熊
くま
hepburn kuma
bear
Part of speech · noun
Pattern visualization
no decomposition available
Examples
- 北海道には熊がいます。There are bears in Hokkaido.
- 小さな熊のぬいぐるみを買いました。I bought a small teddy bear.
Collocations
熊 (kuma, bear)クマ (kuma, katakana — animal name)熊の子 (kuma no ko, bear cub)くまさん (kumasan, "Mr. Bear" — affectionate)熊本 (Kumamoto, prefecture — "bear origin")
Mnemonic
熊 kuma — wild bear plus cute character vocabulary. Japanese wildlife: ヒグマ (higuma, brown bear) in Hokkaido, ツキノワグマ (tsukinowaguma, Asian black bear) on the main islands — frequent news subjects when they encounter hikers. The Kumamoto Prefecture mascot くまモン (Kumamon) is the flagship ゆるキャラ (yuru-kyara, mascot) since 2010, globally famous. An animal word branches into nature, character design, and regional branding. The kanji 熊 carries the 灬 (fire) radical at the bottom — an old visual residue of a bear drawn beside fire.
Quick check
Position of くまモン in the yuru-kyara system?