The joys of kanji.

Kanji, or Chinese characters, depending on who you ask, are either one of the most fascinating and delightful aspects of the Japanese language, or the bane of every Japanese learner's existence. One of the three character sets used in Japanese, one must learn about 2,000 of these characters to be considered literate. Some meanings are fairly self-evident; 山 yama, 木 ki, and 人 hito kind of look respectively like a mountain, a tree, and a person, don't they? But there are only a few pictorial ones like this. Take 機 ki, for example. Well, there's a tree on the left, and a little tiny person in the middle at the bottom... but 機 means "machine." Then you get kanji like 驚 odoro(ki), which means "surprise" but is made up of 馬 uma "horse" and 敬 kei "respect," which lends itself to some pretty colorful lay interpretations.

Ages ago, when I was still in Tokyo, I wrote about how at the annual Hongo Bible Camp one student mentioned that the kanji 愛 ai "love," is comprised of 受 uke(ru) "to receive" and 心 kokoro "heart."

This isn't the real etymology, of course (the actual one is quite obscure, according to a few minutes of Googling), but I've heard more than one pastor around these parts occasionally use these kinds of pseudo-etymologies in their sermons, and I found them interesting, so perhaps you will, too:

信 shin "belief" is actually composed of 人 hito "person" and 言 gen "word." But it also dovetails quite nicely with the idea of belief and faith in the Christian life. Christians must "stick" to the words of Jesus, always trusting in His word.

Multiple other kanji can fit inside 王 ou "king."* You can put 土 tsuchi "ground," 十 jū "ten" (but it also refers to anything cross-shaped), and even (sort of) 天　ten "heaven." So, "a king over Heaven and Earth, bridged by a Cross." Sounds a lot like Jesus, right? But that's not the only way to interpret 王's composition.

王 can also be deconstructed as the three lines of 三 san "three" united by an Arabic numeral 1. Three in one. Sound like a familiar Christian doctrine to anyone? (I heard this from a poignant Trinity Sunday sermon this year.)

This one is rather curious. 義 gi "righteousness" really is the characters 羊 hitsuji "sheep" and 我 ware "me." Pastors that I've heard use this illustration always point out that the sheep is over "me," not the other way around. We are covered by the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, and through Him we are righteous with God. There's a whole sermon packed into that one character!

There are a few others that can even serve as a mnemonic for Bible stories (or the other way around). 船 fune "ship" is made up of 舟 fune "boat," 八 hachi "eight," and 口 kuchi "mouth," and do you remember how many (human) mouths had to be fed on Noah's ark? (Hint: according to Genesis 7:13, the human passengers were Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and their wives.)

Naturally, none of this is solid linguistic research, it's just fun with language. Japanese churchgoers enjoy it, too. But I still find it somewhat comforting to see these little bits of God's word in something so unfamiliar and confusing, like seeing someone in a crowd that looks like an old friend (though in this case the "old friend" has been by my side the whole time), and it's a wonderful gateway to literally sharing the Gospel in someone's own language.

*For completeness' sake, 上 ue "up," 下　shita "down," 一 ichi "one," 二 ni "two," 工 takumi "workman," and 干 hoshi "dry" also fit into 王.

As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'
Acts 17:28b (NIV)

Typhoon Neoguri update.

Typhoon Neoguri a couple of days ago.
(Public domain image from NOAA/NASA.)

Some of you may have heard about the (formerly) super typhoon that tore through the southern island chain of Okinawa yesterday and was headed straight for Kyushu (where Kumamoto is), but as of now it has been downgraded to a tropical storm and right now outside my window there's not even any rain falling. I'm still going to play it safe and stay indoors today, though, since school's been canceled. Thanks to all who have been praying.

Still, along with widespread damage, there have been numerous injuries and a couple of deaths reported down in Okinawa, as well as record rains elsewhere in Japan causing severe landslides and floods, so please keep Japan in your prayers as we continue in typhoon season.

Gray skies over Kumamoto this morning.

He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea were hushed.
Psalm 107:29 (NIV)