More about Kanji

This post is indirect continuation of Kanji overview, and I recommend you to read it first.
The purpose of this post is to dive deeper into the understanding of Kanji. It talks about the things you should pay attention to, while studying. It lists the rules which will help you to memories the characters. And it summaries all the information and tools you need to succeed.

Recognition

The first step in understanding Kanji, is to look at its' origin. The Kanji came to Japan from China, but they have longer history than that. In the proses of developing Chinese script, the image of an object was drown as a pictogram, simplifying the object. Later in history, the pictogram morphed (depending on the period). The first standardization was the seal script, but this script was not the only one existing at that time. The clerical script coexisted and developed in parallel with the seal script. It was the one to be used as a base for the regular or Traditional Chinese script. It happened around 151-230 AD. This script was partly adopted into the Japanese language in 794-1185. After 1946 some of the Kanji were simplified in Japan.
Looking at the origin of the Kanji, can help to memories its' shape and meaning.

Components:
It's important to understand that Kanji are more than just logograms. They are constructed from limited number of components and therefore can be leaned in structured way. Trust me, it's easier to learn characters while braking them into components, rather than trying to absorb each one as a stand alone picture.
For example:

The Kanji for "spring" contains parts: three (in red), person (in blue), day (in yellow). 

You can even search the online dictionaries by the components contained in specific Kanji.

It will be useful to know, that each Kanji occupy the same space as the other, no matter its' complexion. Thus if the Kanji composed of more than one element, its' components will be squashed together to fit the imaginary box intended for it. Therefore some of the components can change shape or lose some of the strokes.

For example:

目　＋　⼉　＝　見

言　＋　売　＝　読

Also the Kanji components have a strict placement relative to each other:
The component can be at left, right, top, bottom, northwest, southwest or enclosure.

Writing


Every single Kanji has its' own stroke order. The impotence of the order not immediately clear for new learners of Kanji, but lets forget about computer documents typing. Once you pick a pen, every human has its' own handwriting. And while you write complex characters in a quick pace, your strokes smear. If everyone picks his own order, the smears will differ from person to person and the recognition of the written character will be more difficult.
For example the same Kanji of mountain:

To know the right stroke order of every Kanji, you can use the online dictionaries.

Order:
Also there are some guidelines that will help you to grasp the general concept: If you imagine the Kanji in a box, so the most general rule will be to write it from the upper-left corner to the bottom-right corner of the box. But it's a little vague, here some more rules to help with the mission:

Top to bottom, left to right:

Horizontal before vertical:

Left vertical before enclosing:

Enclosing before contents:

Diagonals right-to-left before left-to-right:

Center before the both sides:

Character spacing strokes last:

Bottom encloser last:

Dots and minor strikes last:

Components:

Remember the components I have mentioned above? They are also very useful in writing. Every component is written on the same order, no matter in which Kanji it appears. 

Lets return to the "spring" character. Now, we know that the preferred order is from left to right, thus the component we will start wit is 三 (three). After we finish it we will follow the rule of writing from top to bottom. Next we will write 人 (person), and finish with 日 (day). Of cores if we write these three components as Kanji by themselves, they will be written in the same order, and that is why important to know the writing order of each component.

 

Reading & Usage

Almost every Kanji has two types of readings.

• On reading - coming from Chinese pronunciation of the Kanji.
• Kun reading - coming from the sound of the meaning in Japanese.

For example:
The character 水 meaning "water". The Kun reading for it is "mizu", meaning water in Japanese. The On reading for it, is "sui", used in the word for Wednesday "suiyoubi"(水曜日).

Reasons for multiple On readings:
In each type of reading can be multiple readings.
The reason for multiple On readings is the gradual arriving of Kanji to Japan. In different time periods, the same Kanji had different reading in China. When these readings came to Japan, the Japanese decided to keep all the readings. The periods were:

Go-on reading (4-6th  century)

Kan-on reading (7-9th  century)

Too-on reading  (1185-1573)

For example:

The character bright: 明 On readings are みょう(From Go-on), めい(From Kan-on), みん(From Too-on).

Most of the On readings today are from Kan-on reading, therefore the name: Kanji.

Nowadays only some of the dictionaries make the distinction between the different types of On readings. And to say the truth, this piece of information is brought up in this post only to cover all the possible questions and misunderstandings.

Reason for multiple Kun readings:
The reason for multiple Kun readings is the different pronunciation in different regions of Japan for the same meaning. Think about it like UK and US English. One say cab while the other say taxi and both referring to the same type of car service.

When read On or Kun:
Some of the readings frequently used and some are not. When to use and how to read this or that character is the most hard ting about Kanji (in my opinion). When you encounter a Kanji in a text, how would you know which of the readings to choose from? There is no easy way around it. You must know the word to read it right. It's just like in English with the combination "th". The words "teeth", "that", "Thailand" have "th" in them, but in every word we read it differently. So you have to learn the words by hart, but there are some guidelines to guess the reading:
On readings used:

• In compound words formed from multiple Kanji.
• When the Kanji is followed by する (suru).

Kun readings used:

• When you see a Kanji character on its own.
• When it followed by hiragana characters (not する)

Hints in Kanji

Now it's mostly voodoo, but it works for many cases and I had to mention it. 

Many times the components of the Kanji can hint for the meaning or the pronunciation.

For example the Kanji 語 (language, speech, word), and it consists of 言 (say), 五 (five), 口 (mouth). Well, the meaning is hinted by 言 while also appearing in Kanji like: 話 (to talk), 読 (to read), 詠 (song). and by 口 ironically appearing in 言. 

But what about the 五 part? One of the pronunciations of this Kanji is ご (go) like one of the pronunciations of 語. Is it a reading hint or a coincidence?  

While many times a pat of Kanji hinting on meaning, I'm not sure about the pronunciation staff. I'll have to check it 

That's it for now. I hope this post answered at least some of your questions about Kanji.
If you have any comments or incites, pleas share them with me.