埋 - BURY Me in My Birth-Town's Soil

Readings & Meanings:

う（まう）

う（める）

マイ

to bury, to fill up, to be buried, to be filled up

Common Usage:

埋蔵金

埋葬

埋没

埋める

Examples:

徳川幕府が残したという埋蔵金をまだ探している人々もいる。

お葬式の後、祖父の遺体はお墓に埋葬された。

彼は自分の世界に埋没していて、めったに人と話さない。

生ごみを畑に埋めた。

Translations:

There are still people who are looking for what's said to be the Tokugawa Shogunate's buried treasure.

After the funeral, my grandfather was interred in his grave.

He's (buried) in his own world and rarely speaks to people.

I buried the compost in the field.

Radicals:

土 on the left, the earth radical. It's also on the bottom of 里, under 田. 里 means "village," "the country," or "hometown." It has to do with a belt of land with crop fields and other types of land as well.

Important:

The radicals are your friends. They're your buddies. They don't want you to slip up and think 埋 is 理. That's why they're there.

土 says, "Look at me! I only have two horizontal lines, and this emphasizes the longer bottom line beneath me! Therefore, I am GROUND, I am EARTH. 埋まる means to bury in the EARTH!"

玉 says, "Look at my three horizontal lines. How magnificent they are. I am a JEWEL, but true wealth comes from KNOWLEDGE, REASON (理). I have nothing to do with burial."

Final Thoughts:

産まれて、埋まられる。 You're born, and later buried. Very similar sounds for birth and burial.

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/misc/cltrnjpn.html#MLAG02
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/kanji/kanji/e.htm