Page 50 - Japanese Character Writing for Dummies
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dog Man’s best friend looks like this in kanji. Strange? It may not look like a dog
to you. Note that it looks very much like the kanji for 大 (big); but a little
dot in its upper-right corner makes “big” a dog. You will find this kanji in
akitainu (Akita dog), which is the breed of the famous Hachi, the
KEN/inu dog who waited for his owner at the train station every day, not knowing
the owner had passed away. Do you have an inu as a pet?
Radical: 犬 Number of strokes: four
The left part of this kanji indicates that the character refers to something
cat dogs are more domesticated than cats? But a cat is an auspicious animal for
about animals, although the kanji for “dog” does not have this part. Perhaps
businesses. Have you seen a little cat figure beckoning with its paw in a shop
BYŌ/neko or restaurant? These cat figures are called maneki-neko. They nod to
you to welcome you and invite fortune for their owners!
Radical: ⺨ Number of strokes: eleven
44 Japanese Character Writing For Dummies
