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The Origin of Kanji

The Chinese writing system began in China's Shang Dynasty (c. 1250 BCE) with what is called oracle bone script. Simple picture-like forms would be written on animal bones or turtle shells which were then heated to form cracks. Shamans would interpret the cracks to foretell the future. The photo below shows an example of oracle bone writing.

Oracle bone script evolved into bronze script; records of events, rituals, and ancestral dedications etched on bronze vessels with increasingly complex characters. Bronze script gave way to seal script and so on down to modern times.

The illustration below shows some of the early characters and their meanings. 

It is easy to see that the characters were designed to illustrate their meanings. Over time, the characters evolved into their modern forms. The illustration below shows the evolution of the character representing "mountain." 

The modern Japanese kanji character representing mountain in print is the one labeled 18 above. The character to its right is most often used in calligraphy.

The earliest exposure that the Japanese had to writing of any sort came in the 1st through the 4th centuries when imported goods like seals, coins, and swords had Chinese characters on them. Actual literacy began in the 5th and 6th centuries when records began to be kept--in Chinese. The 7th century saw the gradual development of the Japanese kanji character set from Chinese writing. The unique nature of Japanese grammar caused the simultaneous development of katakana and hiragana, the two phonetic syllabaries that are an indispensable part of Japanese writing. Compiled around 759 AD, one of the earliest and most revered surviving documents, written largely in the Japanese vernacular, is Man'yōshū (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves), a poetry anthology of 4,516 poems.

The total number of kanji characters, including obsolete ones, is around 50,000. A 1923 book listed a more rational set of around 6,000 characters. In order to promote greater literacy, the Japanese government began to simplify the language. After WW II, a greatly reduced set of general use kanji was released. That set has had revisions since then, the latest of which was released in 2010, containing 2,136 characters. Except for names, government documents are limited to the use of that jōyō kanji set, and its use is recommended for use by newspapers, magazines, text books, etc. Many kanji characters have been given simplified forms. 

Here is a sampling of kanji words. Note that the two verbs in the bottom row, to eat and to go, are written with a leading kanji character followed by hiragana characters, used to define verb conjugations. 

Bridges

The kind of bridges being talked about this week are man-made structures to support transportation past obstacles like canyons and rivers. That excludes things like land bridges, snow bridges, ocean vessel command centers, card games, and things that some people put into their mouths.

Bridges have been built for a very long time. One very famous bridge, of a sort, was built by ancient Romans; Pont du Gard. It was built in the 1st century AD to supply water to the city of Nîmes which, today, is in France. It is part of an aqueduct system. 

The lower two tiers are made of massive limestone blocks held in place solely by weight. The top tier is made of waterproof Roman concrete that is far more durable than modern concrete. It was only just recently, in 2023, that scientists have finally learned how it was made. Part of its secret is that the Roman concrete formulation reacts with water in cracks to recrystallize, making it self-healing.

This knowledge is beginning to be used with modern concrete construction. A side benefit is that the production of global warming carbon dioxide for its creation and subsequent maintenance is greatly reduced. Concrete making is currently responsible for 8% percent of the annual amount of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere.

The United Kingdom's Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, part of the Llangollen Canal in Wales, was completed in 1805. It is another example of a bridge used for water transportation; canal boats, too. The aqueduct is over 1,000 feet long and 127 feet above the River Dee, the tallest in the world.

The Old London Bridge over the river Thames in Shakespeare's time was more conventional, though it was still special. Built between 1176 and 1209, the bridge lasted 620 years. Besides supporting transportation across the Thames, the bridge accommodated shops and housing. Because of this, the roadway for foot traffic and various kinds of wheeled vehicles was only about 12 feet wide. The traffic and contention with shoppers and residents meant that crossing the bridge's 926 feet usually took about an hour. A toll was charged.

This illustration was made in 1616, the year that Shakespeare died. The viewpoint is very nearly above where the Globe theater was located. The reason why there are so many boats on the river is that the cost of crossing the bridge in terms of both time and money made it more economical for many people to cross using the many available water taxies.

Do you see the many poles topped with round objects above the structure on the nearside of the bridge? Those were the heads of people executed for treason; a warning for people entering London via that route.

Here is another view of London Bridge. 

The London Bridge was in the way of large vessels. Bridge builders have come up with various solutions for this over the years. One of them has been to build bridges that move out of the way.

Another solution has been to build them high. San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge was once the longest and tallest suspension bridge in the world. It is 1.7 miles long, its clearance above the water is 220 feet, and it is designed to support 4,000 lbs. per linear foot. Some of today's largest ocean-going vessels are taller than 220 feet, but the vast majority are able to pass safely under the bridge.

Another example of a tall bridge is the Lilac Road Bridge over I-15 in northern San Diego County. Built in 1978, it provides 150 to 160 feet of clearance above the freeway.

Railroad bridges come in several types. The two below are sort of classic

There are various kinds of foot bridges. Inca rope bridges were remarkably strong, considering that they were made from grass. They were capable of bearing 200,000 lbs. However, they had to be rebuilt every year. Indiana Jones would have loved this one.

Modern versions of basically the same kind of bridge look a bit safer. This one is on a trail in Mount Rainier National Park.

Some foot bridges are novelties like this glass bridge in southern China's Shiniuzhai National Geological Park. Its name in Chinese is Haohan Qiao.

One can see the valley floor 590 feet straight down below ones feet. It is no wonder that Haohan Qiao means Brave Men's Bridge in English. Crossing it can be a bit of a challenge for some people.

San Diego Zoo has a foot bridge over its central canyon, too, but it is relatively innocuous.

The cover over Ponte di Rialto brings to mind another kind of covered bridge. New England once had lots of those. New England covered bridges provide shelter during inclement weather. The interior traps heat that slows down freezing in the winter (the one below not so much because of the open sides), and the sloping roof helps to prevent snow from piling up too high, potentially damaging the structure with its weight. With a little maintenance, such a bridge can last a century.

With the exception of the modern glass bridge in China that was shown above, all of the bridges discussed so far have been from the Western world. The orient has its own kind of distinctive, arched bridges. The general word in Japanese for an arched bridge is soribashi.  The Chinese garden at Huntington Library in San Marino (near Pasadena) has an example of one with a gentle curve.

A soribashi is more typically like this one at the Sumiyoshi-taisha shrine in Ōsaka, Japa

That bridge is a decorative element on the shrine's grounds, but such bridges have really been built for practical use. The photo below shows the Kintaikyo Bridge at Iwakuni in southwestern Honshu. It was originally built in 1673. A storm swept it away in 1950, and it was rebuilt using traditional materials and methods in 1953. This is a photo of the rebuilt bridge.

Soribashi are pedestrian bridges, The high arch is to allow boats to pass underneath, though that isn't possible with this one. An even steeper one is located in the Japanese Tea Garden at Huntington Library.

These steeper bridges are called taikobashi. Taiko is the Japanese word for drum, and the shape of the bridge with its reflection in water is roundish like a taiko.  In English, these bridges are called drum bridges or moon bridges. The Tea Garden in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park has an extreme example of a taikobashi.

Look back at the shape of the holes under the bridge in the Huntington Library's Chinese garden. The arch of that bridge may be relatively gentle, but the shape of the holes underneath is not an accident.

The Chinese Garden at the Huntington Library has another noted bridge. The Zigzag bridge has sharp twists and turns that are supposed to prevent evil spirits from crossing. They are supposed to be able to only travel in straight lines. 

Finally, there is the simplest bridge of all; the plank bridge. This one is located at Kōrakoen in Okayama. It is one of Japan's finest gardens. 

The story behind this bridge comes from Ise Monogatari (Tales of Ise), a book of poems with frame stories that was written around 980 AD. In one of the stories, a poet and his companions have been exiled from the capitol. In their journey, they come upon an area where a swampy stream, an iris bog, had divided into eight channels, each of which was crossed by a simple plank bridge. The place was called yatsuhashi (literally: eight bridges). Dismounting from their horses, they paused to share a meal of rice. Noticing the many clumps of irises, one of the men suggested that a poem be composed on the subject, "A Traveler's Sentiments." It was to be an acrostic in which each line would begin with a syllable from the Japanese word for the kind of iris there, kakitsubata. Here is the poem:

Artwork

Ogata Kōrin (1658 – 1716)

Kōrin was one of the founders of the informal Rinpa school of decorative art. Several artists over the centuries admired his work and emulated his style. He is best known for his paintings on byōbu, folding screens covered in gold leaf. His most famous works are two pair of byōbu depicting lilies that were inspired by the poem from Ise Monogatari that we discussed above. One of the pair, painted in the 1701 to 1705 time period, features only lilies. It has been designated a Japanese National Treasure. The other pair, painted after 1709, adds the yatsuhashi bridges. The latter pair are shown below. The right-hand painting is first, and the left-hand painting is below that. The paintings should be "read" from right to left.

Katsushika Hokusai (1760 – 1849)

Hokusai was Japan's greatest landscape painter, though he painted many other types of art, too. He is best known for the print series, Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji, produced in the 1830 to 1832 timeframe. The first number of that series, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, is one of the most famous paintings in the world. Number 4 of that series, titled Under Mannen Bridge at Fukagawa depicts a soribashi bridge.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 1858)

Hiroshige was the Edo Period's (1608 - 1868) other great landscape artist. One of his best-known print series was One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. Number 65 of that series, produced in 1857, is Drum bridge and Garden at Kameido Tenjin Shrine. It depicts a taikobashi bridge.

Tokuriki Tomikichiro (1902 - 2000)

Tokuriki was a prominent member of the early 20th century shin-hanga (new prints) movement to restore traditional subjects, values, and techniques to Japanese print art. He was also involved with the sosaku-hanga (creative prints) movement with beautiful landscapes and temple scenes. His artwork tended to blend traditional Japanese and Western styles. The 1930 print below is his version of the Kintaikyo Bridge at Iwakuni that we saw earlier.