The powerful earthquake that struck Japan last Friday was an awful illustration of a line that sometimes feel so scholarly and bland in academic studies: that “Japanese culture is shaped in part by its geography as a disaster-prone country”. There’s damage by water and damage by fire, and even damage by fire ON water. I could not help but feel I was looking at a live, 3D version of the kanji 災 “disaster”.

The feet (bottom part) of the character is 火 “fire”, while the crown 巛 is a variant of “river” 川。 Fire and flood. We’re seeing this character a lot in headlines and tweets, usually in the words 「災害」 (disaster + harm = calamity saigai); or as 「災い」 wazawai, the native word for “disaster”. If you didn’t know the kanji yet, this weekend’s images are one hell of a mnemonic.

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We must avoid the common mistake of treating kanji as a quasi-mystical doorway to mysterious Japanese thought. It’s always good to keep in mind that these characters were developed in China at least as far back as 14th century BCE, before the Yayoi migration and way before Japan even existed as an entity. Nonetheless, sometimes we cannot help but indulge in a little character analysis. In ancient versions of 災 we can even see the devastated farmlands:

Great Seal version of 災、 including the rice paddies 田 being wasted. Image by Richard Sears.

Equally as moving as the display of Nature’s power has been the ongoing display of sheer human tenacity and goodwill. Best wishes for the Japanese and everyone else living in Japan.