉えて「雄」という記号を作り出した（詳しくは「雄」の項で述べる）。 これに対するのが「めす」で、雄の前で翼を折り畳んでいる形状を捉えて「雌」という記号を作った"67「雌」の字源・語源 : 漢字の字源・語源図鑑
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@EbonyMidget beat me to the punch but I’ll leave my post for posterity.
I was literally talking to my Japanese friend about this on Friday. The 女 is the 万葉仮名 of め. In of the word 娘 it ends with that め. The other two kanji related to that are 安→あ
奴→ぬ
Those would both be interesting to see.
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@EbonyMidget @Sidgr
I love how this has become a discussion about these details. I’ll do 安 today, and I’ll put 娘, 奴 and 於 on the list for the next few days. I might do 雌 and 雄 too, since we’re on the subject.
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2023年10月9日（月）
安
訓：やす.い、やす.まる、やす、やす.らか
音：あん
英：relax, cheap, low, quiet, rested, contented, peaceful
書き順
楷書
行書
草書
メモ
As stated on a previous post, the hiragana あ was made using this character.
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I can’t unsee this. Perfect description 
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2023年10月10日（火）
娘
訓：むすめ、こ
音：じょう
英：daughter, girl
書き順
楷書
行書
草書
メモ
I think that on this one, you can see the relationship between the hiragana め and the radical 女 a lot more.
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Oh my god. I was reading @matt_in_mito’s comment and thinking to myself it was funny because I had also just learned about 曰く a couple months ago while also reading a light novel.
I then gasped reading your comment because I also learned it from 魔女の旅々 ! 
I finished volume 4 a while ago and had a great time reading it (and lost my mind seeing 曰く for the first time). Great to see someone else here reading it! Which volume are you on?
4 Likes
2023年10月11日（水）
奴
訓：やつ、やっこ
音：ど
英：guy, slave, manservant, fellow
書き順
楷書
行書
草書
メモ
Again, I think it’s pretty easy to understand how we got ぬ from this one. However, it is one of the few that doesn’t share a reading with its hiragana counterpart.
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