奥 - The INNER ROOM

Readings & Meanings:

オウ

おく

inner part, interior, depths, heart

Common Usage:

奥さん

奥

奥の手

Examples:

道端で隣の奥さんと長話してしまった。

引き出しの奥に日記を隠しておく。

直接頼んでも無駄だったので奥の手を使った。

Translations:

By the side of the road, I got caught in a long talk with the mistress of the house next door. [奥さん means (someone else's ) wife]

I hide my diary inside my drawer.

A straightforward request would be impossible, so I used my trump card.

Radical:

This kanji is listed under 大, for the 大 on the bottom.

We almost have a kuchi element, but instead, it's actually 宀, with the sides extended down.

Under that roof, we find 釆, which means to divide. 釆 comes from a pictograph of seeds being scattered here and there, divided from each other.

Which, I believe, is how women used to live. They were separated from the outside. At least, the royal-level women were in The Tale of Genji.

Bonus:

There is a movie called "O-Oku" (大奥). The title refers to the inner chambers of the Shogun's palace, into which all males except the Shogun were forbidden entry.

Ooku
Uploaded by jdorama_dvd

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/indices/radindex.html
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/o.htm