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Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! Have you ever wondered how to draw the kanji that means “root” or “origin?” If so, this is the lesson for you. In this Japanese video lesson, you’ll discover easy instructions that’ll help you master the kanji for “root” in no time. Discover the many uses for this word as well as common phrases that incorporate it.





This entry was posted on Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Kanji Videos with Hiroko . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

19 Responses to “Kanji Video Lesson #4: The Origin of Kanji”

JapanesePod101.com says:

Wasn’t Hiroko-sensi cute! She did a great job of teaching us the kanji for “origin”. Do you know any names that have this kanji? How are they prononced?

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Andrea Takahashi says:

山本 - Yamamoto - I hope this is correct as I do not have a lot of Kanji knowledge

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エリック says:

This is great. Wish they came out more frequently! I thought 本 (ほん) meant “book,” though. I guess you can’t give ALL the readings.

How about “moto-rola?”

eric

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きにょび says:

I instantly thought maybe the car company HONDA uses this, but I am not sure - another one the comes to mind is BOOKSTORE 本屋。

And to answer - はい、もちろん ひろこーせんせいはかわいです。 :mrgreen: :kokoro:

To Hiroko-sensei, your English pronunciation is very good, did you live in an English speaking country for a few years?

Thank you for this video - definitely looking forward to more like it, excellent job. :dogeza:

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Debra says:

I thought she was going to use the kanji for Japan as an example ? 日本

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Hiroko says:

Andrea Takahashi san>Yes, that is correct :wink: Where did you learn that? Do you have a friend with that name? :razz:

エリック san, > it does mean “book” but the real meaning of this kanji is “origin” or “base” and the meaning/name as “book” was added later. :mrgreen:

きにょび san> Yes, Honda uses this kanji- 本田。 :wink:  thanks for your kind comment :oops: I lived in Arkansas and Hawaii (two opposite places except both are chilling :mrgreen: ) before coming back to Japan :nihon:

Debra san> Yes, I thought about that too. 日本 could be read as “Nihon” and “Nippon”, so I didn’t want to confuse people who are not familiar with the pronounciations. In later lessons hopefully we can introduce various types of pronounciations and usages :wink: the Kanji for “日” is coming soon too!!

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Atolm_Dragon says:

Thanks Hiroko-sensei! I thought that kanji only meant book too. Interesting :)

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zakojanai says:

Actually Eric, Motorola is an American company.
And Hiroko is being kind of modest. Her pronunciation was that good even before going to the US.
I know lots of names with 本 in it, but my favorite is 熊本[くまもと]. It’s the name of a prefecture and city. But “origin of the bear”? What does that even mean? And if you’re ever there, try the raw horse. It’s 馬い!

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Sindyシンディー says:

JP101/Hiroko-san! :wink:

Great videos! Hiroko-san why did you choose Arkansas/Hawaii and not NY? Have you been to NY? NY is chilling place too. :wink: Keep up the good work! :grin: S_R_C

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Skasska says:

:mrgreen: Hiroko, great lesson!!! ))) enjoyed it soooo much! You’re so cute!!! :razz: I’m looking forward to seeing other kanjis.. :dogeza:

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きんよび says:

Perhaps she was chlling with President Clinton’s family or was cheering on the Razorbacks :cool:

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Javizy says:

What about JPod legend 川本夏子(Natsuko Kawamoto)? Assuming those are the right kanji :razz:

By the way, is Hirokoさん actually a メガネっ娘, or are the red glasses just a prop to make her look more 先生っぽい? :mrgreen:

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トーマス says:

Nice Lesson, Hiroko-san! Surely I don´t know any names, which use 本, but here are some of them:

First of all 森本(もりもと), which can be build by the last two Kanji Video Lessons :)
Next may be 本木(きもと) and 本木(きもと), with the first lesson´s Kanji
And some of the easy to read 苗字 are:

竹本(むらもと), 川本(かわもと), 中本(なかもと), 大本(おおもと), 本山(ほんやま), 高本(たかもと), 本川(ほんがわ)

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Sean Somers says:

Great video, interesting idea — might have been interesting to look at some of the more ideologically charged names for Japan, which have entertained different sensibilities over the year: yamato [大和], for example. Forgive me for saying it — but perhaps you could bring in a good shodô-ka to do the penmanship.

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タチコマ says:

Is there a way of adding the kanji in these lessons to ‘my kanji bank’? With a normal lesson it’s possible to bring up the vocab list and add new words, but there is no vocab list for these videos.

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Isaac says:

Why is the reading of “Nihon” Nihon and not “Kamoto” the japanese reading? :shock: :neutral: :wink:

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Riku says:

Konichiwa,

I love this lessons.
I was just watching the lesson notes lite, and I suddenly see the word “kihon”. There’s standing a kanji and katakana. Why is there standing both?

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Naomi says:

Riku-san
The word “kihon” is usually spelled as 基本 in Kanji.
However the Kanji 基 has not been covered in this series yet. In order to make it easier for listeners, it’s written as き本 in the lesson notes. (FYI き is not Katakana, but it’s hiragana :wink: )

I hope this makes sense.

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Riku says:

Naomi-san,

Thanks for the help. But I got 1 problem.
In your message I can’t see: ( indicated with *)

“Riku-san *
The word “kihon” is usually spelled as 基本 in Kanji.”

I can’t see the letters, they’re squares. :sad:
What can I do or what you do to help me?

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