Kanji 6

Front 1

child

*child

Back 1

child wrapped up in one of those
handy cocoons that Japanese mothers ³x to their backs to carry
around young children who cannot get around by themselves.
The ³rst stroke is like a wee head popping out for air; the second
shows the body and legs all wrapped up; and the ³nal
stroke shows the arms sticking out to cling to the mother’s
neck

Front 2

cavity

Back 2

Probably the one thing most children fear more than anything
else is the dentist’s chair. Once a child has seen a dentist holding
the x-rays up to the light and heard that ominous word
cavity, even though it is not likely to know that the word
means “hole” until it is much older, it will not be long before
those two syllables get associated with the drill and that row of
shiny hooks the dentist uses to torture people who are too small
to ³ght back

Front 3

complete

Back 3

Learn this character by returning to frame 95 and the image
given there. The only difference is that the “arms” have been
left off (actually, only tucked inside). Thus a child with its arms
wrapped up into the back-sack is the picture of a job successfully
completed

Front 4

woman

*woman

Back 4

You have probably seen somewhere the form of a squatting
woman drawn behind this character, with two legs at the bottom,
two arms (the horizontal line) and the head poking out
the top. A little farfetched, until you draw the character and
feel the grace and μow of the three simple strokes. Remembering
the kanji is easy; learning to write it beautifully is another
thing

Front 5

fond

Back 5

The phrase “to be fond of someone” has a natural gentleness
about it, and lends a tenderness to the sense of touching by giving
us the related term “to fondle.” The character likens it to a
woman fondling her child

Front 6

likeness

Back 6

For
instance, the fact that things like the mouth of a cave served as
natural ritual substitutes for the opening through which a
woman gives birth. Hence, in order to be reborn as an adult,
one may have to pass through the psychological equivalent of
the womb, that is, something that bears a likeness to the opening
of the woman from whom you were born

Front 7

mama

*breasts

Back 7

Look closely at this kanji and you will ³nd the outline of the
kanji for woman in it, though it has been expanded to make
space for the two breasts that make her a mama

Front 8

pierce

Back 8

All you need to do is imagine
piercing an ear so that it can hold a mother-of-pearl you have
just wrested from an oyster

Front 9

elder brother

*teenager

Back 9

The large mouth on top and the human legs below almost jump
off the page as a caricature of elder brother, the one with the
big mouth

Front 10

overcome

Back 10

The needle on top indicates
one of the major problems confronting the teenager growing
up in today’s world: drugs. Many of them will fall under the
shadow of the needle at some time during those tender years,
but only when a whole generation rises up and decides that
“We Shall Overcome” the plague, will the needle cease to hang
over their heads, as it does in this character