上

Above

Meaning: Above

There’s a toe above ground.

Why is this important? There’s another kanji with the toe below the ground, and I bet you can guess the meaning of that kanji. So, where’s the toe?

Reading: じょう

The toe sticking out of the ground is just a little thing… almost like a little golf ball to hit with something. You don’t have a golf club, but you do have your jo (じょう), so you take it out and do a big swing with it, knocking the toe off into the distance.
Reading Hint

When you swing the jo, you don’t realize that it’s longer than a golf club, so on your up swing after hitting the toe you hit your companions behind you in the face. They are Ninja Turtles (and you are Donatello, with the Jo-weapon). Make sure to imagine them all as really pissed off at you, too.

Vocabulary

Unfortunately for you, this kanji has many kun’yomi readings that you have to learn :( Fortunately, they’ll come up often enough that you should learn them over time, even if you can’t remember them all now.

a 上（うえ）＝　Up, Above

• Meaning: This is the generic word for saying “up” or “above” – it’s pretty much the same as the meaning of the kanji, and looks the same as the kanji as well.
• Reading: The reading for vocab words that are just the kanji on its own, all alone separate from other kanji tends to be kun’yomi. You’ll want to spend a few moments trying to memorize this kun’yomi reading. It comes up so often. The other three readings aren’t quite as important as this one, so if you have to choose one vocab reading to learn, make it this one (and learn the rest later in your flashcards).

a 上げる（あげる）＝　To raise (something)

• Meaning: This vocab suggests you’re the one who’s raising something. You’re doing the action. Also, this is a verb. Even if you don’t know any verbs, remember how you can tell if a word is a verb? Just look for the kanji + hiragana ending in an う sound (る included), like this one.
• Reading: The reading of this vocab word and the next vocab word are similar. You can use the hiragana portion to separate the two.

a 上がる（あがる）＝　To rise

• Meaning: this vocab suggests you have no power over the thing that’s rising… it’s just rising, and you’re not doing the raising. For example, an elevator rises. It’s not something you raise yourself.
• Reading: Really the only part you have to remember is the meaning and then whether or not it’s a げ or が following the あ. Try to come up with a way to tell the difference between this word and 上げる.

a 上る（のぼる）＝　To climb

• Meaning: This version of “to climb” is used figuratively (most of the time, anyways). For example: “Rise to infamy.”
• Reading: This is similar to 上げる and 上がる, but the reading is totally different :( This is what I mean when I say this kanji has a ton of kun’yomi readings. I guess that’s what happens when a word is really common. Spend a little time going through these and trying to differentiate between them. Don’t worry, the flashcards will help later on, too.

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