204-403 Flashcards
248先before
If you have a COW with HUMAN LEGS, as the elements show us here, it can only be because you have two people in a COW-suit. I always thought I’d prefer to be the one standing BEFORE, rather than the one that holds up the rear and becomes the “butt” of everyone’s laughter.
275銘inscription
Take inscription in the sense of the NAME you ask the jeweler to carve on a GOLD bracelet or inside a GOLD ring to identify it’s owner or communicate some sort of sentimental message. It will help you if you can recall the first time you had this fine and the feelings you had at the time.
338獄prison
Dog is a low grade term for a spy. The PRISON here is a DOG prison. The PACK OF WILD DOGS (the long timers and hardened criminals) picking on the poor CHIHUAHUA. The only thing to protect the CHIHUAHUA are his shrill and frightened WORDS. (WORDS between the two)
367桟scaffold
Prior to the use of metal, TREES were once cut down and bound together for use as SCAFFOLDING material. In the case of this kanji here, it is not a sky scraper that is being made, but a simple FLOAT.
383錠lock
METAL of itself doesn’t LOCK. It needs to be so DETERMINED by a locksmith. Now make a concrete image of that.
384走run
Running, we are told here, MENDS the SOIL. Observe in the following frames how much this kanji can embrace other elements from below, much the same way as the element for ROAD does. Note, too, that in order to do this, the final stroke needs to be lengthened.
400壊demolition
If you stand too close to a DEMOLITION site, the dust might sting you like NEEDLES in your EYE and get your GARMENTs all dirty.
379正correct
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a SINGLE STEP” says the Chinese proverb. Here we see ONE FOOTPRINT, complementing that proverb with the sound advice that if the first step is not made CORRECTLY, the whole point of journey will be forfeited. This is the ideal that teachers are supposed to have in CORRECTING their students, and parents in CORRECTING their children.
278導guidance
When we accept someone’s guidance, we permit ourselves to be GLUED to a certain ROAD or WAY of doing something, and try to “stick” to it.
228葉leaf
Flower, generation, tree first and last seem logical enough. Since it’s the LEAF that feeds the FLOWERS on a TREE. The element for GENERATION interposed between the two suggests that the movement of a TREE from one GENERATION to the next is like “turning over a new LEAF”
402遠distant
Keep distant from a *lidded crock* on the* road* wrapped in a *scarf*. It might be a bomb.
272銅copper
Picture an order if MONKS serving as chaplains for the police force. Their special habit, made of protective METAL, is distinguished by a row of COPPER buttons just like the “cops” they serve.
232暮livelihood
Imagine that you have chosen the occupation of the keeper of a GRAVEYARD and spend your DAY tending to other’s deadwood in order to make your means of LIVELIHOOD.
326栄flourish
Flourish (to bud and burst into bloom, much as a TREE) does is the same in the SCHOOLHOUSE. We flourish into what we want to become when in the SCHOOL HOUSE, in this case, a tree. Just like in a SCHOOLHOUSE our minds FLOURISH like a TREE
381政politics
To the many definition for POLITICS that already exist, this character offers yet another: CORRECT TASKMASTERING. Think about what the primitives tell us. On the one hand, we see the pessimistic wisdom that POLITICS has to do with TASKMASTERING, maneuvering people with or without their will. And in the other, we see the campaign assurances that this duty can be performed CORRECTLY if only the right candidate is given a chance.
243狩hunt
One of the worst thing about going HUNTINg is to GUARD your take from the WILD DOGS. Just like the duck hunt dog, fucking asshole.
283逃escape
Like in a dream, when you are running it seems like you can’t get fast enough, like a TURTLE on an expressway. (Since the TURTLE is on the ROAD and not on the left, it can keep it’s full kanji shape)
225苦suffering
Suffering we are given here is that of a flower that has grown OLD. When a flower ages, it pales and dries up, and probably even suffers.
323売sell
A SAMURAI, out of a job, is going door-to-door SELLING little windup CROWNS with HUMANS LEGS that run on the floor looking like headless monarchs,
246特special
Not the word specialty. Like the sacred COWS of India that wander freely without fear from being butchered and ground into hamburger. Even though the practice is originally a Hindu one, the BUDDHIST monks refuses to take the life of any sentient being makes it only fitting that the COWS should be placed on the sacred grounds of a BUDDHIST TEMPLE in this kanji.
282迫urge
To URGE someone to do something, you make the WAY as appealing as possible, perhaps even WHITEwashing it a bit. Whitewashing is to make furniture look better by giving it a new look, what a clever WAY to make things appealing to URGE someone into doing things.
395婿bridegroom
The virgin bridegroom tries to understand the new, mysterious *part of* his *woman’s body* - but with little success. It’s a *zoo* down there! (primitives placement: the part of the body is ‘down there’ - the woman is ‘left’ unsatisfied).
266主lord
“A man’s home is his castle” goes the proverb from an age where it was the male who was LORD of the household. Fundamentally it means that everyone of us is a bit (or a DROP) of a KING in our own environment.
349調tune
It isn’t a complete TUNE without a LAP of WORDS that go with that lovely TUNE. Well, except most electronic music,
359載load
On THANKSGIVING, one must LOAD all the food in a CAR.
352諭rebuke
A PETA activist *speaks* at a *meeting* of *butchers* to rebuke them.
289輸transport
The *car* is a cattle-car, used to transport animals for the *butcher*’s *meeting* - a convention on new butchering techniques. Hear the screams of the animals as it pulls up in front of the convention hall, where the butchers are waiting with their knives out front.
294客guest
When you are a GUEST in a courteous town, EACH HOUSEhold has it’s own way of welcoming you, and EACH HOUSE becomes your home.
204桐paulownia
Since you don’t know what PAULOWNIA TREE is, we shall let it suggest “the Little Brothers of St. paulownia” it is a short step to associate the TREE with the MONKS at the right. (The bros are the monks, mourning over the loss of their sister by praying like MONKS)
304冠crown
By having the CROWN pass from one age to the next, a people keeps itself GLUED to its BEGINNINGS
387越surpass
Here we see two PARADES in competition, each trying to SURPASS the other by RUNNING at high speed from one town to the next. Note the little “hook” at the end of the first stroke of the element for PARADE. This is he ONLY time it appears like this in the kanji treated in this book
356域range
An astronaut lands back at the launch range, kisses the *earth* beneath him with his *mouth*, then heads off to a *fiesta* to celebrate a safe flight.
274針needle
This is the kanji for metal, not the primitive from earlier. Since we already expect that NEEDLES are made from METAL, let us picture a set of GOLD darning NEEDLES to complete this kanji.
249洗wash
Water and before. It is easy but we shall not let rationalism to creep into our stories. Not even this once. Picture “Pigpen” from the Peanuts comic and rename him “WASH-out.” Everywhere he walks, a spray of WATER goes BEFORE him to sanitize everything he touches.
348読read
In advertising, most WORDS we READ are out to SELL some product or point of view.
341訓instruction
An instruction is a STREAM of WORDS one must follow, some follow gently, while some follow roughly and have to return. The etymology of the word instruction suggest the sense of “pouring into”
227薄dilute
In this kanji, the “Strong” element here is really the FLOWER, not the water. To the right we see ACUPUNCTURIST. Taking the keyword to connote DILUTING the vital humors if the body, we can imagine our acupunk performing his task with FLOWERS in place of needles, using the hollow stems to pipe WATER into the body.
299落fall
When WATER falls, it splishes and splashes; FLOWER petals fall, they float gently in the breeze. To EACH thing it’s own way of FALLING.
388是just so
Sun’ ‘Mend’ -It just so happens that *sun*shine can *mend* your gloomy spirits.
340討chastise
WORDS that are used to CHASTISE stick to us like GLUE in a way no other WORDS can.
350談discuss
In almost every attempt to DISCUSS an issue, one side of the discussion gets upset and starts an INFLAMMATION of WORDS. Literally the cuss in disCUSS.
302輝radiance
Radiance, RAYdiance. Take advantage if the first syllable of the keyword to think of the RAY of light to the left. Now add the glittering CHARIOT that is emitting those RAYS and you have radiance. The CHARIOT leaving a glittering RAY behind it is the picture of Radiance
317周circumference
Look closer at your LIDDED CROCK and you will see little ruler marks along it’s bottom edge. This is so you can use it to calculate the CIRCUMFERENCE of your MOTORCYCLE HELMET; just begin at a fixed point and turn the LIDDED CROCK around it, keeping it flush against the side of the HELMET, until you come back to your starting point. If you kept track of how many turns and part-turns your LIDDED CROCK made, you now know the CIRCUMFRENCE.
286車car
The two strokes for front and back represent the wheels, the carriage in the middle is where the fuel goes in. In Japan, cars are ran by rice from RICE FIELDS.
333故happenstance
An *OLD TASKMASTER* is no happenstance (coincidence). The older you get the more rigid in your ways.
337計plot
WORDS and a meter’s NEEDLE combine to form the sense of PLOT; to talk over plans and to calculate a course of action.
220妹younger sister
The younger sister in the family is the WOMAN in the family who, like the newest branch in a tree, is NOT YET old enough or mature enough to do everything the elder sister can do.
267注pour
Picture POURING WATER from a lighted CANDLESTICK. What could be more ridiculous, or simpler, as a way to recall this kanji.
364威intimidate
Here see a MARCH of WOMEN demonstration on behalf of equal rights, something extremely INTIMIDATING to the male chauvinist population.
229模imitation
Think of the
279辻crossing
Instead of TEN, we use it to depict a CROSS, and set it on a ROAD to create a “CROSSING”
386赴proceed
“Don’t *run* into trouble,” Dumbledore tells Harry. “#Proceed# with caution with your *wand* out.”
372渉ford
(A shallow place in a river or stream allowing one to walk or drive across) To FORD a body of WATER means to WALK across it.
262呈display
The trick to remembering this kanji lies in associating the keyword with the line from the nursery rhyme about 4 and 20 blackbirds Baked In a pie: “Wasn’t this a dainty dish to set before the KING?” If we think of DISPLAY in terms of that famous line, and the KING with his head back and his MOUTH wide open, as 4 and 20 blackbirds fly in.
226寛tolerant
The HOUSE of FLOWERS or “hothouse” has become a metaphor for a narrow-minded, biased, and intolerant attitude distrustful of change. TOLERANCE, in contrast, is open-minded and welcomes novelty. The way to encourage TOLERANCE in those who lack it first to have them SEE through their out hothouse attitudes.
258珠pearl
Make sure you know that that is the kanji for JEWEL. Think if the most enormous PEARL you have ever seen, a great VERMILLION-colored BALL sitting on your ring, and making it extremely difficult to move without falling over from the weight of the thing.
327書write
The sage talks rapidly with his TONGUE WAGGING IN HIS MOUTH, sounds like gibberish until you see the scribe trying to hurriedly keep up with his nonsense with a BRUSH writing down what ever is said.
380証evidence
WORDS that testify to the CORRECTNESS of some fact are classified as EVIDENCE. (Here we see a good example of how the more common primitive elements take the “strong” position to the left, even though it has more strokes)
212札tag
The TAGS you see hanging TREES in public places are helpful to identify what sort of TREES they are. Next time you see one, imagine the bit if wire that fixes the TAG to the branch as a large FISHHOOK. REALLY imagine it.
314景scenery
Scenery is depicted as the SUN rising over a CAPITAL city, which is a bit of natural scenery the city dwellers themselves rarely get to see!
320吉good luck
Here we see a SAMURAI standing in a street with an open MOUTH, which people walk up to and look deep down inside for GOOD LUCK. Just like how people look down wells… WELL LOOKS LIKE IT’S NOT A WELL, BUT A WELL-DRESSED GENTLEMAN.
285巡patrol
A virtual FLOOD of motorcycle police washing down a ROAD is this kanji’s image for a PATROL.
336警admonish
意味:warning or reprimand someoneThe idea of being admonished for something already sets up superior-inferior relationship between and you the person you are supposed to stand in AWE if. While you are restricted to answering in honorifics, the superior can use straightforward and ordinary words. Honorifics above WORDS.
363誠sincerity
The sure sign of SINCERITY is that one’s mere WORDS are TURNED INTO deeds.
300冗superfluous
意味: unnecessary, ESP. When being more than enough. Picture a WEATHER VANE(those chicken wind shit) beneath a regal CROWN. It is only not superfluous but makes a perfect ass out of the one who wears it,
306坑pit
Suddenly a WHIRLWIND appears and it begins to dig into the SOIL like a drill until it makes a deep PIT.
281造create
Think of CREATING as making something out of nothing. Then recall how the WAY of REVELATION laid out in the bible begins with the story of how God CREATED the world out of a dark and chaotic nothingness.
215燥parch
Tip: *goods* + *wood/tree* : This combination of primitives appears four times in Heisig, so it’s worthwhile giving it a name. I suggest “*furniture*” (a common type of *wooden goods*). REF: *parch* (FRAME 215) , {671}, {1369}, {2035}. Story: It’s been so parched recently that your *furniture* suddenly catches *fire*.
293略abbreviation
EACH FIELD has its own abbreviations (Chemestry, etc) Needless to say, the “stronger” primitive-that is to say, the simpler and more often used one-take the dominant position on the left, even though the story would read then off the other way around.
345詠recitation
If you study some *words* for a recitation, there is a good chance they will be stuck in your memory for all *eternity*.
311亭pavilion
Think of all the PAVILIONS (space needle for example) at County Fairs or World Expos you have wandered into or seen advertised in the media, and you will no doubt see rising up among them rising up among them the towering TALL CROWNED NAIL (CROWN being a revolving restaurant)– that architectural monstrosity that has become a symbol of science and technology at such events.
354試test
When a manufacturer produces a new STYLE for the market, the first thing that is done is to run a TEST on consumers, asking them to SPEAK their opinions frankly about the product. Never mind the anachronism (because the kanji was there well befit out capitalistic market system) if it helps you remember.
368銭coin
Those special GOLD-colored tokens minted each year for the MARDI Gras and thrown into the crowds from people on the FLOATS give us the kanji for COINS.
389題topic
The “TOPIC” of the day’s newspaper must be placed JUST SO at the top of the PAGE to attract attention
222株stocks
Stocks bought as sold on the market by the tens of millions each day get their name from a comparison to a healthy TREE, in which one takes “STOCK” in the hopes it will grow and produce more and more TREES like itself. Usually good stocks are referred to as “blue stocks”, but here we are asked to associate it with the color VERMILLION, perhaps because one can assess the value of a tree from the color of it’s autumn leaves.
393誕nativity
When you are being born ( #nativity# ), your mother’s WORDS are PROLONGED. (Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis huuuuuuuuuuuuuurtss a lottttttttt~!! Owwwwwww!!!)
236桃peach tree
To associate the PEACH TREE with the primitive for a PORTENT, recall the famous Momotaro, the Peach boy. The boy was caught a giant PEACH which a boy was born out of. The boy was destined to perform heroic deeds, his birth also PORTENDED his great misfortune. Thus the TREE that is associated with a PORTENT of coming evil comes to be a peach tree.
377武warrior
With a QUIVER OF ARROWS set on one’s back, the goal of the WARRIOR depicted here is not to attack but merely to STOP the attack of others: the oldest excuse in history.
238犬dog
We know that LARGE takes on the meaning of the St. Bernard dog when used as primitive. The DROP added as a 4th and final stroke means that it has to do with a normal sized DOG. Compared to the St. Bernard, is no more than a DROP in the kennel.
396衣garment
At the top, we see a TOP HAT, and at the bottom a pictographic representation of the folds of a GARMENT. If you break the “4-fold” fold into 2 sets of 2 strokes. When it appears to the left, it shall mean CLOAK, the bottom, SCARF, rare occasions the element can be torn across the middle, meaning TOP HAT AND SCARF. Keeping it’s original shape, GARMENT.
