Wednesday, March 2, 2005

"It is harsh attack hardness"



Reader Matthew Gonzales writes:

"Hi, I ran into your sight while browsing. I was wondering if you can tell me what my Kanji means. Thanks a million. Although I do not understand the language [but] I consider Kanji to be a form of art. Sure you can use the pics for your web. So what do they mean?"

The top character looks like an upside-down ; which means "bitter; toilsome, laborious; 8th heavenly stem". Or, it could be with missing stroke at the bottom. (thanks Rikoshi)

= cut down, subjugate, attack
= hard, tough, rigid, strong

The phrase does not have any significant meaning in Chinese. I have also consulted with my Japanese publisher friend in Tokyo, Mr. Ken Nishimura, to see if the phrase had any meaning in Japanese, and here is what he said:

"No, I don't think it makes any sense in Japanese, either. It seems like a name (辛伐, 剛), but I have never heard of such a family name 辛伐. I have no clue how it should be read even if the name existed."