橋

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 橋を渡る。▶ —
   I cross the bridge.
2. 京都に古い橋がある。▶ —
   Kyoto has an old bridge.

Collocations

Mnemonic

はし — 橋, Yamato. 'Bridge'. On the same sound hashi live three words ── 橋 (bridge), 箸 (chopsticks), 端 (edge). Kanji + the Japanese pitch-accent decide which. A small bridge cluster in Japan ── 日本橋 Nihonbashi: a bridge in central Tokyo. In 1604 the Edo shogunate set it as Japan's road-zero point, the origin of the 五街道 (Tokaido, Nakasendo, etc.). Even today, when a sign reads '~ km from Tokyo', the '~' refers to this bridge. 橋渡し hashi-watashi ('crossing-the-bridge'): the metaphor of mediation, of being a bridge between people. 虹の橋 niji no hashi (rainbow bridge): the English-origin notion of a bridge a pet crosses after death, naturalized into Japanese. The Korean reading gyo is sister to the onyomi きょう ── 橋梁 kyouryou (bridge engineering).

Quick check

1. Nihonbashi?

   • Tokyo Chuo Ward — 0-km marker of Japans road system from Edo 1603 and gokaidou start
   • Osaka
   • Kyoto
   • Recent