kanji composition

We can split kanjis into smaller components; some of these components might be other kanjis, or radicals, katakanas, or other small strokes that were not selected to be katakanas or radicals. We will split our kanjis in such a way that we can write them by writing the list of their components, in order. For example,

休 ← 亻 木
口 ← 冂 一
森 ← 木 林

In some cases, a kanji has a component that we cannot write completely before writing a different component. For example, the kanji for 4, 四, is composed of 儿 (the #10 legs radical) and 囗 (the #31 surround radical). However, since 囗 surrounds 儿, we have to start writing 囗 as 冂 (the #13 down box radical), then write 儿, and then finish the underside of 囗 by closing it with 一 (the #1 radical). In such cases, we will further decompose the ideograms to show the correct order of strokes in which we need to write them. Thus, instead of a decomposition with the minimal number of components, like

四 ← 囗 儿

we will favor a decomposition with the correct order of strokes, like

四 ← 冂 儿 一

Is this decomposition shown here something official? Absolutely not. Kanjis are composed of other kanjis, radicals and ideograms, that are there for specific reasons, sometimes their meaning, sometimes their sound. Here, though, we are decomposing the kanjis for the exclusive purpose of remembering them and their order of strokes, so we are breaking a kanji into ideograms that match the order of strokes, but not necessarilly because they are actually part of the original kanji. An example is 足. Officially, it is composed of 口 and 止. However, for whatever reason, the strokes of 足 are not the strokes of 口 followed by the strokes of 止. Instead, 足 follows the strokes of 口, followed by ⺊, followed by 人, and thus, those are the ideograms that we would use:

足 ← 口 ⺊ 人

This messes up the historical lineage of 足, which might have something to do with 口 and 止 (mouth and stop) instead of 口, ⺊, and 人 (mouth, divination rod, and person), but this is only relevant if we are studying the origin, history, or evolution of kanjis, which we are not. It is already difficult enough to learn the kanji’s on-yomis, kun-yomis and stroke order to add to that an interest in their evolution, which might have nothing to do with the present shape or meaning of a kanji.

Building blocks

We already saw a number of radicals related to katakanas; here are again, for convenience:

Here are the additional radicals that we will need to compose all the kanjis of the kanken-10:

Composition of the kanken 10

Now we use the building blocks to compose our kanjis. Most of the components of these kanjis are radicals but a few contain simpler kanjis, in which case we decompose only those that are not in the kanken-10; for example, both 早 and 草 are kanken-10 kanjis, so 草 is composed of the plant radical 艹 followed by the 早 kanken-10 kanji. If we write the components correctly, then writing them in the correct order results in writing the kanji correctly. We can find the meanings and readings of the kanjis in the posts linked to the subtitles; also, highlighting a kanji gives us the option to listen to its pronunciation.

Numbers and money

Living things

verbs, adverbs, and adjectives

Nature

City life

Cumulative list of radicals

This concludes the writing portion of kankei 10. We started with 30 radicals related to katakanas; then we added 12 more needed to compose all the kanken-10 kanjis; and finally, it turn out that out of the 80 kanken-10 kanjis, 32 were both kanjis and radicals that we hadn’t encounter. Below is the cumulative list of these 74 radicals we have seen so far. , i.e., a third of the 214 total number of radicals: