Day 29: Chūshin

Chūshin (Japanese)  Heart, core, mind, inside feeling.

CHUSHIN

Here we are with only one day to go in this challenge, and you have all done so well... To the participants who haven't 'officially' posted your drawings here on my blog, thank you for sending them to me. I love to see your interpretations! 

Today's word, chūshin, has a lot to do with emotion.  
In Japanese, I think its appropriate that words dealing with emotion often involve a kanji that represents the word 'HEART'.  Most of us would likely agree that the heart is the root of human emotion, and that 'expressions of the heart' are amongst the most difficult to understand...  How can you use black glass powder to express the most difficult things? 

Hopefully you'll get some insight on how to approach your abstract drawings after seeing how the Japanese language breaks down abstract ideas to make them more concrete...

This is 'kokoro', the kanji that expresses the english word 'heart'. 4 strokes.
I try to remember it by thinking about the 4 chambers of
the heart, and not 4 literal strokes.  Ha Ha.

,

When you add 'center' above the heart, you have 'Chūshin',
which is the core, center, or essence of the heart and inside mind.  
Beautiful, isn't it?

Remember how the kanji for man was a field with a sword?
If you add 'field' to 'heart' you end up with the expression
THINK.
'The field of your heart' = think.  I love this one too.

This heart has a 'double center' above it,
which expresses 'pierce'.
The combination of 'pierce' and 'heart' means...
ANXIOUS.
A pierced heart is exactly how 'anxious' feels to me.
How about you?

This 'kokoro' has the kanji for 'opposite' or 'opposing'
 above it.  Together they mean...
SAD. 
Opposite the heart.

Uh oh... up there in the upper left is that woman again.
This time she doesn't have a broom, but the kanji next to her makes her a slave.
Add a kokoro (heart) below, and you get 
RAGE.
The kanji guys weren't so dumb, were they?

Finally, I think it's a good thing to end on a positive feeling.  Here is the kanji that expresses the emotion of LOVE.  

It's complicated, of course.  This one can also mean 'affection', or 'favorite', just like the English word for love.

The top kanji means 'Hand'. under it is a 'roof', then our sweet 'kokoro'.  The final part of this kanji combination means 'progress'.  
'The hand puts a protective roof over the heart + progress' =

LOVE.   

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