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Description: This is a dual-language video, with content in both Japanese and English. Selecting either English or Japanese captions will provide the same dual-language captions. This video covers the Japanese kanji characters in Lesson 9 of the textbook, Tobira: Gateway to Advanced Japanese Learning Through Content and Multimedia.
Instructor: Dr. Takako Aikawa

Video 4: Kanji in Tobira Le...
Hai.
De wa, lesson 9 no kanji wo hajimemasu.
This is the first kanji in lesson 9.
Kono kanji desu keredo mo, mazu, component wo chotto mite mimashō.
Kono kanji, kore wa ‘cow’ ‘ushi’ to iu imi desu.
Sore kara, kono part, we have learned this one before.
Kore wa flag to ka something to do with cloth.
Sore kara, kono part nan desu keredo mo, kore wa one radical, it means, like, official’s sword or knife to iu imi desu.
So someone is sitting on a cow with an official’s sword or with a big knife, and with flag.
So he must be in control to iu, ma, story desu.
Yomikata desu keredo mo, On reading de sē to yomimasu.
Tatoeba, ‘sēdo,’ ‘system’ nan desu kedo mo, yoku compound de ‘kyōikusēdo’ ‘education system’ sore kara ‘gakkōsēdo,’ ‘school system.’ Konna tsukaikata wo shimasu.
Ato, ‘sēfuku,’ kore wa ‘uniform’ desu.
Kono ‘fuku’ tte iu no wa ‘clothes’ no imi desu.
Sore kara ‘zēsē,’ kore wa zēkin no zē desu.
So ‘tax system.’ Sore kara ‘kyōsēsuru.’ ‘kyō’ tte iu no wa, ii desu ne, kore, ‘benkyō’ no kyō nan desu keredo mo, ‘tsuyoi,’ ‘force’ no imi ga arimasu.
So ‘kyōsē suru’ ‘to force someone to do something’ to iu imi desu.
Hai.
De wa, tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu kedo, ‘full to iu imi ga arimasu.
Chotto component wo mite mimashō.
Kono radical wa mō shittemasu yo ne, ‘water.’ Sore kara kono ue no tokoro, koko, desu keredo mo, kore wa ‘grass’ no imi ga arimasu.
Minna wa yoku shitteru no wa ‘kusuri.’ So ‘grass that make you feel relaxed or fun’ tte iu no de, kore, ‘drug,’ ‘kusuri’ to iu imi desu.
Sore kara kore no ichiban shita no tokoro, koko wa ‘both’ to iu imi ga arimasu.
So, both sides of the water you will see lots of grass so the water must be full.
Konna story desu.
Sore kara yomikata nan desu keredo mo, on reading de ‘man.’ Tatoeba, ‘manzoku’ ‘to be satisfied.’ Sore kara ‘manin’ kore wa ‘hito ga ippai desu’ to iu imi desu.
‘full of people’ to iu imi desu.
Sore kara ‘fuman,’ tatoeba ‘dissatisfaction’ ‘fuman ga arimasu.’ Tatoeba, ‘daigaku ni fuman ga arimasu.’ Sore kara ‘miman’ to iu, kore wa desu ne, ‘less than nani nani’ to iu tsukaikata ga arimasu.
Tatoeba, ‘jyūhassai miman no hito,’ people who are less than, who are younger than or under 18 years old, so ‘jyūhassai miman no hito wa, dame desu.’ De, kun reading nan desu keredo mo, amari tsukaimasen keredo mo, ‘mi’ to iu yomikata ga arimasu.
‘michiru’ tatoeba something to become full kore wa de wa amari tsukaimasen.
On reading dake de daijōbu desu.
Hai.
Tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji imi wa ‘advance’ to ka ‘progress’ no imi ga arimasu.
Sore kara component wo kore wa mō minna benkyōshita yo ne, kono radical who mitara something to do with legs or to go to iu imi desu.
Sore kara, kono part, kono part mo mae ni benkyōshimashita.
Kore wa, ano, stands for ‘bird.’ So you can imagine a bird with legs are advancing or progressing.
De, yomikata desu keredo mo, on reading de ‘shin’ to iu yomikata ga arimasu.
Tatoeba, ‘shingaku suru’ ‘advance to a higher school’ tatoeba, ‘daigaku ni shingaku shita,’ ‘advance to college.’ Sore kara, ‘shinkō suru,’ ‘kaigi ga shinkō shiteiru’ ‘the meeting is in progress.’ Sore kara ‘shinpo,’ ‘to progress’ ma, onaji imi desu keredo mo, ‘technology ga shinpo shita.’ ‘technology advanced or progressed.’ Sore kara desu ne, ‘sen shinkoku’ kore ‘developed country,’ kore ‘kōshinkoku,’ ‘underdeveloped country,’ konna tsukaikata mo arimasu.
Kun reading desu keredo mo, kun de wa ‘susumu.’ Tatoeba, ‘kono project wa susundeimasu’ ‘this project is advancing or progressing’ konna tsukaikata wo shimasu.
Hai, tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘to fall’ to ka ‘fail something’.
Konna imi ga arimasu.
Chotto component wo mite mimashō.
Kono radical daijōbu desu yo ne, kore wa ‘grass’ ‘kusuri’ no hanashi wo shimashita.
Sore kara kono radical, kore wa ‘water’ daijōbu desu yo ne.
Sore kara kono part nan desu keredo mo, kore wa each to ka every to iu imi ga arimasu.
So in the fall, every water the grass falls to iu no de fall to ka fail to iu imi ga arimasu.
Yomikata desu keredo mo, mazu on reading ga ‘raku’ to iu no ga arimasu.
Tatoeba ‘rakuba, rakuba suru’ kono, kore ‘horse’ no imi desu.
So uma kara fall no imi desu.
Desu ga, so uma kara ochiru, fall from the horse, sore kara ‘rakugo’ tte iu no, shittemasu yo ne, Nihon no, Nihon de no rakugo.
kono rakugo ni mo kono raku wo tsukaimasu.
Ato, ‘rakka suru’ ‘to fall from the sky’ no imi nan desu keredo mo konna tsukaikata mo shimasu.
Ato kun reading wa yoku tsukawaremasu.
‘ochiru’ kono toki ni wa desu ne ‘to fall’ no imi mo arundesu keredo mo, ‘to fail’ no imi mo arimasu.
Tatoeba, ‘daigaku ni ochita’ ‘shiken ni ochita’ ‘fail the exam,’ Sore kara, ‘sēseki ga ochita’ kono toki ni wa ‘fall’ to ka ‘get worse’ no imi desu. ‘my grade got worse’ to iu imi desu.
Sore kara ‘nikai kara ochita’ to iu toki ni wa ‘jumped from the second floor.’ Chotto kiwotsukete kudasai.
Eigo no ‘fall’ to iu no wa intentionality, so in English, you could say ‘she had a bad fall’ but ‘she fell’ kore wa unintentional na mono desu.
Sono toki ni wa Nihongo de wa we use ‘korobu’ for an unintentional fall.
So ‘kinō, korondeshimaimashita.’ ‘I fell.’ Sono toki ni wa ‘korobu.’ Demo, ‘intentionally jump’ to ka ‘fall,’ sono toki ni wa ‘ochiru’ to iu kotoba wo tsukaimasu.
Tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu kedo, imi wa ‘to cooperate, to collaborate’ no imi ga arimasu.
De, ma, component, daijōbu desu ne, so ‘ten,’ you have lots of powers in order to cooperate.
Or you have to cooperate.
De, yomikata nan desu keredo mo, ‘kyō’ to iu yomikata ga arimasu.
Kore wa on reading desu.
Tatoeba, ‘kyōryoku suru’ ‘to cooperate’ ari wa ‘to collaborate’ no imi ga arimasu.
Particle kiwotsukete kudasai.
‘naninani to kyōryoku suru’ Tatoeba, ‘Nihon to kyōryoku suru’ ‘ano hito to kyōryoku suru’ sonna tsukaikata wo shimasu.
Sore kara ‘kyōkai’ ‘association’ tatoeba ‘jidōsha kyōkai’ ‘auto association.’ Sore kara ‘kyōtē,’ ‘pact,’ to ka ‘agreement’ ‘kokusai kyōtē,’ international agreement.
Konna imi ga arimasu.
Hai.
Tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu keredo mo imi wa ‘rank’ to ka ‘position’ no imi ga arimasu.
Kore wa daijōbu desu ne, kono radical kore ‘person’ Sore kara kore wa ‘to stand’ no imi ga arimasu.
So that person is standing in the right position, ma, ‘position’ to iu imi ga arimasu.
Yomikata desu keredo mo, On reading de ‘i’ to iu yomikata ga arimasu.
Tatoeba, ‘ichi’ ‘Nihon no ichi’ ‘the position of Japan’ Sore kara ‘chii’ to iu no de, ma, ‘social status’ sore kara ‘social rank’ no imi ga arimasu.
Tatoeba, ‘kare no chii wa takai’ ‘his position, social status is high’ Ato desu ne, number to issho ni tsuite, ‘ichii, nii, sani’ Tatoeba, race, nanka de, ‘first, second, third’ to iu tsukaikata mo arimasu.
Ma, first position sore kara second position, third position.
Ato desu ne, kore wa chotto extra desu keredo mo, minna ga benkyōshita, ‘jyuppun gurai’ kore ‘about’ sō desu ne, ‘about ten minutes.’ Minna wa hiragana de kaitete mo daijōbu desu demo, tokidoki Nihonjin no hito de kono kanji wo ‘juppun gurai’ kore wo tsukau hito mo imasu.
Demo kore wa benkyōshinakutemo daijōbu desu.
Hai.
Tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu keredo mo imi wa ‘happiness’ sore kara ‘happy’ to iu imi ga arimasu.
Chotto component wo mite mimashō.
Kono ue no tokoro, kore wa, ma, ‘soil,’ ari wa this part, or this character, can be used to indicate ‘doyōbi,’ Saturday.
So you can imagine a story like it became Saturday so a person is happy.
Like jumping and opening his or her arms.
So it’s happiness to iu imi desu.
De yomikata nan desu keredo mo, On reading de wa ‘kō’ Tatoeba, ‘kōfuku’ kore wa zenbu na adjective ni narimasu.
‘kōfuku na’ ‘happy’ ‘kōfuku na jinsē’ ‘happy life’ Sore kara ‘kōun’ kore ‘fortunate’ Sore kara kono ‘fu’ tte iu no, kore wa negative desu.
So ‘fukō na’ tte iu no wa ‘unhappy’ to iu imi desu.
‘fukō na jinsē’ Ato desu ne, kun reading de ‘shiawase’ kore mo ‘happy’ to iu imi desu.
Onaji imi desu.
Tatoeba, ‘shiawase na jinsē’ ‘happy life’ ‘kōfuku na jinsē’ kore mo onaji imi desu.
Sore kara ‘fushiawase’ kore wa negative no imi desu kara ‘unhappy’ ‘fushiawase na jinsē’ ‘unhappy life’ to iu yō na tsukaikata wo shimasu.
Hai.
Tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘able’ sore kara ‘approve’ to iu imi ga arimasu.
De, chotto component wo mite kudasai.
Kono part, desu yo ne, kore wa coming from this cho to iu imi desu keredo mo, this kanji character means like town subsection.
It used to be also used as a counter but we no longer use those things.
Demo, imagine the meaning of town subsection.
Sore kara, notice this hook, don’t forget this hook.
Sore kara inside, kore wa ‘mouth’ So someone has a mouth in a town, he is the only person who can approve something to iu imi de approve ari wa able to iu imi ga arimasu.
Yomikata desu keredo mo, on reading dake desu. ‘ka.’ Tatoeba, ‘kanōna’ ‘possible’ Tatoeba, ‘kono project wa kanō desu’ ‘this project is possible.’ Sore kara ‘fukanōna’ kore ga ii desu ne, negative, ‘impossible.’ Sore kara ‘kanōsē’ to iu no de, ‘possibility’ to iu imi ga arimasu.
Tatoeba, ‘kono daigaku ni gōkaku suru kanōsē,’ ‘the possibility that you can pass this university’ ‘wa, arimasen.’ To iu, konna tsukaikata wo shimasu.
Hai.
Tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘plain’ to ka ‘original’ to ka ‘basic’ sonna imi ga arimasu.
De, story tte iu ga, component desu keredo mo, you can imagine some sort of like cliff or mountain, and this is white, and this is small.
So raising a small amount of white rice is a basic for the survival skill in the mountain.
Ma, kore de, zenbu de ‘field’ to ka ‘plain’ to ka, sore kara ‘basic, original,’ sonna imi ni narimasu.
Yomikata nan desu keredo mo, on reading de ‘gen’.
Tatoeba, ‘genin’ kore ‘cause’.
Sore kara ‘gensoku’ kore ‘principle’ basic na rule to iu imi desu.
Sore kara ‘genten’ kono toki wa, ma, ‘starting’ to ka ‘original’ ‘original point’ ‘starting point’ no imi ga arimasu.
‘genkō,’ kore ‘manuscript’ desu.
Sō desu ne, ma original na sore kara kō tte iu no wa kore wa script no imi ga arimasu.
Sore kara ‘genshiteki na’ kore ‘primitive’ desu.
Kore wa ‘start’ no imi desu.
Dakara ‘original’ sore kara ‘start’ so ‘genshiteki na’ to iu imi desu.
Ato, kun reading de ‘hara’ to iu yomikata ga arimasu.
Nihongo de field no imi de, ‘nohara’ to iimasu.
Sore kara yoku Nihonjin no namae ‘harada-san’ to ka konna namae mo, namae ni mo yoku tsukawaremasu.
Hai.
Tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu keredo mo imi wa ‘cause, depend’ sore kara ‘be limited’ to iu imi ga arimasu.
De, you can imagine someone is trying to stretch out inside a box.
But it is limited.
So be limited no imi ga arimasu.
Chotto kiwotsukete kudasai.
There’s another character looks like this but its inside is a person so the person is inside the box.
This character means prison to iu imi desu.
So those two are different so just be careful.
Yomikata desu keredo mo, ‘in’ to iu on reading wa ‘in’ desu.
Tatoeba, ‘genin’ ‘cause’ Sore kara ‘shiin’ kore wa ‘death’ shinda, riyū, ‘cause’ to iu imi desu.
Hai.
Tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘seek’ to ka ‘demand’ no imi ga arimasu.
Chotto component wo mite mimashō.
Kore desu keredo mo, this actually looks like this ‘mizu,’ ‘water.’ In fact this part is associated with the meaning of water.
But one thing, this kanji is different from this mizu so ichi, ni, san, yon, this is four strokes.
But this one is one, two, three.
So three strokes.
So they’re different, but they’re both associated with the meaning of water.
So you can imagine a story like someone is on top of the water raising hand to seek for help.
De, yomikata desu keredo mo, on reading de ‘kyū’ to yomimasu.
Tatoeba, ‘kyūjin’ kore wa ‘hito wo seeking,’ ‘seeking for person,’ ma, ‘help wanted’ Sore kara ‘kyūshoku’ kore wa shūshoku no shoku.
‘job’ no imi ga arimasu.
So kore wa ‘job search’ Sore kara ‘kyūkon’ kore kekkon no kon desu.
So to propose marriage no imi desu.
Ato ‘yōkyū suru’ kore wa, ma, hitsuyō na, necessary na demand ma, to demand no imi desu.
Sore kara kun reading kore wa ‘motomeru’ to yomimasu.
Tatoeba, ‘tasuke wo motomeru’ ‘seek for help’ to iu tsukaikata ga arimasu.
Hai, tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘appearance’ to ka, sore kara ‘contain’ no imi ga arimasu.
De, component nan desu keredo mo, ue, kono, kono bubun desu yo ne, kore wa ‘roof.’ Sore kara shita no tokoro, kore wa desu ne, tani, valley to iu imi ga arimasu.
So you put a roof on top of the valley so that you can contain the whole area.
Ma, sonna imi ga arimasu.
On reading nan desu keredo mo, ‘yō.’ Tatoeba, ‘naiyō’ ‘content.’ Kono kurasu no naiyō to ka shukudai no naiyō, kaigi no naiyō.
Konna tsukaikata wo shimasu.
Ato, ‘biyōin’ kore wa ‘beauty salon’ desu.
Ato bunpō no kotoba desu keredo mo, yoku ‘kēyōshi,’ ‘adjectives.’ Kono kēyōshi, ‘yō’ tte iu no wo tsukaimasu.
Hai.
Tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘to calculate’ no imi ga arimasu.
De component desu keredo mo, kono ue no part, kore wa imi wa take, ma, bamboo no imi desu.
So you can imagine a story someone is actually with big eyes and counting the number of bamboo.
De, yomikata nan desu keredo mo, on reading de ‘san’ to ka ‘zan’ ni narimasu.
Tatoeba, ‘kēsan’ kore ‘to calculate’ ma ‘kēsan shite kudasai’ ‘please calculate’ Sore kara ‘sansū’ kore wa ‘arithmetic’ Sore kara, nan desu ga, sansū tte ka ‘sūgaku’ mathamatics de yoku tsukau mono nan desu keredo mo kore, ‘tashizan’ Consistently for this combination, you always use ‘zan’ on reading.
So ‘tashizan, addition’ ‘hikizan, subtraction’ ‘kakezan, multiplication’ Sore kara ‘warizan, division’ Ma, konna kotoba mo minna, tabun, muimi da to omoimasu kara oboete oite kudasai.
Hai.
Tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘equal’ to ka toki doki ‘class’ no imi ga arimasu.
De component nan desu keredo mo, kono ue no part, benkyōshimashita yo ne, we just learned this radical.
Kore associated with bamboo.
Sore kara shita no part, kore wa temple, otera, to iu are desu.
So you can imagine a story like each temple has the same or equal number of bamboo trees.
De, yomikata desu keredo mo, on reading de ‘dō’ Tatoeba, ‘byō dō’ kore na adjective nan desu keredo mo, ‘equal.’ Tatoeba, ‘byō dō no shakai wo tsukuritai’ ‘we’d like to create an equal society’ sonna tsukaikata wo shimasu.
Ato kun reading nan desu keredo mo, kun reading de ‘hito’ ‘hitoshii’ yoku toku ni, ma, science to ka mathematics de tsukawarerun desu kedo mo, ‘A wa B to hitoshii’ ari wa ‘A wa B ni hitoshii’ ‘A is equivalent to what, is equal to B’ to iu tsukaikata wo shimasu.
Hai.
Tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘go away’ sore kara ‘leave’ to iu imi ga arimasu.
De, ue no component, kore wa ii desu yo ne, soil to ka ground, doyōbi no do desu keredo mo, you can imagine a story someone is like sitting under the ground so he must have left this world.
He must be gone, dead to iu yō na imi desu.
So ‘go away’ to ka ‘leave’ to iu imi desu.
De, yomikata desu keredo mo, on reading de ‘kyo’ Tatoeba, ‘kyonen’ ‘last year’ Sore kara ‘kako’ ‘past.’ Kun reading de ‘saru’ to iu yomikata ga arimasu.
Kore ‘saru’ ‘to leave’ no imi desu.
De, ‘America wo saru’ ‘to leave the United States’ Kono particle wo wo kiwotsukete kudasai.
Nanika bashō wo saru.
To leave some place to iu imi desu.
Hai, tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘happy’ sore kara ‘happiness’ sore kara ‘be glad’ to iu imi ga arimasu.
De chotto component wo mite mimashō.
Kono ue no part nan desu keredo mo, ‘good luck’ to iu, ‘luck’ no imi ga arimasu.
Nihon no omikuji, yoku mimasu yo ne. ‘daikichi’ ‘excellent luck’ Sore kara ‘kichi’ ma, ‘luck’ ‘good luck’ Sore kara ‘shōkichi’ ma ‘small luck’ Sore kara ‘kyō’ tte iu no ga detara, ‘bad luck’ to iu imi desu.
So you can imagine a story, so you got the good luck so you are very happy.
So this bottom part is more like, you know, the person is raising hands and be happy.
Sore kara yomikata desu keredo mo, kun reading de ‘yorokobu’ so ‘yorokondeimasu.’ Ato, on reading de ‘ki’ to iu yomikata ga arimasu.
Yoku tsukawareru no wa tatoeba ‘kigeki’ Kono geki tte iu no wa ‘play’ to iu imi ga arimasu.
So kigeki, ‘happy play’ ma ‘comedy’ Sore to, hantai nan desu keredo mo, kore ‘kanashii geki’ so ‘sad play’ to iu no de ‘tradgedy’ to iu imi ga arimasu.
Hai.
Tsugi no kanji desu.
Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘ocean’ to ka ‘western’ no imi ga arimasu.
De, component nan desu keredo mo, mō minna yoku shittemasu yo ne, kore sanzui.
This radical is associated with water.
And this part, kono migigawa desu keredo mo, kore wa hitsuji, this character itself is actually ‘sheep.’ So you can make a story such that you know, a sheep is crossing the water or ocean to get to the western country.
De, yomikata nan desu keredo mo, on reading ‘yō’ to yomimasu.
Tatoeba, ‘sē yō’ kore wa ‘the west’ Sore kara ‘tō yō’ kore toku ni desu ne ‘east asia’ no koto wo, to iimasu.
Ato, ‘taihē yō’ kore wa ‘Pacific Ocean’ sore kara ‘taisē yō’ ‘atlantic ocean’ desu.
Ato, kore wa chotto productive nan desu keredo mo, ‘yōshoku,’ kore ‘western’ kore ‘tabemono’ ‘food’ so ‘western food.’ Sore kara kono kanji ‘heya’ kore ‘room’ no imi ga arimasu.
So ‘western room’ Sore kara kono kanji kore wa ‘fuku’ ‘clothes’ so ‘western clothes’ ‘yōfuku’ to iimasu.
Kore ni taisuru, productive na, counterpart, opposite word, toshite wa ‘washoku’ kore, kono ‘wa’ tte iu no wa Nihon to iu imi ga arimasu.
So, ‘washoku’ sore kara ‘washitsu’ sore kara ‘wafuku’ desu ne, Japanese style food.
Japanese style room.
Sore kara, Japanese style clothes.
Ma, equal kimono desu.