Kanji Clinic #73, The Japan Times, September 20, 2005
"Seeing double: Twin-component kanji a snap to master"

If you are a kanji learner aspiring to literacy in Japanese through mastery of the 1,945 general-use characters, you have no doubt discovered the importance of developing the ability to analyze kanji components.

Dissecting kanji may have been a relative breeze in your early studies-- when you learned, for example, that “two trees” (木, ki) make a “forest” (林, hayashi) -- but it may now be proving increasingly challenging as you tackle evermore visually complex characters. Take heart in the fact that all kanji, even the multi-stroked monster variety, can be systematically divided into their parts, and a surprisingly large number of them like 林 are comprised solely of, or at least include, “twin” (i.e., repeated) components.

Predictably, the kanji meaning “a pair,” 双 (as in 双子, futago, “twins,” and 双眼鏡, sougankyou, “binoculars”), is comprised of twin components: two “hands” (又) working in tandem. 回 (“rotate,” mawa-ru) features a pair of nestled boxes, and evolved from a symbol of a spring, representing rotational motion, while three stacked-up boxes (品 HIN) are "goods."

One fire (火, hi) piled upon another is written 炎, and means “flame” (honou), while 竹 (take, “bamboo”) depicts two delicate bamboo stems with spiky leaves. The two 夕 (“evenings”) in 多(oo-i) originally signified “often” and eventually came to mean “many.” Keep your eye out for non-general use characters like 串 (kushi, “skewer”)-- comprised of one 中 (naka, “middle”) skewered on top of the other-- on the menu at your local yakitori shop.

競 (kiso-u, “compete”), the king of twin-component kanji, features not one but two sets of double components. Look for two elder brothers (兄, ani) standing (立, ta-tsu) up to each other for a round of sibling fisticuffs.

Twin-component kanji 羽 (hane, “wings”) is a pictograph of a bird’s feathered wings, while look-alike 弱 (yowa-i, “weak”) is comprised of bending bows (弓, yumi) and hairs (i.e., something so weak it can be bent as easily as a hair). Don’t confuse the shapes of 比 (kura-beru, “compare”) and 北 (kita, “north”). 比 illustrates a pair of near-identical figures sitting next to each other for comparison purposes, while 北 shows a duo sitting back to back: In the minds of the originators of Sino-Japanese characters, turning one’s back expressed the idea of fleeing in the coldest direction, the north.

Like 北, other twin-component kanji feature near mirror-image components. 門 (MON, “gate”), for example, is a pictograph of a double-doored gate. From the biological world, find the two sacs of frogspawn in 卵 (tamago, “egg”), and turtle shell cracks, used for divining the future in ancient China, in 兆 (kiza-shi, “omen”).

In some cases, a bit of elementary kanji detective work is necessary to see twin-kanji components: Look for the side-by-side short “strings” (糸) at the top of 幾 (iku-, “how many”), a character originally designed to represent a loom. And if you divide 並 (nara-bu, “line up”) straight down the middle, you’ll see it is actually comprised of two identical characters -- 立, (ta-tsu, “stand”)-- pressed together and standing in a line.

With devoted practice, the ability to see even the most complex kanji as a logical construction of parts should become second nature to you. Today, test your ability to discern twin- (or triplet-) components within kanji with the following quiz.

QUIZ
What twin- (or triplet-) components are found within each of the following kanji?
Example: 1. 歴 (REKI, “history”) = b. forest (2 trees)
1. 歴 (REKI, “history”)
2. 翌 (YOKU, “next”)
3. 第 (DAI, “grade”)
4. 機 (KI, “device”)
5. 逃 (TOU, “escape”)
6. 藻 (SOU, “seaweed”)
7. 混 (KON, “mix”)
8. 患 (KAN, “be ill”)
9. 協 (KYOU, “cooperation”)
10. 賛 (SAN, “praise”)
11. 蛙 (kaeru, “frog”)
12.質 (SHITSU, “quality”)

a. 2 short strings b. forest (2 trees) c. 2 axes d. 2 husbands e. skewer (2 middles) f. bamboo (2 stems) g. 3 strengths h. goods (3 boxes) i. omen (2 cracks) j. 2 soils k. compare (2 seated figures) l. wings (2 wings)


ANSWERS
1. b 2. l 3. f 4. a 5. i 6. h 7. k 8. e 9. g (力) 10. d (夫) 11. j (土) 12. c (斤)

BONUS QUIZ
Can you guess the meanings of these non-general use kanji? 1. 轟 (3 vehicles) 2. 姦 (3 women) 3. 毳 (3 hairs)

ANSWERS
1. "boom" (todoro-ku)
2. "boisterous" (kashima-shii). Also, "seduce," "assault" (kan-suru)
3. "fuzz"(keba)

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