Visual recognition

A visual excercise which gives us some insights into cultural history of Japan and the route from Edo to Kyoto can also serve lessons in character recognition for students of the language.

What passes through our mind when we see an unkown character?  Perhaps a possible approach is not what can we remember about it, but what questions can we ask as we view it, and will the answers to these questions provide understanding and a chance to recall the character later.

Once we have a basis for breaking down the characters, we can start to ask questions and provide our own answers and stories for comprehension.

The concepts outlined by Heisig allow for just that - a clear breakdown of the majority of characters, but more importanly, the rules for training oneself to continue and be able to "remember" and later "recollect" nearly all characters.

Visual recognition is amazing.