It Takes a Village: Part 1
Friday, April 10th, 2009| Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary |
Today we’ll start with a Verbal Logic Quiz! But first, consider this compound:
郷土 (kyōdo: native place; birthplace; old home) village + soil
If you come from Kyoto, you’re lucky, because you can say this:
京都は郷土だ。
Kyōto wa kyōdo da.
My hometown is Kyoto.
OK, now you’re ready for the quiz!
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Quiz 1: If-Then
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When it comes to 郷土, you likely know the common kanji 土 (DO, tsuchi: soil). It shows up in 土曜日 (doyōbi: Saturday, Saturday + day of the week + day), where it has acquired the meaning of “Saturday.” But 郷 is quite a bit more unusual. Here’s the dirt on this kanji:
郷 (KYŌ, GŌ, sato: (1) village; (2) countryside; country)
Double Trouble and Lots of Elitism …
As you may recall, we’re considering 郷 today because it popped up in the haiku we saw last week:
夜桜やうらわかき月本郷に
Yozakura ya urawakaki tsuki hongō niCherry blossoms at dusk.
A crescent moon
over the youthful Hongō.
As you may also know, this haiku appeared on the gorgeous haiku calendar that Alberto Sanz created for his wife. Alberto has kindly provided detailed background information that helps us understand the haiku in a much more profound way. For that information and much more, please see the link.
In fact, please see all the links! For some reason, today’s content is almost entirely tucked off to the side. Perhaps that’s fitting, since we’re focusing partially on haiku; those poems contain hidden meanings and references to things “off to the side.”
We’ll finish with another Verbal Logic Quiz for which I’ll provide clues but no answers. As with the contest we just held, this is a competition! Those with the highest scores will attain instant celebrity; I’ll publish their names in the April 24 blog. We’ll see if fame is enough of a carrot … or whether material goods (such as free copies of Crazy for Kanji) are the only incentives that inspire JPodjin to work hard!
Posted by Eve Kushner in Kanji Curiosity |
April 12th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
ummm… there’s a hard one in there. I’m working on it….
April 12th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
頑張ってくださいね！
April 13th, 2009 at 4:09 am
From the new contest…錦(nishiki) I like so much this word!!!
Especially the expression もみじの錦 (momi no nishiki) “brocade of Autumn colors” expressing a splendid view of leaves changing colours, especially maple tree leaves which could be considered the Autumn Japanese nature viewing (as hanami during spring time). Just image-google もみじの錦 to see what I mean! Nice!
April 14th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Happy to see Alberto add further explanations about 錦. Be careful because the kanji looks so much like 綿 (wata; cotton). They are both texture but contrasting in nature, one gorgeous and elaborate versus another plain and simple. One movie star read the phrase 故郷に錦を飾る as “Kokyō ni wata o kazaru”!
April 19th, 2009 at 2:39 am
Thank you Hiroshi!
It is a nice comment indeed! and funny!
By the way, do you know any resource in internet for this type of proverbs? My wife has a nice book full of Japanese expressions and I noted they use them quite a lot in daily conversation (at least my wife’s family). In Spain we have “refranes” or “wise-sayings” Unfortunately young generations are not using them anymore!
April 19th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Alberto: Thanks so much for the nice tip about Googling もみじの錦! Beautiful pictures! And I like your comparison to springtime hanami!
The Spanish word refran (wise saying, proverb) is interesting, because it looks like the English word “refrain,” which can mean (in musical contexts) a part that repeats. (The translation seems to be estribillo in Spanish and 折り返し, orikaeshi, to fold + to return, in Japanese.) “Refrain” can also mean an often-repeated comment. But English speakers don’t go so far as to use “refrain” for wise sayings, even though it seems as if that’s the logical way to use such a word!
April 21st, 2009 at 12:25 am
Thanks Eve!
The merit for “refrán” is France! Actually our word derived from the French “refrain” with the same meaning as in English (I did not know there was such relation!) nice!
April 21st, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Hello Alberto,
I am not especially knowledgeable about the field, but if you Google with keywords “格言”, “名言” (both mean wise sayings, proverbs), you will see quite a few sites that you will find helpful, and the same is true with “四字熟語” (four-character compounds”. Many of 四字熟語 are wise sayings.
It is good to keep learning new ones and enjoy them, but you either keep 四字熟語 to yourself or keep them within friends of a similar taste in kanji and Japanese culture. Be careful not to indulge in them, because even among us native speakers, it is often frowned at to use difficult jukugo. Imagine a guy who keeps quoting Shakespeare (or Cervantes) every two minutes in his conversation.
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Thank you Hiroshi!!! I found I nice one: http://home.earthlink.net/~4jword/index3.htm Thanks!