Kanji 18

Front 1

garment

Back 1

At the top we see the top hat, and at the bottom a pictographic
representation of the folds of a garment. If you break the “4-
fold” fold into 2 sets of 2 strokes, you will ³nd it easier to
remember

Front 2

tailor

Back 2

You might think here of garment that have been specially tailored
for Thanksgiving celebrations to look like traditional Pilgrim
garb

Front 3

attire

Back 3

The character for attire can be remembered as a picture of what
we may call a “turtle-samurai” sweater. At the top we see the
turtle-samurai and at the bottom the element for garment

Front 4

back

Back 4

An innocent looking top hat and scarf lying there in front of
you, turned over, reveal a hidden computer sewn into the back
of each—obviously the tools of a master spy. Such experiences
teach one always to have a look at the back side of things.

Front 5

demolition

Back 5

The right half of this character shows a garment woven so ³ne
that it can pass through the eye of a needle, ³ttingly draped
around the slithering, ethereal form of a poltergeist. In this
frame, our eerie visitor brushes its robes against a nearby block
of apartments and completely demolishes them, razing them
to the ground

Front 6

pathetic

Back 6

A drunken sod in a tattered top hat and soiled silk scarf with a
giant mouth guzzling something or other gives us a pathetic
character role in which W. C. Fields might ³nd himself right at
home

Front 7

distant

Back 7

A distant ³gure on the road is such a blur it looks like a lidded
crock wearing a silk scarf

Front 8

monkey

Back 8

This clever little monkey has captured an entire pack of wild
dogs, locked them inside a lidded crock, and wrapped the whole
thing up in a silk scarf to present to the dogcatcher

Front 9

first time

Back 9

The primitives here take care of themselves: cloak and dagger.
What I leave to you is to decide on an appropriate connotation
for “³rst time” to take advantage of them

Front 10

linen

Back 10

The maid, towels by her side, distributes the linen

Front 11

sail

Back 11

A sail made of a towel makes a mediocre vessel

Front 12

hanging scroll

Back 12

A towel owned by the wealthiest tycoon in the world is made
into a hanging scroll after his death and auctioned off to the
highest bidder

Front 13

cap

Back 13

Because of the risk involved (of getting the sun in one’s eyes),
one puts together a makeshift cap out of a dirty old towel.

Front 14

curtain

Back 14

A dirty towel draped over the entrance to the old graveyard is
painted to look like the curtain of death that leads to the other
world

Front 15

canopy

Back 15

A large towel stretched overhead with only a few of the sun’s
rays breaking through represents a canopy over one’s bed

Front 16

brocade

Back 16

A strip of white towel and some scraps of metal have the makings
of a primitive kind of brocade

Front 17

market

Back 17

Dressed in nothing but a bath towel and top hat, one sets off to
the marketplace in search of a bargain or two

Front 18

elder sister

Back 18

Of all the women of the family, it is the elder sister who has the
duty to go to market to do the shopping

Front 19

lungs

Back 19

One is surprised, strolling through the market, to ³nd among
the meats hung out for sale a slab marked: lungs

Front 20

sash

Back 20

The part of the apron where one ³nds the buckle (represented
pictorially by the ³rst 5 strokes) is on the sash

Front 21

*apron

Back 21