HI

The other day I stumbled upon this video which gives you a sort of crash course on the entire history of Japan in a humorous and entertaining way.  Check it out:

 Thanks Bill Wurtz for this awesome and hilarious video! I've seen it way more times than I care to admit. =)

I've always found Japan's name in Japanese to be very beautiful.  Japan is commonly referred to as the "land of the rising sun".

In Kanji, Japan is written as: 日本 - にほん - "nihon"
Breaking the name down:
日 - に - "ni" - sun (in this case, but can also mean day)
本 - ほん - "hon" - source, origin (in this case, but can also mean book)

The sun plays an important role in Japanese mythology and religion as the Emperor is believed to be the direct descendent of the sun goddess Amaterasu.  The name of the country as well as the design of their flag reflect the importance of the sun for the Japanese.

日
Kunyomi:  ひ - "hi", -び - "-bi"
Onyomi: ニチ - "nichi", ジツ - "jitsu"
Meaning: sun, day

Jōyō Kanji taught in grade 1
JLPT level N5
1 of 2500 most common used kanji in newspapers.

In Kanji, the common name for the Japanese flag is written as:
日の丸 - ひのまる - "hinomaru"
Where:
丸 - まる - "maru" - means circle (in this case, but can also mean correct)

A photo I took while on a hike in the mountains in the outskirts of Kyoto, Japan

Previous Kanji Next Kanji

YAMA

We were on our way to Koya-san (高野山), which is where I finally decided that the three of us should go for a day trip on our day off.  There was not much said in my book about the place except that this is where esoteric Buddhism was founded in Japan back in 800-something A.D.  We had considered going to a few major cities like Kobē, Nagoya, and Ōsaka but we were having trouble making a final decision.  Finally I hastily decided at the last minute that we were going to "off-road" and have an adventure: we were going to the remotely-located town of Koya-san.  

On the last train headed to Koyasan.  I was reading "The
Samurai Banner of Furin Kazan" by Yasushi Inoue

It was pretty complicated to get there.  We had to take three different trains and then a cable car up the mountain. While in the third train, until then I had not payed much attention to the outside of the train until I was engulfed by mountains all of a sudden.

There is something about mountains that make a place feel so spiritual.  I had never thought of mountains in that way before traveling to Japan.  Koya-san is nestled in the mountains in the center of the Kii Peninsula.  It had one main street and a few minor streets where more than one-hundred temples were right next to one another.  Other than that there was the prevailing presence of the mountains and the nature.  It was extremely breath-taking and it felt like a very sacred place.

Looking out of my window on the train and suddenly being
engulfed in mountains!

Continue this story HERE

Now for the Kani!

山
Kunyomi:  やま - "yama"
Onyomi: サン - "san", セン "sen"
Meaning: mountain

Jōyō Kanji taught in grade 1
JLPT level N5
131 of 2500 most common used kanji in newspapers.

                      

Previous Kanji Next Kanji