TextFugu Kanji Radicals, Part 1 & 2
“Ask and you shall receive. You must, yourself, do the asking…Mediocrity is self-inflicted. Genius is self-bestowed.” - Walter Russell
As you should already know from the last few chapters, the first thing you’re going to learn isn’t actual kanji, but radicals. Radicals, as you also know, are like the A-B-Cs of kanji. You can’t spell “kanji” without the letters k, a, n, j, & i, right?
For this section, all I want you to do is go with the flow. I’ll explain things as I go along (in terms of mnemonics, memorization tactics, etc). You don’t have to learn how to write these individual radicals (though you can practice writing if you want, though), but you do have to be able to recognize them when you come across them.
This particular “kanji” section contains the 1 and 2 stroke radicals. Now, these probably are the most important radicals you’ll come across (they serve as building blocks for all other radicals) so it’s extra important that you learn them well. After learning the 1 and 2 stroke radicals, you can learn the 1 and 2 stroke kanji. 1 and 2 stroke kanji are made up of 1 and 2 stroke radicals, which means if you learn the radicals well, you’ll also be learning the 1 and 2 stroke kanji as well (plus almost every other kanji bigger than 2 strokes).
Let’s do this thing.
1-Stroke Radicals
One / Ground: This radical consists of a single, horizontal stroke. We’re going to use our imagination a little here (to help you remember this radical). Pretend it’s an English #1, but it was shot and has fallen over on its side. You rush over to it but it’s too late. It’s rigid and laying flat on its back. Imagine the smell of gunpowder coming from the bullet wound. Forever will the image of #1, on its side, be burned into your memory. This is murder! Number ONE is on its side and laying on the GROUND. When you see this radical, you should think of the number “one” or the “ground” (it looks like the floor, too, right?).
Stick: This is a single stick, standing upright. It even looks like a STICK! Don’t confuse this with the “one” radical. Remember, #1 was murdered, and is laying on the ground. This STICK was the bastard who shot #1 to take his place. Doesn’t this STICK make a good #1 impostor?
Drop Of Liquid: Sure, it’s a little rigid looking, but when you see this, think of it as a drop of liquid. It’s pretty small, and basically just a little dash when you write it. The drop is heavy and falling at high speed from West to East, because all the wind blowing in from the Pacific Ocean (you’re in Seattle, WA, where it rains a lot!). There are a lot of DROPS OF LIQUID in Seattle.
Slide: When I say “slide,” I mean the kind of slide you sit on and slide down. This radical is a big long curve, going down from right to left, because you want to SLIDE into the Pacific Ocean from Seattle, where you’re at (you know, where all those drops of liquid are). Whee!
Nose: If you look at this radical right, you’ll see a NOSE (with an eye on the left). Remember, everything about this radical is to the left: The eye is on the left, the nose points to the left, and you start writing it from the left. Even the NOSE is all alone, left behind by the rest of its face.
Barb: This radical is shaped like a BARB (like in BARB wire). Imagine one of these stuck in your arm, and think about how much it would hurt if you had to pull it out (really, try to imagine the pain, and really vividly imagine the shape of this radical being pulled out of your arm. Ouch!). You definitely wouldn’t want to get poked by a BARB like this.
2-Stroke Radicals
Better to ask twice than to lose your way once. - Danish Proverb
Well done! You’ve made it through the 1-stroke radicals. That’s all of ‘em (not too many, right?)! Before you move on to the 2-stroke radicals, though, be sure to go back and review the 1-strokers. Can you cycle through and name them all?
2-Stroke radicals represent a little bit more (instead of just a few existing there are… a lot existing). Don’t worry too much though, and take your time. If you rush through these, you’ll surely end up losing in the long run. Learn them well and you’ll speed up your actual kanji learning later.
Two: If this radical isn’t self explanatory enough, think about this. Remember what happened to #1? It looks like the (upright) stick has struck again – double homicide. Uh oh, looks like there’s a “radical” murderer on the loose. Why would the stick kill TWO things?
Kettle Lid: This actually looks like a KETTLE LID, right? Just by looks alone this one should be pretty easy to remember. Can you imagine yourself picking up a KETTLE LID that looks just like the one above, and perhaps burning your hand on the steam? What happens when you drop this kettle lid back down after you are burned?
Person: Think of this radical in the following way. There’s a (stick figure) zombie in front of you, coming towards you. You push the stick figure zombie back and it breaks right in half, the upper part of it’s body falling to the ground and the legs staying standing up (looking like the radical above). The top-half of the zombie looks up at its still-standing legs and says “Hey, I’m a PERSON too, you know!”
Influential Person: This radical technically also means “person” (like the one above), but we’re going to shift the meaning a little. The cool thing about this radical is that when you see it as part of a kanji, there’s a decent chance it has something to do with a person. For our intents and purposes, it’s going to mean INFLUENTIAL PERSON, though. The radical kind of looks like the letter “I,” which is the first letter in INFLUENTIAL PERSON. You’ll have to stretch your imagination on this one a bit. You could also think of this radical as a stick with a fancy, swoopy hat on. Only an INFLUENTIAL PERSON can buy hats like that.
Hat: You know those rice paddy hats that you see farmers (and ninjas) wearing? They’re pointed at the top and totally awesome. This is one of those hats, and it looks just like them, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to remember. Just remember, it’s a regular old HAT.
Legs: This radical looks like a pair of LEGS. Remember that the right side leg has a foot, and the left side does not. Can you imagine walking around with only a right-side foot? (You should try to imagine, it will help you remember which side has the extra footy bit at the end).
Enter: Be careful, this one looks just like 人. This radical looks like a tee-pee, and a tee-pee has a nice big ENTRANCE to it. When you enter the tee-pee, imagine yourself overwhelmed by the smell of strawberries. Stand in the ENTRANCE for a little while to take in the wondrous smell.
Fish Legs: This one doesn’t make sense until you learn the four-stroke version of this (just two of these, next to each other), fish tail. Since there are only two little nubbins, the fish has evolved and gained the ability to walk on little FISH LEGS. Imagine a fish jumping out of the water, popping up on two FISH LEGS, and running around the beach. How ridiculous would that be? Can you see the two little FISH LEGS now?
Horns: You can see the horns, right? You could put these HORNS on anything. Donkeys, people, monkeys, and so on. Really, imagine these exact horns (the ones that make up the radical) on a bunch of your favorite hornless animals. Everything looks better with HORNS.
Upside Down Box: This looks just like an UPSIDE DOWN BOX. Do you dare walk up to it and see what’s underneath? If I were you, I’d leave all UPSIDE DOWN BOXES be.
Forehead: Sure, this forehead is a bit square, but that’s because it’s Frankenstein’s forehead. Also, there are no “round” shaped kanji, which means this is as round as you’d get (so can you stretch your imagination a bit and pretend this is someone’s FOREHEAD?)
Ice and Water: Do you remember the 1-stroke radical “drop of liquid?” When you have more than one drop, as you do in this radical, you get WATER (or ICE, sometimes, if you freeze the water!). You can also imagine the drop of liquid going down a slide (the second, lower stroke) so fast that it turns to ice (because things get cold when they go fast!).
Table: Do you remember “legs” from before? If you add a top to those legs, you’ll have yourself a nice TABLE!
Open Box: Unlike the upside down box, this is a right-side-up OPEN BOX. Looks just like a 2-D cutout of a box, right?
Variety Stick Rack: You remember the 1-stroke radicals “barb” and “stick,” right? There are multiple sticks available in this VARIETY STICK RACK. You can choose from a regular stick, or a barb stick. What fun!
Power: This radical means power (and so does the kanji, which looks exactly the same). Imagine this to be a guy flexing his arm downward to show off all his POWER. That is one ridiculously steroid-pumped arm!
Enclosure: This is an ENCLOSURE, meant to capture things (presumably by falling on them). Eventually there will be things inside of this ENCLOSURE, but for now our enclosure is empty. It kind of looks like an overturned box, but more fancy. That right side will swing in and capture anything that goes inside, which is why that right side is longer.
Knife / Sword: If you look at this radical, it kind of looks like the bottom part of a KNIFE or SWORD, along with a hand protector. The blade part is missing, but at least you have the handle to your knife or sword (or, perhaps you have a ton of blades to choose from, and you just need to pop one on to turn it into a KNIFE or SWORD. This radical also looks a lot like the “power” radical (力), except it’s missing the little tiny nubbin at the top. Just remember that 90% of having power is having a SWORD to cut down your enemies.
Spoon: This one means “spoon,” though it doesn’t look it. Instead, imagine a decapitated boy, sitting down, reaching for a SPOON he can’t see or find (and neither can you!).
Box On it’s side: So we have an upside down box, and a right side up box, but no box on its side. This is a BOX ON ITS SIDE, totally unbroken and still usable. It’s fallen over to the right, because the wind blows from the Pacific Ocean (and you’re still living in Seattle, remember?).
Ten: This radical also actually means “ten.” How many crosses do you need to keep the Catholic giraffes happy (be sure to try and imagine something as ridiculous as Catholic giraffes to help it stick in your memory!). You’ll need TEN crosses.
Shaman’s Stick: This is not only a stick (the one-stroke radical). It’s special, because it has a feather attached to it. Be careful, if a Shaman uses his SHAMAN STICK, he could turn you into a bird to add you to his feather collection.
Seal: No, not the animal. I’m talking about the “sealing up a hole” kind of seal. This radical looks almost like the overturned box radical, but the bottom is almost SEALed off. That’s a pretty mediocre SEAL if you ask me.
Cliff: Lucky for you, this one actually looks like a cliff. Just remember, this cliff is facing the Pacific Ocean (West from Seattle). You can stand on the CLIFF and watch the beautiful ocean (way) below and feel the sea breeze on your face. It feels exhilarating to stand on the edge of a CLIFF!
Me/I: This one looks like an arm that is bent at the elbow. At the end, your finger(s) are pointed back at yourself. You are saying “This is ME!”
Stool: Looks just like a STOOL, right?
(Selfish) Me: Notice how this one looks a lot like the ム version of “me” from earlier? It’s just a little flipped around… Instead of pointing up at your face, you’re pointing and your elbow is up with your hand pointing at your stomach. It’s all because you eat everything you can without asking (so selfish!).
Nine: This one actually means “nine,” and if you look at it (especially with the little flippy stroke on the right side), it looks like the letter “n” and “i” next to each other, written in cursive, which are the letters you need to start to write the word “nine.”
Broken Box: Remember the other box on its side (which fell over the other direction because of the wind from the Pacific Ocean?). Well, broken boxes always fall the other way, due to a lack of stability. This BROKEN BOX falls to the left and has a piece sticking out on the right side, which is why it’s called a BROKEN BOX.
Stairs: Do you see the stairs in there. It might take some imagination, but they’re there (or, at the very least, there are a couple of stairs going on up there). Once you get to the top of the stairs, there’s a slide (like the slide from the 1-stroke section) that lets you go down. Sweet! Climb the STAIRS, slide down the slide.
Nail: See the barb + nail head? That makes a NAIL. There is also an “alternate” version of this radical, coming next:
Crooked Nail: This nail is lopsided towards the left. Imagine your frustration of having to work with a CROOKED NAIL like this.
Volcano: This radical is very similar to the enter and person radicals. It is, however, distinctly volcano-ish, with the blown top. You don’t want to stand near a VOLCANO.
*Other ways (i.e. fonts) to write this make it have more of an open top, more like the fish legs.
Leaf: See the stem attached to the LEAF? That right there is a leaf, and you’ll be seeing various forms of this in a lot of kanji. Sometimes the LEAF part will be bigger, too.
Practicing The Radicals
Although there’s a good chance you remembered a lot of the radicals above just through reading the stories and associations, it’s definitely a good idea to practice them using some kind of flash card system (especially if it’s a system that keeps track of what’s going well, and what isn’t).
The way we’re going to do all this is through a pretty incredible service called Smart.fm. It’s free, and it’s absolutely awesome for flashcards, using some fancy brain science and a slick interface to help you remember a bunch of random things in your head. Here’s what you have to do to start studying the 1-2 stroke radicals there:
- Go to Smart.fm and sign up if you haven’t already
- Start studying the 1-2 Stroke Kanji Radicals list. Try to get through all of them (it shouldn’t take too long) before moving on.
After you’ve gone through the deck at least once, move on to the kanji section. Don’t forget to come back and review these lists though, as needed!
When You Learn Kanji…
Now that you’ve learned all the 1 and 2 stroke radicals, it’s time to take a look at some kanji that utilize these 1 and 2 stroke radicals. Although the upcoming 1 and 2 stroke kanji won’t use all these radicals, you’ll see what you’ve just learned now and put it to use. Of course, since we’re learning 1 and 2 stroke kanji, you can expect that pretty much all the kanji will be the same as the radicals above. This is true, so enjoy it while you can (because the more complicated the kanji, the more radicals you’ll have to know and use). Don’t worry, though, everything builds on everything else, so as long as you know everything else, you’ll be able to learn everything. Did that make sense?
Anyways, it’s time to learn some kanji and get an idea how this kanji thing works.