{"id":61642,"date":"2023-12-12T15:10:38","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T20:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=61642"},"modified":"2023-12-14T18:52:49","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T23:52:49","slug":"taxes-kanji-of-the-year-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=61642","title":{"rendered":"Tax(es):  kanji of the year 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The breathless moment when \"<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/%E7%A8%8E#Japanese\">zei \u7a0e<\/a>\" is written by Mori Seihan, the head priest of the magnificent\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kiyomizu-dera\">Kiyomizudera<\/a> in eastern Kyoto (1:32):<\/p>\r\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u3010\u901f\u5831\u3011\u4eca\u5e74\u306e\u6f22\u5b57\u306f\u300c\u7a0e\u300d \u4eac\u90fd\u30fb\u6e05\u6c34\u5bfa  \u6bce\u5e74\u6052\u4f8b\u20261\u5e74\u306e\u4e16\u76f8\u3092\u8868\u3059\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nQdn61xZR3s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\r\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\r\n<p>Another good video of the brushing of \u7a0e may be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LYPNIm9Egvc\">here<\/a>, and there are many others <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/results?search_query=%E4%BB%8A%E5%B9%B4%E3%81%AE%E6%BC%A2%E5%AD%97%E3%81%AF%E3%80%8C%E7%A8%8E%E3%80%8D\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">The narration includes:<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">Riy\u016b ni tsuite, b\u014dei-ryoku ky\u014dka ni muketa zaigen o makanau tame shotoku zei nado z\u014dzei e no giron ga ichinen o ts\u016bjite kappatsu ni okonawa reta hoka, j\u016bminzei nado no teigaku genzei ya inboisu seido, shin NISA ya furusato n\u014dzei no genkaku-ka nado, zei ni matsuwaru samazamana wadai ga tsudzuitakara<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">\u7406\u7531\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u3001\u9632\u885b\u529b\u5f37\u5316\u306b\u5411\u3051\u305f\u8ca1\u6e90\u3092\u8cc4\u3046\u305f\u3081\u6240\u5f97\u7a0e\u306a\u3069\u5897\u7a0e\u3078\u306e\u8b70\u8ad6\u304c\u4e00\u5e74\u3092\u901a\u3058\u3066\u6d3b\u767a\u306b\u884c\u308f\u308c\u305f\u307b\u304b\u3001\u4f4f\u6c11\u7a0e\u306a\u3069\u306e\u5b9a\u984d\u6e1b\u7a0e\u3084\u30a4\u30f3\u30dc\u30a4\u30b9\u5236\u5ea6\u3001\u65b0NISA\u3084\u3075\u308b\u3055\u3068\u7d0d\u7a0e\u306e\u53b3\u683c\u5316\u306a\u3069\u3001\u7a0e\u306b\u307e\u3064\u308f\u308b\u69d8\u3005\u306a\u8a71\u984c\u304c\u7d9a\u3044\u305f\u304b\u3089<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">In short, reasons this character was chosen include:\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">* yearlong debate on raising taxes to fund increased defense spending<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">* fixed tax reductions<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">* a new invoicing system<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">* the new NISA (Nippon Individual Savings Account)<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">* crackdowns on the so-called \"<a href=\"https:\/\/urldefense.com\/v3\/__https:\/\/www.japanlivingguide.com\/dailylife\/money\/furusato-nozei\/__;!!IBzWLUs!UyOZ-nHAtxdxCSTQtUek24851nSU1EHcifjDz4xbnGHTUTuilGvRDE-bNU7F6NSG_zkubqRC9qugLRFKLJVQKg$\">hometown tax<\/a>\"<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">etc.<\/div>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2023\/12\/12\/japan\/japan-kanji-of-2023\/\">Talk of taxes spurs choice for Japan\u2019s kanji of the year<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">By Yukana Inoue, The Japan Times (12\/12\/23)<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">&#8212;-<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">&#8230;<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Zei received 5,976 votes out of the 147,878 cast. Coming in at a close second, with a difference of only 405 votes, was \u201c<em>sho<\/em>\u201d (\u6691), referring to the record-breaking heat the nation experienced this summer.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">&#8230;<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/life\/2022\/12\/16\/language\/thought-2022-battle-years-top-kanji-pick-shows-werent-alone\/\">In 2022, \u201csen\u201d (\u6226)<\/a>, meaning war, battle or match, took first place, representing a year of conflict and violence with events such as the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2021\/12\/13\/national\/kin-kanji-2021\/\">2021 winner was \u201ckin\u201d (\u91d1)<\/a>, meaning gold or money, referring to the gold medals Japan won in the the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, which were held that year.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Other words that made the top 10:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\u6226 (<em>sen\/ikusa<\/em>, battle\/match): A reference to the war between Israel and Hamas and Russia\u2019s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.<\/li>\r\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\u864e (<em>ko\/tora<\/em>, tiger): A nod to the Hanshin Tigers\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/sports\/2023\/11\/05\/baseball\/japanese-baseball\/hanshin-orix-game-seven\/\"><u>Japan Series win<\/u><\/a>, a first in 38 years.<\/li>\r\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\u52dd (<em>shou\/katsu<\/em>, win): Another entry marking the various wins the nation experienced this year, including the Tigers\u2019 victory, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/sports\/2023\/03\/22\/baseball\/wbc-us-japan-final\/\"><u>Samurai Japan\u2019s championship in the World Baseball Classic<\/u><\/a>, Sota Fujii\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2023\/10\/12\/japan\/society\/sota-fujii-shogi\/\"><u>8 shogi titles<\/u><\/a> and Shohei Ohtani being named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/sports\/2023\/11\/17\/baseball\/mlb\/shohei-ohtani-al-mvp\/\"><u>MVP<\/u><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/sports\/2023\/10\/02\/baseball\/mlb\/ohtani-home-run-champion\/\"><u>home run champion<\/u><\/a>.<\/li>\r\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\u7403 (<em>kyu\/tama<\/em>, ball): As the character is used to write the kanji for various sports like baseball, basketball and rugby, this choice is another nod to various accomplishments in sports this year.<\/li>\r\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\u9ad8 (<em>kou\/takai<\/em>, high or rising): A reference to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2023\/07\/22\/business\/japan-price-hikes-2023\/\"><u>rising prices<\/u><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2023\/07\/11\/national\/japan-heat-wave-2\/\"><u>temperatures<\/u><\/a> experienced in the nation this year.<\/li>\r\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\u5909 (<em>hen\/kawaru<\/em>, change): This choice speaks to some major shifts that occurred this year, such as the changes in society following the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic, new names for the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/culture\/2023\/12\/08\/entertainment-news\/johnny-associates-starto-entertainment-change\/\"><u> talent agency formerly known as Johnny\u2019s<\/u><\/a> and rising prices due to inflation.<\/li>\r\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\u5897 (<em>zou\/fueru<\/em>, increase): This entry covers various things that saw increases this year, including taxes, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2023\/11\/15\/japan\/october-foreign-visitors-exceeds-2019\/\"><u>number of foreign tourists<\/u><\/a> following the reopening of the borders and a spike in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/environment\/2023\/11\/13\/wildlife\/boar-bear-attacks-japan-cities\/\"><u>sightings of bears in urban areas<\/u><\/a>.<\/li>\r\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\u697d (<em>raku\/tanoshii<\/em>, easy, fun or joy): This choice refers to how much easier life became after the pandemic eased and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2023\/03\/13\/national\/japan-mask-rules-caveats\/\"><u>mask mandates were lifted<\/u><\/a>, as well as the return of crowds and cheering at sporting events and music festivals.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>An excellent account of the competition may also be found in this nippon.com (12\/12\/23) article:<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nippon.com\/en\/japan-topics\/c03837\/\">Kanji of the Year for 2023: Another Taxing Time for Japan<\/a><br \/><br \/>The popularly selected kanji of the year for 2023 was \u7a0e (zei or mitsugi, \u201ctaxation\u201d). We dive into the winner and the other top picks, looking at how they represent Japanese people\u2019s takes on the past 12 months.<\/p>\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www3.nhk.or.jp\/news\/html\/20231212\/k10014285311000.html\">NHK article in Japanese<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p>Includes a list of the top twenty contenders, which gives a good idea of what is on the minds of the Japanese people, another video (0:52) of the writing of the character, a list of the kanji of the year going back to 1995 (\"earthquake\"), with a brief discussion of the pertinence of each one.<\/p>\r\n<p>It is interesting to compare the calligraphic intensity of the\u00a0unveiling of the Kanji of the Year with the buzziness surrounding the announcement of the Word of the Year, which we also just witnessed (<a href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=61512\">here<\/a>).\u00a0 The former partakes of solemn sacrality, the latter of exciting extraordinariness.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p><b>Selected reading<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to \" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=61512\" rel=\"bookmark\">'Are\": Japanese word of the year'<\/a>\" (12\/2\/23)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Kanji of the year 2022:  war\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=57330\" rel=\"bookmark\">Kanji of the year 2022: war<\/a>\" (12\/13\/22)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Grids galore\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=61312\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D61312&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1701816194171000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0LJit4-GG9CduqX21mj7-Z\">Grids galore<\/a>\" (11\/19\/23)\u00a0 &#8212; these last two references are for the debate over the square shape of kanji mentioned in the comments by VHM below<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=61173\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D61173&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1701816194171000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2_F8CTrYJ7XY8REpqqTZzf\">Rectilinear rectitude<\/a>\" (11\/6\/23)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to A (troop \/ troupe of) dragon(s) tromping \/ flying\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=61559\" rel=\"bookmark\">A (troop \/ troupe of) dragon(s) tromping \/ flying<\/a>\" (12\/4\/23) &#8212; squeezing an elephantine character with 48 strokes into one little square<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>[Thanks to Nathan Hopson, Don Keyser, Frank Chance; Linda Chance; h.t. Kiewwoo Goh]<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The breathless moment when \"zei \u7a0e\" is written by Mori Seihan, the head priest of the magnificent\u00a0Kiyomizudera in eastern Kyoto (1:32):<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[233,310,79,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-language-and-religion","category-word-of-the-year","category-writing","category-writing-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61642"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61693,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61642\/revisions\/61693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}