Kanji Lesson 10

男 (ダン、ナン、おとこ)

Man

Consist of Power/Strength (力) and Rice-field (田) to describe men, those who work on rice fields with their strength.

• 男の人（おとこのひと） Man
• 男の子（おとこのこ） Boy

石 (セキ、いし)

Stone

By pchgorman (Flickr)
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Picture of round objects (口) under the cliff to represent the meaning of stones. Notice that the cliff here has a protruding edge.

• 石川 (いしかわ) Ishikawa (one of the Prefecture in Japan)
• 化石 (かせき) Fossil

出 (シュツ、で.る)

courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey

Coming out, Emerging

Consist of two mountain (山) to describe a smaller mountain (a lava dome) that's coming out of a bigger mountain (a volcano). A lava dome is a common feature of a volcano. It grows over a long period of time and can reach heights of several hundred meters before it either erupts or collapses. After that, another lava dome is formed and the cycle continues.

• 出口 (でぐち) Exit
• 出力 (しゅつりょく) Output
• 見出し (みだし) Subtitle, Index
• 出生 (しゅっしょう) Birth

工 (コウ、ク、グ) 

Workman, Craft

By jamesjyu (Flickr)
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Picture of a building's pillar to represent human's craftmanship.

• 人工 (じんこう) Artificial, Manmade
• 大工 (だいく) Carpenter
• 工学 (こうがく) Engineering

立 (リツ、リュウ、た.つ、 た.てる)

Stand up 

Picture of the middle lower part (torso, hip & legs) of a person standing on the ground. 

• 目立つ (めだつ)  To be conspicuous, To stand out
• 立ち上がる (たちあがる)  To get up

止 (シ、と.まる)
Stop, Halt
Picture of a small plant above the ground (small vertical line at the left side) which growth has stopped, while another plant next to it is still branching & growing up (上).

• 中止 (ちゅうし)  Suspension, Stoppage

Kanji Lesson 9

好 (コウ、この.む、す.き)

Fond, Pleasing, Like

Consist of Woman (女) and Child (子). Women in general have a fondness for children.

• 大好き (だいすき) Like (something) very much

百 (ヒャク, ビャク)

Hundred

Consist of White (白) and One (一). Among the many celebrations that the Japanese people have, there's one that celebrates one's longevity, which is called "Ga no Iwai". Ga no Iwai is celebrated several time during one's life, starting from the age 60 (called Kanreki), and subsequently at 70, 77, 80, 88, 90, and the last one at the age 99 (called Hakuju).　In each celebration, the person being celebrated is wearing clothing with specific color, with Red being the color of Kanreki, and White being the color of Hakuju. If you add one (一) more year to the celebration of Hakuju (99th birthday, where they wear white (白) clothing), you'll get one hundred (百).

• 二百 (にひゃく) Two Hundred

千 (セン, ち)

Thousand

By angela7dreams (Flickr)
CC BY-NC 2.0

Picture of a crane with open wings. In Japanese mythology, the crane is considered a holy creature that can live up to a thousand years. Furthermore, it's also believed that if someone makes a thousand origami cranes (which is called Senbazuru), his/her wish will come true. Please remember though, that the meaning of 千 has nothing to do with the crane, it's associated with the crane in this lesson for mnemonic purpose. As a matter of fact, the combination of this kanji with the kanji for bird (鳥) will create the word 千鳥 (ちどり), which means "Plover" (bird).

• 三千 (さんぜん) Three Thousand

生 (セイ、い.きる、う.む)

By Drift Words (Flickr)
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Life, Birth

Picture of a seedling that starts branching and growing leaves above the soil (土).

• 学生 (がくせい) Student
• 人生 (じんせい) Human life

草 (ソウ、くさ)

By ARC (Flickr)
CC BY 2.0

Grass

Consist of grass/plant radical and Early (早). In their early development stage (seedling), plants generally have the appearance of grasses, where they have a small size, green leaves, and an inconspicuous stem.

田 (デン、た)

Rice Field

By Jungle_Boy (Flickr)
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Picture of the banks in a rice field.

• 山田 (やまだ) Yamada (person's name)
• 田中 (たなか) Tanaka (person's name)

Kanji Lesson 8

By J. Stephen Conn (Flickr)
CC BY-NC 2.0

山 (サン、セン、やま)
Mountain
Picture of a mountain with 3 peaks.

•  火山 (かざん) Volcano

川 (セン、かわ)

By Island 2000
Trust Conservation (Flickr)
CC BY-NC 2.0

River, Stream
Picture of a river stream.

• 小川 (おがわ) Streamlet, Brook

林 (リン、はやし)
Woods, Thicket
Consist of 2 trees (木) to represent a group of several trees forming a thicket.

森 (シン、もり)
Forest
Consist of 3 trees (木) to represent lots of trees forming a forest.

By shooh (Flickr)
CC BY 2.0

上（ジョウ、ショウ、うえ、あ.げる）
Above, Up
Picture of the upper part (the branches) of a tree that's above the ground.

• 目上（めうえ）　Superior(s), Senior
• 上手 (じょうず) Skillful

下（カ、ゲ、した、さ.げる）

By Milkwooders (Flickr)
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Below, Under
Picture of the lower part (the roots) of a tree that's under the ground.

• 目下（めした) Subordinate(s), Inferior(s), Junior
• 下手 (へた) Unskillful

不 (フ、ブ)
Negative, Non-, Bad
Picture of someone making a "batsu" by crossing both hands in front of his/her chest. "Batsu" is a Japanese body language / gesture  that means "not good" or "no way".

• 不安 (ふあん) Anxiety
• 不明 (ふめい) Unknown, Obscure, Uncertain

Kanji Lesson 7

早 (ソウ、はや.い) 

Early, Fast

By Train.bird (Flickr)
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Notice that this character is a part of morning (朝), showing only the sun (日) and the plants below (the grass) (十). If we wake up early and get to the field fast, we can witness the moment where the sun just rose from behind the grass, not even "touching" the leaves of the trees yet.

• 早朝 (そうちょう) Early morning

火 (カ、ひ)

Fire

By mygothlaundry (Flickr)
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Picture of a person (人) juggling fire (the two dots at the left hand and right hand side). 

• 花火 (はなび) Firework

中 (チュウ、なか、うち)

Middle, Inside

Picture of a line going through the inside of a rectangle right at the middle.

• 中学 (ちゅうがく) Junior High School

虫 (チュウ、キ、むし) 

Insect

By AI2 (WikiMedia Commons)
CC BY 3.0

Consist of middle (中) and two additional lines below representing a leg. Insects are animals that have legs in the middle of their body. Unlike most mammals that have 4 legs (2 front legs and 2 hind legs), most insects have 6 legs (2 front legs, 2 middle legs, and 2 hind legs).

力 (リョク、リキ、ちから) 

Power, Strength

Picture of someone showing his muscular left arm, which represents the meaning of strength / power.

• 入力 (にゅうりょく) Input / Data entry
• 学力 (がくりょく) Scholarship / Knowledge / Literary ability

刀 (トウ、かたな) 

Sword, Knife

Picture of a sword hilt.

By crowolf (Flickr)
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0