Cool Kanji – 繭
Took the parents to the Silk Museum in Yokohama. Highly underrated museum – lots of English translation, great depth of information, women can try on a kimono for free, and they have a display where real cocoons are being used to create actual silk thread. Very cool. It’s been empty the two times I’ve been.
I also learned an amazing kanji – 繭 (まゆ). It means cocoon. It’s got all the important parts: the grass radical for the mulberry bushes (草 – just that top bit), the thread radical for the silk (糸), and the insect radical for the worms (虫). Visually it expresses a lot of meaning as the insect and thread are held together tightly by that small matrix, and the plant sits on top, letting us know where it all starts.
Great kanji.
Updated: Changed bamboo to grass upon dope slap from Aak. Domo domo.
February 16th, 2009 at 9:10 am
I agree, it’s a great kanji. But I see the kusa-kammuri (grass crown) here, not 竹. Still the same meaning, whether it’s grass or bamboo.
February 16th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Ah, right on. Thanks for that note…will fix it.
February 16th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Actually, the lack of 竹 also threw me for a loop.
But yeah, it’s a cool kanji. It’s one of those complicated looking kanji that if you know all of the specific parts, you can probably figure out the meaning.
…filing the silk museum into the back of my memory for future reference