Remembering the Kanji: Mnemonics

This post is authored by Jonathan. Please check out his blog, Jonathan’s Japan(ese) Journal • ジョナサンの日本(語)日記, for more Japanese related articles.

As you’ve likely already lamented since before you began your Japanese studies, kanji are a bunch of symbols. Quite a far cry from our comparatively simple set of 26 letters, right? You need to know a lot of these if you want to read or write most Japanese material, so how in the world are you supposed to remember them? There are thousands of these things after all!

There are various methods for this—and I’d certainly like to hear what you have to say as well—but today I’d like to discuss the method that I’ve started using more consciously recently: mnemonics, words or sentences that you associate with characters.

In the past, I haven’t used mnemonics very much—not because I think that they aren’t beneficial or anything, but because they haven’t seemed particularly necessary for me until recently. I was able to memorize most kanji that I came across just by studying them and seeing them around Japan constantly. However, I’m exposed to kanji a lot less these days and I’ve recently found that mnemonics can be quite useful for making kanji that are fairly complex or aren’t so common stick in your mind a lot better.

Let me give you a few examples that I use to remember kanji that I might otherwise find difficult to remember:

滝
たき, meaning “waterfall”
“Water dragon”
In this kanji, the three-stroke radical on the left is something of an abbreviated form of 水 (みず) and means “water.” The radical on the right, 竜 (りゅう) means “dragon.” Well, what cooler thing is there to associate with waterfalls than dragons? I suppose they can look like dragons made of water if you use your imagination a bit, right? (To help drill it into your head, feel free to actually call waterfalls “water dragons” in English when you get the chance. Bonus points for annoying your friends and family.)

額
ひたい, meaning “forehead”
“When I heard that the next customer was a large shellfish, I slapped my forehead.”
Clearly a bit nonsensical, there is a method to the madness. This character is comprised of both 客 (きゃく), meaning “customer, guest,” and 頁 (おおがい), meaning “large shellfish.” (If you haven’t noticed yet, you’ll see 頁 as a part of kanji a lot.) As you can see, I was a bit limited with what I could work with, mnemonic-wise, but this sentence works pretty well for me. I’m sure I’d be tempted to slap my forehead if someone said something like that to me!

胞
ほう, meaning “placenta”
“Before birth, the placenta wraps around your body.”
This sentence isn’t even correct, according to my limited knowledge of how pregnancy works, but it was the first thing that I thought of when I was trying to think of an easy way to remember this character. 月 can refer to both the Moon and, as in this case, to the body; and 包 means “to wrap (around).” Personally, I’m willing to sacrifice some biological accuracy for the sake of remembering this character. (Unlike the “water dragon” thing, you might want to resist saying this sentence to people, though.)

蚕
かいこ, meaning “silkworm”
“Silkworms, the heavenly bug.”
天 means “heaven” and 虫 means “bug” or “insect.” Well, that’s pretty straightforward, right? Sometimes they just give them to you. Despite the simplistic nature of the character, I suspect that Japanese people would be impressed that you know it, as it’s not often seen, in my experience. And speaking of bugs …

虹
にじ, meaning “rainbow”
“Bug-engineered rainbows.”
For whatever reason, “rainbow” is made by slapping together 虫 (which I hope you’ve not forgotten already!) and 工 (こう), meaning “craft, construction.” My sentence is another bit of obvious insanity. These mnemonics get even more insane if you start letting your mind wander on them.

凍
こお（る）、こご（える）、トウ; meaning “to freeze”
“It’s frozen to the east.”
The two-stroke construction on the left means “ice” and 東 (ひがし; トウ) generally means “east.” Put the two together and you’ve got “freeze.” Straightforward, right? However, you might be wondering why “east” would be a part of this kanji. I certainly didn’t know either, but according to my sources, 東 can also hold the meaning of かさなる—that is, “piling up.” Oh ho! Thus, this kanji—凍—carries the image of ice piling up, which certainly sheds some light on things.

曽
そう (and a few others), roughly meaning “formerly, once, before”
“It’s already happened.”
This one actually comes from an experience with a Chinese friend to whom I sometimes turn for assistance or comments. I asked her to clarify what this kanji meant and, after some time trying to find the right phrasing, she simply said, “It’s already happened.” I, for some reason, found this explanation amusing and, thus, these words are now forever associated with the character in my head. Not all mnemonics need to be made-up nonsense, nor do they necessarily need to directly reflect the construction of the characters. Sometimes you can just draw from memorable conversations or experiences. These might be the best mnemonics of them all. Make the associations as natural as you can. The more you’re thinking about them, the less organic they’ll be.

Anyway, you get the gist of things by now, I’d imagine. If you use these sorts of mnemonics as you study, I’ll bet that you will find yourself able to remember characters that gave you a lot of trouble before or otherwise would give you a lot of grief.

Do you remember any of the kanji that I introduced above? “Bug-engineered rainbows”? “Water dragons”? “Frozen to the east”? Can you write these characters now? If so, then you might have found a good method for you to use!

If there are any mnemonics that you have thought of that you’d like to share, I’d like to see them. Feel free to share them in the comments.