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amusing kanji/japanese: kanji archeology and origins
as usual， hover for readings to the japanese。 click to see the other articles in the amusing kanji/japanese series。

the study of the origins of kanji is based on relics from three different periods of chinese history：

1. the oldest set of records comes from a large collection of turtle shells and animal bones with kanji carved into them， first discovered at some flea-market in 1899 [you can see some pictures here and here]。 the carving are believed to have been done in a period between 1500b.c. and 1000b.c.。
   
   the kanji found on those relics are referred to as 甲骨文字， or the "shell bone characters"。 this is sometimes shortened to just 甲骨。
   
   this find forced kanji scholars to change a lot of their previous theories as to kanji origins： kanji have been vastly simplified over time， often obscuring their original meanings。
   
   
2. the next oldest relics are carved onto metal objects， such as containers， weapons， coins and seals [again lots of pictures at google here]。 the relics are believed to come from a period between 1100b.c. and 500b.c.。 in other words， there is some overlap between the first two sets of relics。 this was a period of great change in kanji forms， and no doubt much parallel development。
   
   as is common in archaeology， these metal relics are frustratingly inconsistent and incomplete。 however， they were used for a long period as the only available empirical check for the paper records。 these are referred to as 金文， "metal writing"。
   
   
3. probably the biggest source for kanji history is a book written in approximately 100AD - during the second han dynasty。 this book， called 説文解字， or just 説文， was the kanji scholars' bible until the 1899 find above。 it is still probably the most important source for the study of kanji origins。 the book's title means something like "explaining words and deciphering characters"。
   
   most of the characters in that book were written in a style called 篆文， or sometimes 小篆。 there are many different style of calligraphy。 篆文 was one of the styles before kanji took on their modern square forms。 as such， the characters could be huge and were often very tall。 anyway， kanji from this book are often just referred to as 篆文。
   
   you can buy a modern japanese dictionary based on the book from amazon for about sixty quid。 for rather more， you can also buy the real thing in a number of volumes [just search for 説文解字]。

this page has a timeline showing various writing styles alongside the period of chinese history。 it also has some examples of these early writing styles。 the page is in japanese。 those that read japanese or chinese can find lots more information on this sort of thing by using the keyword kanji above。


here's an example： the modern kanji 彝， which is a sort of generic pot used for preparing offerings to the ancestors， has the following old forms：

[youngest to oldest from left to right]

let's take a look at the origins of the word "kanji" itself： 漢字。

the first character (漢) is used to refer to han china： a dynasty the ruled china from 202bc to 8ad and again from 25ad to 220ad。 the short break came about when one of the han rulers decided to call his reign 新， or "new"， for no discernible reason。 the earlier period is called 前漢， or "before han"。 the later period is called 後漢， or "after han"。

han 1


han 2

the kanji 漢 is one of the most obscure in terms of its origins。 an older form of the character is (there's one extra horizontal line in the top right-hand area)。 the left hand side of the "kan" kanji represents water： 。 the right hand side () acts phonetically for the sounds "kan"/"han"， referring to the han river， from which the han dynasty took its name。

that much is clear。 however， the origins of that right hand side () can only be guessed at：

1. one theory suggests it comes from a kanji meaning "yellow"， or further back "flaming arrow"， (黄)。 according to this theory it was used to denote the han river at sunset looking like a flaming arrow。
   
2. another theory has that it is a "beast being roasted"： there are a large number of old forms that *could* be related to the mystery character that seem to pictures of animals on spits， or over fires 。 however， no-one seems to have any idea why the ancient chinese would want to add that idea to kanji representing the han river。
   
   this in fact seems to be the theory with the most supporting evidence。 for example， there are a number of kanji that use that radical () interchangeably with a common radical showing a clawed beast () or another common radical showing a pig ()。
   
   this supporting evidence comes despite no-one having the faintest idea how the meanings developed for all the kanji that appear to be derived from that root！
   
3. yet another theory holds that mystery character is a variant of another obscure and hardly used kanji meaning a "violet" 。 again， no reason is offered for such an association。
   
   just to add more complication， many supporters of the cooking animal theory seem to think the 'violet' character above is also derived from the "horned beast being roasted over a fire" characters。

welcome to the world of archaeology， where many things can only be blindly guessed at， because the source material is long gone。

here are some of the archeological forms of that "kan" character：

the top one is from some metal object， the bottom one is from the kanji 'bible'。


the origins of the 字 character are much better known。 the top part represents a roof： 。 the bottom part is a common kanji meaning a child： 子。

this character is made from combining those two meanings to refer to a building in which babies were place after birth for a set number of days。 if the baby survived that period， it was given a name and its birth was acknowledged。 this waiting before declaring a baby worth keeping was a common practice all over the world until fairly recent times。 in fact， it is still common in many poorer areas of the world。 us "more civilised" people use birth control， abortion and "cot death" instead。

after a further fixed period， the baby was given a second cover name in a ceremony at which the (cover) name was announced。 this derives from the common belief in early societies that knowledge of someone's "real" name allows you to control or harm that person。 again this is a belief that is still around today in some poorer areas of the world， being heavily related to some aspects of voodoo and witch-doctoring。

the cover name was chosen as a written character that related somehow to the "real" name。 and thus we get to the idea of a "written character"。

here are some of the archeological forms of that "ji" character：

the top two are different forms found on some metal object (presumably from different periods)， the bottom one is from the kanji 'bible'。

notice that for both of these common kanji， archeologists haven't found any *really* old 甲骨 forms。 again a common problem for archeologists in any field。


combining the two parts， we get 漢字 as "written characters from han china"。

as usual， hover for readings to the japanese。 click to see the other articles in the amusing kanji/japanese series。