We need a professional to 解読 this thread. I’m sure they’ll be able to provide us with an adequate 解説.
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Not to be confused with 読解, though this thread is definitely a test of that in itself.
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Now I want to know what you think the least interesting letter is
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Frankly, I really like 解
I have a tendency to come up with my own personal mnemonics for certain characters, some of which (OK, many of which) can not be shared in polite company because, um, they’re vulgar or racy or otherwise crude - but they’re effective nonetheless.
I use one of those mnemonic devices for 解 to help me remember the word for ‘misunderstanding’ - it’s a short story about a hapless dude who is trying to explain his behavior to a police officer as just a ‘misunderstanding’ - but I can’t go beyond that here…
I still don’t know if this thread is meant to be taken seriously, but fine, I’ll bite…
First off, a few questions:
- What would you find ‘interesting’? Do you have an example of what a better or ‘more interesting’ combination would have been?
- Children find most things ponderous, especially if they look complex, so I don’t really see your point, even if I hear loud and clear that you’re not frustrated by complexity.
Now then, let me just raise a few points that might be of ‘interest’:
- Have you looked into how kanji – even the boring ones – are actually written? I’m not just talking about fonts – have you investigated what people do when writing them by hand (whether with a pen or with a brush), all the different forms that commonly appear in calligraphy (I believe there are about six), and how they change the ‘boring’ appearance of the kanji that you’re seeing?
- On that note, have you looked into how kanji – including this apparently insipid one – evolved? Have you considered why the possible arrangements in today’s kanji are fairly limited, never mind the fact that they’re fairly diverse for a modern writing system? (If you don’t believe me, open up a calligraphy textbook and start looking through the archetypes for kanji arrangements and contours. There aren’t that many, but I think you can still count at least ten or so.)
How’s any of this related to 解 – my apologies for allowing this unseemly character to resurface, which exists in two different standard forms in Japanese and Chinese today – you might ask? Well, let’s have a look at what two etymology sites say – one Japanese, one Chinese:
My translation:
'The 解 character in oracle bone script represents a single bull and [one of] its horns being grasped with both hands. What is the 角 (horn) in 解 there for? [It]‘s about bulls’ necks being a fatal weakness [despite] their terrific vigour. Even an ordinary man, when he places his hands on a bull’s horns and twists its head with great force, can bring it to the ground with a thud. That is, this bull’s head is immensely heavy. 解 very exactly depicts the process of the beginning of a bull’s slaughter. In small seal script, the shapes of the two hands are omitted, and a single blade is [depicted] instead.
The Setsumon/Shuowen [N.B.: abbreviation of 説文解字, the oldest surviving Chinese character dictionary] considers 解 as “[equivalent to] 判”. It refers to using a blade to take apart cows or other animals. A direct interpretation of “判” would be “to use刂（signifying 刀=blade）and split into half”. Of course, this sort of interpretation comes from the small seal script 解 character, and is not suitable for the oracle bone script and bronze script “解” characters. In other words, in oracle bone script and bronze script, “手”=hands, not a blade, are used.’
My translation:
‘The oracle bone script and bronze script character shapes are made up of “牛”, “角” and two hands, and their meaning is to use the hands to break apart a bull’s horn. Small seal script swapped the hand shapes for “刀”=blade. “解” was interchangeable with “懈” in ancient texts, as in the 诗经 (Book of Songs): “夙夜匪解” = “not slacking day or night”.’
As you might have noticed, there used to be a rather different – perhaps more ‘interesting’? – arrangement of the parts making up 解. It’s several millennia of transformation and standardisation that brought us to this point of ‘boring’ boxy characters. Otherwise, we would still be drawing kanji every which way, and they’d probably be even more of a headache to learn.
Perhaps I’m taking this too personally because I’ve literally been using hanzi/kanji all my life, alternating between hating and loving the language I was expected to learn because of my heritage, and this might not be very polite, but might I suggest that you find 解 insufficiently ‘interesting’ because you’re not taking enough of an interest into it?
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Same actually. The gordian knot is a good one for this kanji
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So you are saying that 解 is not only repulsive for the reasons laid out by OP but also morally repugnant by promoting animal cruelty?
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Apparently? Cruelty aside, I think a horn being broken off is definitely quite an eloquent illustration of ‘taking apart’. I’m just translating, and besides, I tend to find Japanese origin theories more gruesome in general (e.g. I believe the most popular/most commonly cited Japanese theory for 道 involves a severed head, which isn’t what I found when searching Chinese sources… which in turn is ironic because the Japanese source for the theory references an alleged Chinese folk practice). To be fair though, here, both sources agree on breaking/snapping off a bull’s horn.
In any case, a very egregious writing system, this kanji thing.
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Jona noooooooooooo
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Look, honestly, I’m sorry if I came across as too harsh. It’s not like there aren’t kanji I’ve found ugly or shocking, especially in their printed Songti or Minchō forms. For example, who decided the 曰 in 曰く was a good idea? Just squish a 日 and decide it means ‘say’? Similarly, the 衍 in 敷衍 – what is 氵 doing in there? Or 繭 for cocoon – I get the idea, but wow, that’s crowded. Or even just 弔 – the first time I saw it, I went, ‘What?’ But see, that’s also why I enjoy calligraphy: I learn how to make these things beautiful.
I’m also pretty sure there are kanji I hated at some point, probably because I kept forgetting some bit during a spelling test. Some of them are a pain to write, and some are indeed boring in the sense that their overall shapes are common: 朋、棘 and 林, for instance. But to hate a kanji because its strokes are supposedly pointlessly numerous given how boring the outcome was, lamenting how unfortunate this is and then not providing the vaguest indication of what would be better? What is anyone supposed to do about that, and how would removing a ridiculously common kanji (you will literally see it in just about every Japanese game show) help? That’s additionally discounting the fact that ancient arrangements for that kanji’s parts were significantly different and much closer to how those symbols looked in real life. Also, there’s always the shorthand 草書
It would be very interesting to hear what OP’s criteria for ‘interesting’ are, and what OP might have envisioned for this kanji, and I’d very much like to hear it. However, lambasting this poor character and its creators for being utterly bland and unimaginative when there’s so much history to it and even clear justifications for why it looks that way? Tradition and history can do things very wrong, but again, OP hasn’t revealed any basis for the original criticism at all.
Just one last thing to think about: it’s confusing enough for some people that you can write みね as both 峯 and 峰 – they’re variants of the same kanji. However, did you know that during the Warring States Period, before the Qin emperor conquered all of China, kanji looked like this?
You can tell that most of them are related somehow, but some sort of standardisation had to happen at some point if everyone was to understand each other (along with just… deciding on a reasonable size for most kanji).
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Jona, yes!
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“No, I don’t need the tribute, but I am going to impose some bleeding standards around here!”
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Honestly this is one of my favourite kanji. I wrote a silly mnemonic a while ago so it always makes me think of cow detectives…
This horned cow’s on a hunt to solve the case. Equipped with a katakana, sneaking in the shadows, this ninja detective cow will look at every angle, peer into every corner, do whatever it takes to unravel the mystery.
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I would just like to say that this thread is amazing even if the OP was entirely serious (I think it was probably a mix) and I have learned a new kanji.
Just added it to my flashcards, can’t wait to see it in Wanikani in the future.
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