Crazy Kanji

For the past 2 years, I have used images and stories in order to recognize, write and remember the general meaning of 2000 kanji (Chinese characters used in the Japanese writing system).

While the majority are mundane, many kanji have engaging stories.

I studied kanji in the manner devised by James Heisig. Heisig divided kanji into components that he terms primitives. At times, these primitives reflect the etymological roots of the kanji. Often, however, Heisig assigned the primitive a meaning based on its pictorial resemblance to something. At times, the primitive and its meaning are totally arbitrary. The rub is that the primitives are used over and over again in different kanji, so that even when the meaning and the way the primitive looks is at first unrelated, it quickly becomes ingrained in the mind.

The challenge in remembering a kanji is to link the primitives in the kanji to make a story that reflects the general meaning of the kanji. Often wacky, at times deep and beautiful images abound!