Ulrike's Mnemonics

Welcome to Ulrike's Mnemonics! This free, invaluable resource comes to you from the clever mind of Ulrike Narins, who has a passion for creating kanji mnemonics. Her collection of memory tricks will grow until she has provided mnemonics for all 2,136 Joyo kanji. (By the way, if you're wondering how to pronounce her name, "Eureka" is a good approximation. That is, in fact, Ulrike's "Starbucks name"!)

Kenneth Henshall's book A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters inspired many of Ulrike's mnemonics. After presenting scholarly etymologies, Henshall suggests memory tricks that may have nothing to do with the true history. Taking a cue from his playful ideas, Ulrike prefers mnemonics that are easy to remember over those that adhere closely to the actual etymology.

Ulrike's mnemonics look simple, which is part of their brilliance, but there's actually quite a bit going on in each one. Here's how they work:

• Column 1 contains a kanji number and a kanji.

• Column 2 contains all the Joyo yomi for this kanji (with on-yomi in katakana and kun-yomi in hiragana).

• Column 3 presents all the meanings of the kanji in question. Capital letters denote definitions that play a part in the mnemonic.

• Column 4 deftly interweaves two mnemonics—one for the shape and meaning and one for the yomi—and presents footnotes. Here is more information about those three features:

Shape-and-meaning mnemonics

Fully capitalized black words refer back to the capitalized definitions in column 3.

Ulrike has broken down each kanji into parts. In the mnemonics for the shape and meaning, these parts appear in parentheses. Words preceding the parentheses indicate what the parts represent. For example, for kanji 1021 (越: to cross over), we see this: "run (走) with spears (戈)."

Yomi mnemonics

• Romanized readings in all capital letters approximate the readings. The actual readings follow in parentheses, again in hiragana for kun-yomi and in katakana for on-yomi. For example, the yomi mnemonic for kanji 6, 音 (オン, イン, おと, ね), is "my blue ONkel (オン: German for “uncle”) from INdia (イン)." Note that the yomi mnemonic features two of the four yomi. Note, also, that Ulrike sometimes uses mnemonics that incorporate German (her native language) and Japanese, as well as English. You'll learn some German on top of everything else!

The yomi mnemonic may appear smack in the middle of the mnemonic for the shape and meaning. Alternatively, the yomi mnemonic may come first or last. For kanji 6, the yomi mnemonic is at the center of the whole thing: "The SOUND that my blue ONkel (オン: German for “uncle”) from INdia (イン) makes when he stands (立) on the sun (日) must be truly horrible."

The yomi mnemonic appears entirely in blue, which isn't just a pretty color. The two mnemonics together should create a striking picture in your mind. When you later recall the whole scene, try to visualize the blue object in the picture. The blue entity may not be an object but rather a distinct sound. Zeroing in on that blue focal point will tell you the yomi. For instance, the mnemonic for kanji 235 (横) is "Yellow (黄) wood (木) on its SIDE. 'OH (オウ), look! A blue YOKO (よこ) Ono is sitting on it!'" It is important that you imagine a piece of yellow wood lying on its side with Yoko Ono sitting on it. Because Yoko Ono represents the yomi, visualize her in blue, possibly in a blue kimono. You need to visualize each scene as vividly as possible with the main features exaggerated or even twisted and infused with emotion. That way you will find the kanji much easier to remember.

Whenever possible, Ulrike distinguishes between short and long yomi (e.g., TO and TOU) by representing the short one with something small or short in duration and by representing the long yomi with the same object in a larger size.

Footnotes

Footnotes for each mnemonic list the parts of each kanji and provide definitions or explanations.

A kanji could have three kinds of parts:

1. Shapes that constitute autonomous kanji, such as the 祭 inside 察 (489: to guess). For such shapes, a link will take you to the row for that particular kanji so that you can find out more about it (e.g., its mnemonic).

2. Shapes that serve as radicals, such as the 宀 (radical 40: "roof") in 察. For such shapes, links will take you to corresponding Radical Notes, if they exist. If they don't yet exist, they will eventually, and links to them will appear at that point.

3. Shapes that are mere components and that appear in a component sidebar on the upper right side of the page. For example, the first two strokes of kanji 2, 右 (right), constitute a component that you should interpret as "hand" for the purposes of that mnemonic, though the proper etymology may say otherwise. The sidebar lists all such components.

Very often, a shape constitutes both an autonomous kanji and a radical. In such cases, we present the shape first as a kanji, then as a radical, also listing its radical number and name, as with 口 (20: mouth; radical 30: “mouth”) in the mnemonic for 右. We have chosen this sequence because an autonomous kanji is likely to have a mnemonic presented in its own row, and you may benefit from following that thread. By contrast, although you'll find a wealth of information in each Radical Note, you won't find a mnemonic there.

When a shape constitutes a radical, we present the actual radical name, but the footnote also suggests how you should perceive a radical in the context of a particular mnemonic, as it fits the story better. Here are some examples:

儿 (radical 10: ”legs”; take as “bent legs”)

攵 (radical 66: "strike"; take as "stick in hand")

耂 (radical 125: "old"; take as "stick in the earth")

A shape may constitute both a radical and a non-Joyo kanji. In that case, we present it only as a radical. That's true of 頁 (radical 181: "big shell"; take as "head"). Although it is also a non-Joyo kanji meaning "page" or "leaf," we say nothing about that in the footnote.

• Column 5 lists Joyo kanji that contain the character in question. (If no Joyo kanji include the given shape, column 5 simply says "None.") For example, kanji 886 (若) appears inside 諾 (1557: consent) and 匿 (1664: to hide). If many Joyo kanji contain the given shape, then we list just a few and indicate that others exist.

Incidentally, when we say that one kanji "contains" another, we don't mean that there's an etymological relationship between the two. Sometimes a shape looks the way it does because of a simplification or miscopying. Thus, there is no real connection between 上 (37: above, up) and 止 (129: to stop), for instance. But this part of the site is about mnemonics, not etymology, so we're casting those concerns aside for now and saying that 上 is inside 止.

Here's another great feature of the mnemonics page. Clicking on a kanji in column 5 changes the whole display significantly, showing how various shapes relate to one another. In column 5 for row 886 (若), choosing 諾 (1557) makes that row appear atop the now-indented 若 (886) row. The 諾 kanji contains not only 若 but also 言 (274: to say), so that row simultaneously appears, indented as much as row 886 is. Because 若 contains 右 (2: right), the row for kanji 2 displays under row 886, indented more. Finally, 右 includes 口 (20: mouth), so the ultra-indented row 20 appears at the bottom. This hierarchical arrangement (akin to a family tree) lends clarity to chaos in the kanji world.