折 - FOLD Paper by Hand

Readings & Meanings:

お（る）

せつ

to break, to fold

Common Usage:

折りたたむ

折り紙

左折

折り目

Examples:

折りたたみ式の傘を持って出かけた。

折り紙は大人の間でも流行っている。

次の信号を左折してください。

彼は普段から折り目の正しい人だ。

Translations:

I went out carrying a compact (folded-up) umbrella.

Origami is even popular among adults.

At the next light, make a left.

He is a polite, straight-laced person, even in his daily life.

Radical:

Hand radical 手 on the left.

斤 on the right, which is a pictograph of an axe approaching an object. We've seen 斤 before.

Seems pretty straightforward.

Actually, the original kanji (1000 BC or so) had two trees on the left, emphasizing cutting wood into two even pieces. Later this kanji became "to fold."

Bonus:

There are many videos on incredibly detailed origami and the masters who can create such things. Here's a Japan Probe post on one such video: http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=1116.

But I had to actually embed this one; it's hilarious.

References:

http://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/ka.htm
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/o.htm

祈 - Approach the Altar To PRAY

Readings & Meanings:

いの（る）

キ

to pray

Common Usage:

祈願

祈る

祈祷師

Examples:

合格を祈願するために神社にお参りに行った。

平和への祈りを込めて、千羽鶴を折る。

東北にはイタコという女性の祈祷師がいる。

Translations:

I went to the shrine to pray for success.

To focus my prayer for peace, I will fold 1,000 paper cranes.

In the northeast, there is a medicine woman called Itaku.

Radicals:

It's only appropriate that the verb "to pray" kanji have the "god" radical, Shimesu: 示.

Don't see it? That's because it becomes Ne-hen, 礻, when radicalized.

(Man, I wish I were radicalized.)

This "god" radical comes from a pictograph of an altar, and it's present in more kanji than you'd think. Look above in the example sentences and you'll see a couple kanji with the radical:

• 神社 - jinja, a Shinto shrine
• 神 - god, usually written alone as 神様
• 社 - shrine, or company

Why is the 社 in 神社 also used in 会社, the word for a company? Well, I don't know exactly. Maybe because, for many Japanese, working is their main religion?

Okay, that's half the kanji. The other half is the axe radical Onozukuri, 斤. It's from a pictograph of an axe approaching an object it is going to cut. Look at the examples above and you'll see 折る. Think of some other, common words we've seen with this form:

• 最近 - recently (very + close)
• 近い - close, nearby

So 祈 is like asking god (礻) for something, hoping that something with come close (斤) to you.

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/knetwork/KAR.html#KAR31
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/kanji/kanji/u.htm