3. 駅：Train Station

3. 駅：えき　「eki」（Train Station)

馬（うま）「uma」　 ：horse　

尺（しゃく）「shaku」：measure

As you can clearly see, the kanji for station is quite a combination of horse and measure.

Well, how to remember? It seems to be completely unrelated to either one of them until you hear this story：

Long time ago, there used to be horse wagons which where the only set of transportation from one place to another. Just like train station, there used to be horse wagon stands from which you can hire one to go somewhere. There used to be a lot of wagons at such station and so, one needs to recognize the sheer scale (measure) of such a station.

Thus came the combined kanji, 駅（えき eki) which is used even today to represent the age old horse wagons at the stations which are replaced by modern trains!

Agrarian vs nomadic

It might feel like I've drifted off the main blog topic i.e. To study and learn kanji. But here I'm blogging about agrarian or something...?what does that even mean and how is it in any way related to kanji?

Read further to find out!

This is set in 3500B.C when the first writing system attested today as Sumerian language existed. There aren't any known written language prior this date. But humans just like you and me have been living as early as 60,000 years ago!  Initially humans were cavemen then hunters, nomads and then found out about agriculture- started settling in the banks of rivers, then came the industrial revolution, information technology and today we are in a world of Internet. This is out of any history textbook. But language is something that's been there developed ever since humans were cavemen! Some of the oldest languages like Tamil are predicted to be atleast 40,000years old.

So, what really bothers me is what where they doing from 60,000B.C till 3,500B.C?  How well were their societies organized? How structured was the languages before they got their written scriptures? There is a BIG story missing from all our history books! We simply don't have any records of how people were emotionally and otherwise before 3,500B.C. We simply can't reject them as being primitive and ignorant. Today we are as ignorant as they were 60,000years ago! We still don't know how we came into existence, what happens after death or even as simple as why we sleep!! They were advanced in their own way. They built the giant Pyramids 4000years ago and we don't exactly know how did they did that. And Pyramids come only at the end of this 54,000year long missing story.

This again takes me back to a new question: Why did they settle and start doing agriculture? Why the agrarian society? And right around that time writing system surprisingly springs up! That can't be a coincidence.

Language is the key to all of this. We were so complex and capable that each of the group separated by rivers and oceans was able to create it's own unique language. Should have been a very slow process. They should have developed language to control the masses, to conceive and transfer an idea over the masses, to improve trade and productivity. 

For more than forty thousand years languages were oral. They didn't find any reason to keep records of what they spoke probably until they settled in, where they had to keep counts of called  and pieces of land cultivated by each. That's when they invented the writing system.

So understanding the writing systems like kanji and others really depends on how much of importance we give to appreciating the growth of language (whichever may be). The writing system  of Japanese is much younger compared to other older languages. Chinese greatly influenced the writing system. History should not be taken lightly as it can give us a great deal of insight when learning kanji!

Two side notes : One, from now on I'll try to add some historic stories when blogging about kanji learning methods. And two, do watch 'the Man from Earth' movie. It was a real eye opener for me to appreciate the fact that we are still not sure on the history of mankind! 

"We have got only the last 4000 years or so right, the ones before that is completely missing! "

2. 舌: How to remember kanji

shita (した): 舌 : tongue 

舌 consists of two parts, the upper one means thousand and the bottom one means mouth.

I remember it this way: a thousand  mouths speak the same language, their mother tongue!

1. 冒: How to remember kanji

Okasu (おかす): 冒す : risk (v)

冒consists of two parts. The one on top is sun while the bottom one is eyes.

So I'll remember it this way : looking with bare eyes at the sun on top is RISKY!

Introduction

KANJI in Japanese Learning: Why should I learn Kanji

Nice to meet you, I am arity.
I began the study of feeling yourself.
As I wrote the whole Japanese until now in hiragana and katakana is not used at all the feel.
As a result, all of the text will be longer.
And meaning of all the feeling there is a likelihood.
I feel for you live in Japan is very important.
Life after you have remembered the feeling will be natural.
Be read by or site for the store name or product will be easy.

(* Not a literal translation.)
Hello all, I am Arithy.
I recently started learning Kanji by myself.
I have used only hiragana and katakana in this first post to show the importance of Kanji.
Also, people who just started learning Japanese can easily read this post and understand my point.
Without Kanji, sentences become large.
Every kanji has its meaning and reason behind it use.
Also knowing Kanji is very useful to survive in Japan.
Be it shopping or looking for a product specification or even while checking websites.

Soon I will be posting some interesting thoughts and stories on how to remember certain Kanji.
I could have written them in my notes but wanted to share it with all those who just started learning Japanese. Spatial concurrence which most apps proclaim are not helpful and just staring at Kanji will definitely not work.
I have been learning Japanese for almost a year now and let me tell you this: Learning Japanese is one thing, but learning Kanji is a different game all together.

Let me copy-paste the Japanese text from top and put it below, but this time with Kanji. See for yourself how easy it is to recognize different words easily even without spaces.

-------------------------------------------------- ----
Nice to meet you, I am arity.
I began in my study of Chinese characters.
I wrote the whole Japanese to in hiragana and katakana now, but do not use at all the kanji.
As a result, all of the text will be longer.
There is a meaning and reason for all of Chinese characters.
Kanji in order to live in Japan is very important.
Life after you have remember the kanji will be natural.
Makes it easy to read, etc. store name or product for or site.
-------------------------------------------------- -----

Do check back for more updates!