Omg! This sent me down a rabbit hole. (Heh.)
Apparently ロバ is more common but 赤兎馬 is also famous, mostly for being a 芋焼酎 brand. It’s also the horse that LuBu rides in Dynasty Warriors. A red donkey. Hahahaha.
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How did I not know about this thread?
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I recently came across 蠱 [まじ], the physical component of a curse. Basically, a pile of insects squirming on a tray.
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I’m not assuming you don’t know this, but it seemed like a good opporunity to mention it anyway.
虫 is a pictographic character, representing a snake. The original character for worms and insects was 蟲. Then, 虫 started to be used for insects and not for snakes.
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I ignored most of the vocabulary in Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese. It was a bit much.
Isn’t 萎縮する “to shrink” or “to shrivel” or “to atrophy”?
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I didn’t know 虫 was originally a snake, but I am aware that 蟲 is insect itself. (Also, in context, the 蠱 was made from a literal insect in a kind of small basket; not quite a tray but close enough).
I was actually thinking more in term of mnemonics.
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箒 (ほうき) - broom 
蝋燭 (ろうそく) - candle 
雀 (すずめ) - sparrow 
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I try to verify and put to Anki all unknown vocab from the textbook and am now in the middle of chapter 15. Which has at least 7 non-WK kanji in the vocab list:
出る杭は打たれる Stand out from the crowd and you just invite trouble for yourself. (杭)
叩き込む to hammer into one’s head (叩)
闊歩する to stride; to swagger about (闊)
無頓着 indifferent (頓)
模倣 imitation (倣)
滑稽 funny, comical (稽)
遵守する to obey (遵)
Erm, this an Intermediate level textbook, is it?
Yes. But “to be dispirited” is indeed one of the meanings listed in Kenkyuusha dictionary:
萎縮する be daunted (by failure); get dispirited
失敗に萎縮するような男ではない He is not the man to be daunted by failure.
困難を見て萎縮するものでない You should not boggle at difficulties.
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How many of these kanji have furigana in the book?
EDIT: And yeah, a bunch of them aren’t even jouyou kanji. Some are jinmeiyou, and some aren’t even that. So, we’re talking about kanji that even adults would expect furigana on in a book in some cases.
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I’m aware that this comment was from months ago, but I just wanted to mention something about the 卍 （まんじ）kanji. I found I kept coming across it on Twitter one day and got concerned but I did some digging and learned that it has been re-appropriated as teen girl web slang as マジ卍. The JP wiki page has an explanation on it. Just wanted to point it out in case other people come across it online and think they’ve stumbled onto some hardcore neo-Nazis.
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Let me check the texts in the textbook…
稀 - has furigana
姪 - no furigana
戚 - no furigana
蘇 - has furigana
喧 - has furigana
馴 - no furigana
萎 - has furigana
毅 - has furigana
綻 - no furigana
棲 - no furigana
杭 - no furigana
叩 - no furigana
闊 - has furigana
頓 - has furigana
倣 - no furigana
稽 - no furigana
遵 - has furigana
Bonus: 喋 - has furigana (missed it before)
So, only 50% (9 of 18) have furigana.
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懺悔 - repentance; confession; penitence
Found when reading 放浪息子, though at least it had furigana.
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I learned that one reading Konosuba. You can have a “real world example” below to help you remember:
0:10, if you’re wondering 
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…
…Well played.
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That intro got me. At first I felt so bad about the whole Kanji thing in Japanese, but as soon as I found myself a Kanji freak a couple of months into the learning process.
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橘 (たちばな) - The Kanji for “Mandarine”
This was the first that made me wonder how a Kanji could be spelled with more than 4 hiragana. I first saw it in the anime 恋は雨上がりのように, it was the main female’s name: “橘 あきら”, and that Kanji was written on her work suit.
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Is reading it in 放浪息子 not a “real world” example?
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Of course not, everyone knows words on paper aren’t real. Anime is the real thing.
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My favorite kanji is maybe a little strange, but I love it. I learned it early on in my studies. I love bugs, I have ever since I was little. I always feel kind of inspired by ants, because even though they are so tiny, they are incredibly strong for their size. Makes me feel that I can be strong, too.
When I was in the military and getting deployed for the first time, I wanted to get this kanji tatooed. I purchased an image of it done in cursive by a calligraphy master from Japan and had it done as a reminder to always stay strong. It is:
蟻 あり “ant”
I always liked that it was made up of the kanji for “insect” and “honor” or “loyalty” - an ant is a “loyal insect”! It’s a nice reminder that even the smallest and most insignificant can be the best at working together and being strong. It’s on my ribs so nobody ever sees it but me, and it’s my secret reminder to stay strong and be a good person even if I’m underestimated! And plus, my name is ANTonia…so it fits me perfectly. 
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