You see, I am currently learning Japanese, and the writing system fascinates me to no end. The word ‘Kanji’ has many meanings in Japanese, the most popular one refers to “Chinese characters”, aka 漢字 (pronounced ‘Kanji’). These Chinese characters portray meanings symbolically, and are logographic, as the symbol or character represents a word, meaning or idea.
“Kanji” ( 感じ) also means ‘feelings, emotions, or impressions.’ The “feelings” of life. Life is experienced in the throes of emotions, the waves ride up and down, which can be uncomfortable. Yet to live, and to live with feeling is what makes us human. To do things full of life, no matter what you do, you do it while feeling alive. The kanji for the word “life” is 生, which means “to live.”
When I thought of the phrase “kanji of life”, not only did it seem like a symbolic way of looking at life, as the Chinese characters do, but also a play on words, where it seems that Kanji can encapsulate life itself in each stroke of a letter.
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