How to write kanji Tenki (天気)

※漢字のYouTube動画を昔作ってました(動画は削除済)。その時のスクリプトです。英語でスクリプト書いてます。英語は、ネイティブの添削済。

-------------------------------------

Today's kanji are Ten(天) and Ki(気). So, let's start by explaining a little more about the words.

Ten(天) means sky, and Ki(気) means air and spirit. When they are put together, they become the idiom; tenki(天気) . But, we don’t usually say these kanji on their own, instead we combine them with other kanji to make words. For example, we use ten(天) to say words like rakuten-ka(楽天家) which means cheerful, tennen(天然) which means natural, and so on. Also, we use ki(気) to say words like genki(元気) which means powerful, yowaki(弱気) which means weak, and so on.

Today, I won't show you how to draw those idioms, but I will show you how to draw an idiom called tenki(天気).

Tenki(天気) means weather. We say things like "きょうは天気がいいね(kyo wa tenki ga ii ne)", which means “the weather is good today right?” and "あしたの天気はどうかな？(ashita no tenki wa doukana?)", which means “what will tomorrow’s weather be like?”, and so on. Tenki(天気) is a common idiom in Japan, so you should remember it!

Before I draw these kanji, I will first prepare a kanji box. Imagine that your kanji is inside an invisible square box. This box will stop you drawing your kanji too big or too small.

Well, let’s move on to writing the kanji for Ten(天) and ki(気).

Ten(天) is first . This kanji is drawn using ４ lines.

Line 1: We draw a horizontal line at the top of the kanji ‘box’.
Line 2: Below line 1 we draw a slightly shorter horizontal line.
Line 3: We start by drawing down from the middle of line 1, when we reach the middle of line 2, we curve the line to the bottom left hand corner of the kanji ‘box’.
Line 4: Finally we draw a curving line from the middle of line 2 to the bottom right hand corner.

Ten(天) is complete!

We will draw ki(気) next. This kanji is drawn using ６ lines.

Line 1: is a short diagonal line. First, in the top left hand corner of the kanji ‘box’, we draw a short diagonal line. Start the line at the top and draw down to the left.
Line 2: Is a horizontal line. Draw a short horizontal line to the right. It needs to start just down from the beginning of line 1.
Line 3: Is a horizontal line. Under line 2, draw another horizontal line that is as long as line 2.
Line 4: Is a horizontal line that then slopes down into a big hook shape. Start by drawing the horizontal part, this should be as long as line 3. Then continue by drawing the sloping line and hook. This needs to end in the right hand corner.
Line 5: is a short diagonal line. Under line 4, we draw a short diagonal line. The diagonal line goes from the top right to the bottom left.
Line 6: is a short diagonal line. Finally, we draw a line that is similar to line 5, only this line goes from the top left to the bottom right.

“Ki(気)” is complete!!

To tell the truth, kanji has a lot of important writing rules. Japanese people are taught it at school when they are children. But, most Japanese people forget it when they grow up. For example, when we draw neatly, we need to use Tome and Hane. But Japanese people don’t use Tome and Hane very much in their daily lives. So, it's okay if you don’t use Tome and Hane. I’d like to explain more about Tome and Hane in another video one day. When you become more comfortable writing kanji, you should start following this rule.

And,if you practice writing kanji without a kanji box,I recommend using squared paper. Like this! A lot of Japanese people aren’t good at writing kanji beautifully, so don’t worry if your handwriting is messy.

Thank you for reading my article!