These past few weeks, I taught a chapter in the textbook for my first years (grade 10s) about Tomomi Kunishige’s Ee kanji. Ee kanji means “English-kanji”, and in the Kansai dialect it can be interpreted as “feeling good”. Ee kanjis are Japanese kanjis written in a way that the English equivalent can be found within the same piece. Ee kanji sends us various messages. For example, “love” and “flower” are heartwarming, and “revolution” and “peace” gives us strong feelings.
「一つの文字を見て違う国の人が同じ意味の言葉を、同じ感覚で美しいと思えたら素晴らしいと思う。」
「一つの文字を見て違う国の人が同じ意味の言葉を、同じ感覚で美しいと思えたら素晴らしいと思う。」
- 國重友美
“With a single character, people from different countries and different languages can experience the same word in the same way. It is my hope that in doing so, they may both experience as a thing of beauty as well.”
“With a single character, people from different countries and different languages can experience the same word in the same way. It is my hope that in doing so, they may both experience as a thing of beauty as well.”
- Tomomi Kunishige
I invited my students to create their own Ee kanjis and this is what they came up with. They are very low level English learners, but they shocked me with their imagination. There are over 140 submissions, here are a few (names are kept anonymous for their privacy).
I invited my students to create their own Ee kanjis and this is what they came up with. They are very low level English learners, but they shocked me with their imagination. There are over 140 submissions, here are a few (names are kept anonymous for their privacy).
