How familiar are you with the kanji that represent the bushido code, the principles that dictated the samurai way of life? Take this quickie quiz and find out!
Learning about the bushido virtues by way of translations in your native language is a natural first step. This is as far as many folks choose to go.
With just a bit of concentrated effort, you can then memorize the Japanese name of each precept.
But don’t stop there!
You might well have already come across at least some of the kanji characters that stand for these precepts.
But if you’re not a fairly serious student of the Japanese language, you might gloss over these kanji, assuming that they’re beyond your reach if you’re more interested in bushido than in the language itself.
Don’t be bowed!
Learning to associate each kanji or pair of kanji with the corresponding samurai code virtue is a simple and straightforward and rewarding task.
Learning to actually write the kanji as well can be very rewarding of course, but that does take appreciably more effort. The good news is that it’s not at all necessary to go that far if you want to forge a relationship with the characters.
Being able to simply match the bushido kanji with their Japanese names can be supremely satisfying and engaging in its own right.
And that’s where this simple bushido code kanji quiz comes in.
I hope it makes the learning process even more productive by giving you a clear sense of where you are at this point in a fun and engaging way that makes it easy to measure your progress and to motivate yourself to keep it up!
The kanji shown here are based on hand written calligraphy by Hiro, a good friend of mine here in Kyoto who’s also an accomplished brush artist in the traditional style.
These works are also featured in my calligraphy shop gallery, where you can review the kanji, Japanese names and English translations of the eight virtues of bushido before you take the quiz.
Or………just wing it and dive into the quiz!!
Get a baseline idea of how much you’ve already absorbed already-you might surprise yourself. Then come back after a short session of focused review and give it another go.
A passing score is 75%(6 out of 8 questions correct). Each question includes the Japanese name of a precept as well as common English equivalents. Each question has just one correct answer.
You can change answers at any point before you finish the quiz. After you’re done, in addition to viewing your score at the top, you can scroll down to see what you got right and what you missed, with those answers marked green and red respectively. When you miss a question, the correct answer will also be shown in green, for future reference.
I join Hiro in hoping that his art and the kanji characters and principles expressed in it will bring the spirit of bushido and Japan closer to you.
And we thank you for sharing our humble bushido code kanji quiz with friends who follow the way of the warrior.
Let The Quiz Begin!
Originally posted 2020-04-05 05:15:50.
Beyond that I really had never seen anyone make one. I was curious to know more about the process involved in making daruma, and I’ve also been wanting to get some Japanese language practice watching Japanese videos on youtube.
You’ll notice that a key component of the handmade method in this video is a daruma to use as a form on which to base the shape of the new doll. So if you don’t already have a daruma doll to use in this way, it’s not practical for the beginner who wants to make their own daruma doll. Still, it’s quite interesting and shows quite clearly how daruma dolls have been made over the centuries, before more mechanized methods came into use.
Purple-health and longevity. Purple is a regal color that is associated with the imperial line, and it’s connected with such qualities as character and integrity.
But at the same time, as you’ll see, there’s no need to feel compelled to do any particular thing, and the key is to act according to your own feelings.
It occurred to me in writing this that though I have seen hundreds of daruma dolls over the decades of living here in Kyoto, if asked to make a cursory drawing of his face from memory or describe it, I would have little confidence in my ability to recall anything clearly aside from his eyes and his robe!
It turns out that it’s also quite common to see a rabbit in the moon, as it appears in folklore throughout East Asia and also also in ancient Aztec mythology. And so if you’re looking for rabbit fabric with an Asian flair, it’s likely that you’ll come across motifs connected with this legend.
If the rabbit hadn’t been the one to commit this supremely selfless act, according to Japanese myth there might instead be a frog or a fox in the moon and on your fabric!
