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Kanji of the Week

Kanji Rule (7): The Chinese Invented Kanji

The Chinese made kanji characters by observing their culture. If you look at the kanji, you can see the lifestyle of the Chinese.

  • Meaning
    spring

  • Reading
    On-reading: shun
    Kun-reading: haru 

  • Mnemonics
    China has had a cold winter. People are looking forward to the coming of spring. A warm sun rises in spring. People go out to enjoy the sun. The bottom part of the character is "sun." The top part is the character for "three people."

Click here to learn more about this kanji character. Click here to learn how to write the four seasons in hiragana.

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