Before finally closing this part on the study of kanji which is already very long, I realize that there is one thing which we have not yet talked about and which turns out to be essential : kanji keys.
You should know that kanji are generally classified according to their key (or radical). The Japanese word for « kanji key » or « key / radical for a Chinese character » (because the kanji are from China, remember !) is 部首 . ブシュ. You can memorize this term if you want.
The key or radical of a character is the graphic part which gives an indication of the general meaning of the character, on the lexical field to which it belongs. The traditional system adopts a classification of 214 keys.
The same key can have different forms depending on its position in the character. There are even kanji to indicate the position of these same keys / radicals in the character. I’m not going to give you these kanji indicating the position of the keys but just know that a key / radical can be found :
– on the left
– on the right
– top
– down
– around
– hanging from top to bottom
– left and bottom
To give you a quick example, the kanji 冠. かんむり which means « the crown, the tiara » also indicates the keys of the kanji located in the upper part of the character. So, the kanji 草 . くさ which means « the grass » contains the key of the grass, which is written 艹. « Grass Key » is said 草冠. くさかんむり because located in the upper part of the character. This key, 艹, will always be located at the top of the character. We can especially find it in the kanji 猫. ねこ which means « the cat » and that we have already seen in a previous course. We also find this key in the kanji 葉. は which represents « the leaf » and the kanji 茶. チャ which means « the tea ».
To give you another example, the kanji 竹 . たけ which means « the bamboo » is also a key that we find in many other words, and always located at the top of the character. For example, in the kanji 箸 . はし which means « the chopsticks », we can find the key at the top of the character in a significantly different form.
To give you another example, the kanji 木 . き which means « the tree » is also a key that we can find in the kanji 森 . もり which means « the forest » and 林 . はやし which also means the same thing. In the first, 森, the key 木 is used above. And in the second, 林, we find the same key on the left. If you pay close attention, the shape of the key is slightly different (the curved line on the right is slightly shortened). This example shows that a key can be placed in different places depending on the character. We can find this key in many other kanji such as 棚.たな which means « the shelf » or 桜. さくら which means « the cherry tree ».
To give you (yet!) another example, let’s take the kanji of the cat, 猫 . ねこ. We have the key of the grass 艹 that we find in the upper part of the character, we have the key of the rice field 田 which is easily recognizable. And on the left, what do we have? It’s actually the dog’s key. However, the dog’s kanji looks like this : 犬. The dog’s key placed on the left in the cat’s kanji is not easy to guess but it is indeed the dog’s key : 犭. It can therefore sometimes happen that keys, when they are part of a character, are not easily recognizable. We also find the same key in the kanji of the fox : 狐 . きつね.
It’s up to you to make the effort to learn to recognize these keys, and the best reference in order to learn them properly is the Kanji To Kana.
If you have not yet purchased the Kanji To Kana, I strongly recommend that you do so as soon as possible. This requires a small financial investment but it is essential.
When you know the shape of the kanji, you know what it looks like but you have neither the purely Japanese pronunciation nor the Sino-Japanese pronunciation, it can be quite difficult. Unlike Western languages, looking for kanji based on etymology usually doesn’t work. Finding kanji based on the number of lines or keys is much more effective.
I will never give a detailed course on all the existing keys (there are still 214!). So, you will have to, with the help of the Kanji To Kana, put yourself on your own and learn them little by little.
Introduction