２０１８の洪水

Something I posted recently on FB.  Had to look up some 言葉。ここあります。

dam　　　　 ダム
flood　　　　洪水
lake   　          湖
basement　　地下
drain　　       排水する
died                死亡しました
got repaired   修理されました
All are safe    誰もが安全です。

I am less confident than usual that my translations are correct. 

Here's the post.  I know it's clunky.  We learn by doing.

３週間前に、私の近い湖は洪水がありました。私の家の地下が水ありました。町は湖を排水しました。今日（金曜日）湖のダムが修理されました、そして、あの道の上で運転するができます。誰もが安全です、うれしいですね。

Beginning Japanese by Kluempler

This textbook is looking pretty cool.

OK, I don't know if it would be good for true beginners.  Chapter 1 and we're already seeing kanji.  But for practice reading, I am loving it.

I wonder why I never heard about this online?  My wife found it in the new books section at the library.  It's obviously a school textbook.  Maybe it's too new.  Maybe people think school textbooks are icky.

Looking forward to some reading practice that, I hope, won't have me running to the dictionary 3 times per sentence.

(Oh, and it's cheap, too:  $20 to Genki's $40 and JfZ!'s $30.

Japanese Graded Readers 2:2:7: わらしべ長者

 わらしべ　： dried rice stalk
長者　　　：millionaire
一生懸命　：hard, as in hard work
観音様　　：the bodhisattva representing/embodying compassion
拾う　　　：pick up
捨てない　：don't throw away
転びました：fell
向こう　　：beyond
みかん　　：Mandarin orange
喜びました：was delighted
布　　　　：cloth
また　　　：also
まだ　　　：still
まで　　　：until

(Sounds like I need a mnemonic!  Mada:  mah doll is still here -- I still play with dolls.  Mata -- mah top is here also.  Made:  but mah day is approaching when I'll stop playing with toys.  ... We'll see how this goes.)

倒れて　　：fell down
横　　　　：side
やりました：did it (or:  Yay!  I did it!)
すると　　：then
連れて　　：bring
通る　　　：pass through
遠く　　　：far away
五年前　　：five years ago
呼びました：called

Japanese Graded Readers 0:2:7: 風と太陽

取ります:　take

Japanese Graded Readers 3:1:4: この人だあれ？ Part 1: 野口英雄

Some of these I didn't get to the point of certainty on.  Still, this is what I have.

だあれ？　　　Who's that?
お札　　　　　paper money
技術　　　　　technology
進んで 　　　   advance
偽札　　　　　counterfeit money
言われています　people say...
野口英雄　　　Hideo Naguchi, bacteriologist
まま　　　　　as it is
すぐ　　　　　soon?
貧乏    　　　　poverty
使って　　　    use (up?)
しまう　　　　cause
一生懸命　　　hard, as in hard work
よくなりました improved
囲炉裏                fire pit/sunken hearth　　　　
頃　　　　　　time of
開かなく　　    doesn't open.  Can't open?　
負けない    　　as much as possible/unsurpassably
手術　　　　　surgery
頑張って　　　did a fine job of?
成績　　　　　achievement
高等小学校        Some level of school.  Random guy on Internet thinks it's grades 5-8 or 7-8, but the term is no longer used.  "Junior high," I suppose.
出してくれました  took out? NO
ずっと                forever
助けました        helped
生物　　　　　living thing
のように　　　like
試験　　　　　test
合格　　　　　success
変わった　　　changed
研究　　　　　research
やっと　　　    at last
周り　　　　　vicinity
のか？　　　　isn't it?
細菌　　　　　bacteria
数年　　　　　several/few years
博士　　　　　PhD.
一生懸命　　　with utmost effort
何度　　　　　many times
以上　　　　　more
いられません　can't go
しか　　　　　only
黄熱病　　　　yellow fever
調べ　　　　　investigation
制回収　　　　recovery (ed: check this)
墓　　　　　　tomb

Some resource pages

• Japanese Resources
• The Best Resources to Learn JAPANESE for Free Online

Haven't checked them out yet, but it looks promising.

Japanese Graded Readers 3:1:2: 注文の多い料理店

注文                orders
料理店　　　restaurant
きっと            fer sure
鉄砲　　　　gun
撃ちたい       want to shoot
案内               guide
急に   　        suddenly
倒れます       collapse
もちろん       of course
廊下               corridor
喜んで          with pleasure
だけれど      although
賑やか　　  bustling (-na adjective)
かかって　  hanging.  If I read this right, the pic is wrong, which has the 鏡 hanging on the wall, not a 戸
こう　　　  like this
し                  used to list "reasons for multiple states and actions." So it's something like a conjunction.  Works for adjectives at the very least.
おかしい　　strange (-na adjective I think)
脱いで　　  take off (clothes)
裏                  back
ネクタイペン  Tie pin.  I can't figure what this really is, as it's a strange thing to expect a hunter to wear.
財布              wallet
香水              perfume
入れ物          container
塩                  salt
変                  strange, unexpected, suspicious
鍵穴              keyhole
がたがた      rattle
震える          tremble
消えました  disappeared
鳴き              squeal
呼んで          call
安心              relief

Reading aloud to 息子

I've been reading these graded readers aloud to 息子．大丈夫です。妻も聞きます。I read a phrase and translate.  He's interested enough in the story to tolerate the slowness; I hope he is getting some of the endlessly repeated phrases (言いました、鈴木さんのバスは、など).
I don't read the ones in which you get attached to an animal and the animal dies.  Or the one about the dying girl's last wish (admittedly, an import from O'Henry).  Tell you what, you have to grow up fast in Japan, if these books are any guide.

And now, an opinion on how to learn

I am commonly seeing on Reddit r/LearnJapanese this question in various forms:

"Wouldn't it be easier to learn Japanese if I don't bother with X?"  X is:  reading; writing; learning kanji; doing something that isn't in my textbook.  (Come to think of it, I hear this at home too.  Just sayin'.)

They often get this correct response:  If you don't know how to read/use kanji/whatever, you're illiterate.  Or maybe support:  you don't need to write kanji.  Just type them in the keyboard like we imagine real Japanese native speakers do exclusively.

But here's a more compelling reason (compelling, at least, to those who say "I just want to converse/watch anime/whatever; I don't want to read or write):  learning the same thing different ways is easier than learning it only one way.

Suppose you were learning world history.  So you listen to a history professor give lectures.  No book; no note taking.  Would you learn it as well as if you read for yourself, took notes on what was important, summarized, talked to a classmate about the high points?

Suppose you had a list of vocabulary words.  You can go over the word list until you know them; or you can do that and write a story using them and try them in conversation and understand the roots (androgynous:  Greek andros, male, plus Greek gynos, female.  Got it).  Which way would have you remembering the most a month later?

More ways is better.  It's also a heck of a lot more fun.

End Public Service Announcement.

Japanese Graded Readers 2:3:11: 日本のお風呂

（たくさん言葉ですね！）

気持ち         feeling
湯                 hot water
湯船             bathtub
お風呂         bath
温泉             warm springs
蒸気             steam
蒸し風呂     steam bath
仏教             Buddhism
お坊さん     high priest
銭湯             bathhouse
江戸時代     Edo period
狭い             narrow
混浴             mixed bathing
広い             spacious
できました was made
なくなる      cease (literally "become not")
よく見る     look well
番台             place for person taking admission
壁                 wall
少なくなりました decreased
岩盤             rock bath (place to lie on hot gravel)
旅館             Japanese hotel
露天             open-air
ながら         while
裸                 nude
軽く             lightly
ゆっくり     slowly
桶                 bucket
あったところ where it was
浴衣             bathrobe/summer kimono

Japanese Graded Readers 2:3:15: 一休さんーその二ー

Since I've gotten graded readers and couldn't let them be -- kanji study can wait! -- I'm going to put some of the vocabulary here.  (Making lists of kanji here helped; maybe vocabulary will help too.)

...and brag a little more on them.  They tend to have a quirky or funny ending if the story's not 悲しい.  The story of ソーピー was too sad.  The stories of the 木村 family and 一浪さん the young policeman aren't.  Go get 'em right now.  The cheapest place I've found so far is CD Japan -- shipping is major, but the price is still better than Amazon.

Here are vocabulary from Level 2, Volume 3:  「一休さん、ーその二ー」.

安国寺                Ankokuji, a historic temple near Fukushima.
本堂                   main temple building
仏様                   Buddha
ろうそく            candle
おしょうさん     high priest
お坊さん            priest
お経                   sutra, Buddhist scripture
息をかける       breathe
困った               troubled
連れる               take someone somewhere
橋                       bridge.  (Fun fact:  it's haSHI not HAshi.  Pitch accents)
渡る                   cross over
ニコニコ           with a smile.  But it shows up here in ひらがな.
端                       edge.  (Also haSHI)
真ん中               middle

Japanese Graded Readers 1:2:7: 寿司・すし・SUSHI

いくら                       salted salmon roe
トロ                           fatty tuna
わぁい                       Wow
まぐろ                       tuna
たい                           sea bream
赤貝                           ark shell clam
ほたて                       scallops
さび抜きて               抜きて is omit.  Best I can figure is that さび is a typo or an
                                   abbreviation for わさび. ?
ネタ                           top side of nigiri (the part that's not rice)
つけます                   apply (sauce)
鮒ずし                       a type of sushi made from salted aged fish
いなり寿司               sushi in fried tofu
押し寿司                   sushi rice and ingredients pressed in a mold
にぎり寿司/握り寿司: sushi with a blob of rice topped with something, often fish
ちらし寿司               sushi rice in a bowl with ingredients sprinkled on top
屋台:                          food cart
値段が変わります   price varies
すし飯                       sushi rice
塩鮭                           salted salmon

A mnemonic table for vocabulary; reading to the kid

私は時々mnemonicsを作ります, for vocabulary (not just kanji).  Here's a page that has the spreadsheet I have used.  It's a great way to make funny stories to help remember the word.  I admit I use it sparingly.  But you might like it.

https://www.mechakoichi.com/mnemonic-method-for-learning-japanese-vocabulary/

In other news:  I've started reading Japanese Graded Readers to my son.  He is interested enough in the stories he can tolerate the constant back-and-forth between Japanese and English.  I think it would drive me crazy. :)

Japanese Graded Readers 0:2:8, 11-12

わに                      gator
おかえりなさい    Welcome home
がんばって           Go for it/do your best
助けて　　　        Help!

漢字が終わりました！

誉, honor:                   A table loaded with gifts, and a speech, in honor of your amazing wonderfulness.
庸 , ordinary, work:    Hand using mortar and pestle in a shop -- just an ordinary job.
粛, solemn, quietly:   Hand quietly secrets rice into a dark, foreboding pool.  This
                                   matches the etymology though there's no water symbol apparent.
濁, impure:                  Use net to sieve bugs out of the water -- that's one gross stream.
陥, collapse:                You're carring something from days gone by, by the handle…
                                    you'll stumble if you try to traverse that hill.
墜, fall:                        Army unit 隊 falls to the ground 土.
華, flower, petal, showy: Maybe it looks like a showy flower, plus the grass symbol at
                                    top.
From earlier:  

徴, indications:           At the crossroads near the mountains, the king seeks teaching
                                    to learn the signs.  So now:
微, secret, tiny, 1 millionth:       At the crossroads near the mountains, he learns a
                                   most secret , tiny teaching:   the millionth digit of pi.


ヤッターーー! 終わりました！2018年4月21日土曜日.  And my last 漢字, the final, tiny bit of my secret code (only shared by about a billion people but who's counting?), is 微, び.  I think I will give a 微小：a smile.

Japanese Graded Readers 2:2:9: トルストイ民話集

ルパシカ  kupashka:  peasant shirt.  I'd never heard of it either.  The picture suggests it's
                something ornate and nice, not very peasant-y.  IDK, but it's not just
                "shirt" or the story's end makes no sense.
よく         good.  So よくなる, become good, means to get well
-なさい    please do.  As in:  買いなさい, 持ってきなさい.
なくて     not need.  Inflected ない.  IDK.
民話         folklore
-集           collection

Japanese Graded Readers 1:3:12: 着物

奈良時代                Nara period: 700's.  Nara as the capital (mostly).     
平安時代                Heian period: 794-1185.  Buddhism introduced.  Mostly peaceful
                               (平安 means peace).
鎌倉時代                Kamakura period:  1185-1333.  Samurai developed, Mongol horde.
室町時代                Muromachi period:  1336-1573.  Zen, contact with West,
                              Christianity banned.
江戸時代                Edo period:  1603-1868.  Tokugawa shogunate, Edo as capital,
                              isolationism, what I'd call high culture.
明治時代                Meiji period:  1868-1912.  Meiji's reign.  Japan industrializes.
大正時代                Taisho period: 1912-1926.  Tiasho's reign.
昭和時代                Showa period: 1926-1989.  Hirohito's reign.

小袖                       basic Japanese robe, short-sleeved
袴                          divided skirt, especially for men
帯                          obi (belt)
成人                       adult
花嫁                       bride
花婿                       groom
羽織                       formal coat
留袖                       married woman's ceremonial kimono

Japanese Graded Readers 2:2:8: 一寸法師 (One-inch boy)

一寸              1 "sun," about 3 inches
法師              boy, apparently
打出              strike/tap
小槌              gavel
打出の小槌  magic hammer that can give you wishes

Japanese Graded Readers 2:1:5: 一休さん

お坊さん                   boy/priest
安国寺                       Ankokuji, a temple
仏教                           Buddhism
茶碗                           teacup/tea bowl
将軍                           shogun
縄                               rope
つかまえます           catch
早く                           quickly
出して                       take out

B&N out; Amazon in

I was linking to B&N for printed content, but they've booted me both from their affiliate program (no surprise; this blog gets very little traffic) and from selling my used books through them.  The latter was annoying, because some of these books are pricey, and selling them back can take out some of the sting.  So I've taken down those links and replaced them with Amazon links.

Ah, well, Amazon rules the world.

So eventually I'll be selling back those graded readers through Amazon.

And if I haven't mentioned Amazon Japan... I should.  Shipping is high to North America as you'd expect.  But they've got the stuff.  They've got stuff on Kindle.  You can set it so that it talks to you in English, which helps.  Check it out.

漢字を仕上げろ -- 第3節

賓, VIP/guest:               One 一, or a few 少, paying 貝 people under our roof 宀.
繁, luxurian:                  It'll take every 毎 beating stick 攵 you've got to get
                                       through these thready 糸 vines.
寛, tolerant/feeling at home:  Under my roof宀, looking 見 over the details 艹
                                      together 共 , feeling OK with it all.  共 isn't there, but I'm reaching here.
玄, hidden/occult:         Picture a small thread hidden under a lid.
畜, livestock:                Taxman says, Where's your livestock? I hid them away. 
                                       In the field.
蓄, amass/raise:           If you want to amass livestock, you're going to need grass.
寡, widow:                    Only one head 頁 under the roof  宀 as she's been divided 分 from her husband.
景, scenery:                  Sun over the capitol 京 makes it a good day for sightseeing.
影, shadows:                Sunbeams 彡 on the scenery cast shadows.
範, model/limit:             Person slumped by car, because he's disappointed to find it's only a bamboo model.
窮, destitute/cornered: Two individuals, one self 身 and another 己 (but that one's got a tail -- homeless man and his dog? hiding under a roof:  cornered and desititute.

Alternatively, let it be one self hiding under a roof -- but he's got a bow 弓 so watch out!  The first is more historically accurate, if that matters.

賓繁寛玄畜蓄寡景影範窮

Japanese Graded Readers 2:1:2: 桃太郎

返して                        return
何回もいいました    said many times
旗                                flag
きじ                            pheasant
暮らしました            lived (as in, happily ever after)

漢字を仕上げろ -- 第2節; koohi mnemonics

So I see that koohi.com lets you browse other people's mnemonics.  It seems like a good idea for these few remaining kanji.

Oh, wow, these are weird.  Maybe just weird enough to use.

I'll still make my own here:

匿, hide:            A young 若 one should hide in a nook, with an air hole
                            to the right.  (Maybe we're in a fairy tale.)
鎖, chain:          Metal 金 that is sparkly (the lines going all round) to the eye 目.
                            Like a watch chain, in the Japanese Graded Reader story
                            クリスマスプレセント("The Gift of the Magi" by O'Henry.)
累, involvement/continually:  Your mind (田, as in 思う) continually follows
                           the thread of whatever you're involved with.
覇, supremacy/champion:   At the rodeo, the champ is the one who dares to make
                           his flesh 肉 go up to the wild cow 革 and put a hat 覀 on it.

...but these are inspired by koohi's peanut gallery.

尋, inquire:       The top is a broom. The middle is エロ, which is 日本語で
                           "erotica," e-ro.  The bottom is sometimes a hand.  So:  You're
                           sweeping under the bed and pull out エロ with your hand.  Looks
                           like somebody has some 'splaining to do.
逓, relay/parcel post:  Put a cornstalk (the thing with the 2 crossbars and roots
                           in a package (the roof-y thing) and send it on its way.
敏, cleverness: Cleverness is grasping every 毎 teaching 攵.  (Not koohi.)
繁, luxuriant:     A clever one can make thread into luxuriant cloth.



匿鎖累覇尋逓敏繁

漢字を仕上げろ -- 第1節

At this point, I'm left with some 40 kanji that don't easily fit with groupings I've made so far.

I could use Kanshudo -- they have mnemonics, sort of arbitrary rather than the kind that use authentic parts authentically and make as much sense as possible -- but I can't find a way to make a page of the ones I want:  I can make flashcards, but only if I pay them.  So if it's going to be arbitrary mnemonics, I'll just do my own.  (So far these have been the hardest to remember, since they don't make groupings and the parts don't easily relate to the meaning -- not to me, anyway.)

Here goes:
備, as in 準備 (being ready).  Man at cliff 厂 ready to use 用 the grass 艹 to pull himself up.
音 is noise.
竟 is end (表外漢字):  the time when horrible noisy monsters walk the earth.  So
境 , boundary, is the ends of the earth, and
鏡 is a mirror, a metal-lined thing that you only see the front edge of and that ends my hope of being handsome.
接, touch/contact:          The lady's 女 come in; stand up 立 so you can take her hand 手.
 率, proportion/factor:   Looks like a half-thread is being squeezed till the water comes out between a lid and a platform, with a peg maybe to keep the thread tied.  Do this to find out the proportion of water that was a factor in the thread.
憲, law/constitution:     In a room 宀 there's a table ⺲ split 3 ways (for 2 sides plus a moderator), with a tally stick in the middle, because in their hearts 心 the sides want to fight.  And that's how laws are made.
承, be informed:           Kids need to learn.  With lines so they can take notes, and a splash of water because otherwise they're saying, "I need to stop doing my homework.  I'm thirsty."
衆, population/masses: Assembled people 乑 (dude in the middle, someone leaning on his right arm, couple of kids hanging on the left) of a common blood 血 form a national population.  (Works better for a homogeneous nation like ancient China than a nation of immigrants like mine.  But these are pretty old characters.)
忍, endure:                   A knife in the heart is a lot to endure!
認, believe/acknowledge/witness:   A belief is words that endure.
This is grueling.  More later.

備音 竟境 鏡接 率憲承衆忍認

Japanese Graded Readers 0:3:13-18

どろぼう                thief
捕まえる                catch
招待状                    invitation
返事                        reply
神様                        God? gods? either, I think, per jisho
披露宴                    reception
受付                        receptionist/information desk
祝儀袋                    gift envelopes
花束                        bouquet
引き出物                 gift
お喜せに                 With pleasure
首都                        capital city
混んで                    crowded
両                           counter for carriages
優先（席）             priority (seating)
お疲れ様でした      Thank you for your hard work
終点                        last stop/terminus
布                            cloth
飼う                        keep (animals)
七夕                       Tanabata
お願い                    wish
笹の葉                    bamboo leaves
付ける                    attach

Japanese Graded Readers 0:1:1-6

大豆                  soybeans

枝豆                  edamame (young soybeans steamed in pods)

もやし              bean sprouts

-きん                 fungus/bacterium

こうじきん       koji spores, used for fermenting

納豆                  fermented soybeans

油                      oil

汁                      soup

嫌い                  hate something

乾杯                  Cheers!

節分                  Setsubun, the holiday of winter's end

鬼                      demon

箸置き              place to rest chopsticks on the table

渡す                  hand someone something

いただきます   Let's eat!

おかわり          seconds

ごちそうさま   Thank you for the food

替えます          substitute

おまわり          policeman

Japanese graded readers are da bomb

Now that I have them -- cool.  I am actually reading Japanese, and it's fun, and it's something I actually want to do!

Pics here, so you know what you're getting into.  Stories from level 0:  the Kimura family's morning (with Dad carrying out garbage and briefcase and throwing the wrong one in the dumpster); things you make with soybeans; Ryo-san the cop chasing a thieving Santa; the northward path of cherry blossoms in Japan each spring.  Level 2's cranked up in difficulty, and features:  Russian folk tales; some New York stories; the Japanese bath; Mt. Fuji.  A lot of variety and a lot of culture.  Some of the stories are sad and some quirky-funny and some don't quite excite, but there's still much to like.

They are pricey!  $20-$30 (~2000-3000円) for a pack of 5-6 booklets.  The cheapest is at CD Japan, currently around $21.

I've never been able to find them in electronic format, at least, not at the lower levels.  (I can't find again one I had at a higher level.)

So I've shifted away from kanji, despite only having some 40 left to go.  I'll now be posting vocabulary from the readers.  My lists aren't exhaustive:  I'm omitting things I already know or that are understandable from context.  And if you really need them, or need more, maybe you're reading at too high a level.. 見ましょう！

雑漢字2:揮動悔如鉢

掌, palm of hand/control:  尚, esteem, is derived from the face of a building (saving face?); put this with hand to get the face of the hand, that is, the palm, which helps you control thing.

宴, banquet:                     Banquet is provided by hostess in a sunny room (essentially Henshall's mnemonic).

紛, confusion/go astray:  Slice threads and they'll go astray and cause confusion (again, Henshall).

詰, packed/rebuke:          Lucky words?  Pack 'em in, and rebuke the naysayers!

詳, detailed/full report:   Give a detailed, full report about sheep.
抵, touch/resist/reach:    If you're going to resist, reach with your hand down low (as in 低) -- that is, you gotta get messy.
拓, clear (land):              Put your hands down to get out the rocks.
挿, insert:                       The thing on the right is a mortar and pestle, but it sure doesn't look like one.  Henshall and Kanshudo.com both suggest taking it as a thousand somethings.  I'll go with Henshall:  Hand inserts a thousand items per day.

極, poles (extremes):     Complicated.  I'll echo Henshall (with alterations).  Someone stole a blankie! and is pushing by hand 又 that squiggly blankie into a gap 口 between two wooden 木 poles 二.  (It doesn't mean poles as in light poles, but we do what we can).
搾, press/wring:             Make 乍 hole 穴 by pressing with hand.  (Henshall again).
擁, hug/hold/protect:     Hand holds exotic bird in cage (that lid on top, with a thread-based mesh -- the middle thing -- as the cage itself). (Henshall with alterations.)

盾 (shield) Mr. Jun from the difficulty of kanji

盾, (じゅん) shield:    The border is a shield, and then there's the eye 目.  Henshall is unsure what the 十 means here.  Let's say it's a medieval European knight, so you've got the cross at the top of a shield of 3 levels (for the Trinity?), and an asymmetric shield border.
循, (じゅん) follow:  Crossroads plus shield... OK, so it's a dangerous crossroads.  To stay safe from bandit, follow the man with the shield.

盾循

乇, a rooted plant you can trust

乇は表外漢字です。It's supposed to be a plant taking root.  It means entrust, but we don't care.

託, entrust:     Words you can trust will take root in you?

宅, husband:   Someone the wife can trust, that lives under her roof.  (It may also help in remembering this to think of husbandry, as in, caring for things.)

詫, apologize:That old trope that the husband always has to apologize.

託宅詫

いたい！Thorns!

「朿」は表外漢字です。それは「thorn」を意味します。I see it as a plant 木 with hooks on it:  thorns.So we have:

策, policy/plan:  Write out with your bamboo (stylus) your plans to clear the thorns.  Or maybe:
                           Write out your plans to catch the golden fleece on a thorn bush.
刺, pierce/thorn:  A thorn is like a knife on a thorn bush, piercing you.

策刺

Today I'm giving ゆう grief :)

憂, (ゆう) grief:                 The head 頁 and heart 心 are smashed together by some
                                            trauma, causing you to walk slowly as you process your
                                            grief.
優, (ゆう) superior/actor:  It's initially apparently someone doing a slow ritual dance.
                                           But I'll say it as:  the superior person is one who processes
                                           his grief.

憂優

雑漢字1:揮動悔如鉢

These are 漢字 made of very common パーツ, so they either don't fit into groupings like I've made earlier, or the groupings would be huge.  So I'll just put them in arbitrary groups.

動, rut:            A rut this big has the power to capture any vehicle!

悔, regret:      Everyone feels regret for what has passed.

如, likeness:  What the woman sees when she looks in a (square) mirror.

鉢, bowl:        The original use for metal.  Maybe.
香, perfume:  The bottom was originally 甘 sweet, but got simplified.  The top is our familiar rice stalk.  So:  sweet fragrance of rice stalk released by baking in the sun.
添, add on:    This isn't the rice stalk.  First, we have a non-general-use character 忝, a man 天 with bowed head (the top bar tends to lean left a little) who's feeling 心 ashamed.  Then water.  I'll say:  the man feeling ashamed often adds on tears.

揮動悔如鉢

Graded readers

今、私は少し話したいです。先週日本語のgraded readersをもらいました。１組の本もうありました；３組のも来ました。
本当に高いです：セットあたり＄２８ぐらいです。でも、私はそれを読むことができます、それからすこし楽しいです。色々な話がありあす。多分面白い；時々じゃない。
もうですね。I am temporarily giving up (mostly) on talking, because I'm always finding that I don't know how to say things even if I think I have the words.  If in Japanese you don't take medicine but drink it; 去る, despite being defined in jisho.org as "leave," isn't what you'd use for leaving a room (a kind commenter pointed this out when I was trying to write those Dad at the Zoo stories), I'm just going to have to have a lot more 日本語 coming in before I can trust my mind to generate the right turns of phrase.  I expect it's the same between languages generally:  knowing which prepositions to use; whether to take, make, go, or do something (make time/go wrong/etc).

Yet another 頁

Kanji Portraits does have a page on, well, pages 頁 (the 部首 for head, but as a standalone it means page), but for whatever reason only includes 頁順顔頭願.  There are たくさん漢字 with this 部首.  Maybe one day I'll do the rest.

領, territory/chief:     令 is order/rule and 頁, page, is the radical for head.  The head of the rule of a territory is its chief.
頃, time.                     After sufficient time, a man will slump over 匕, especially his head (with sleep).
傾, lean/slant:             Person here to emphasize it's the person with the slump, not the time, that we're focusing on.
頒, divide/distribute:  分 is divide; a divided mind is divided indeed.  So maybe it does distributed processing, like a computer with lots of CPU's?
顕, visible/exposure.  We've seen this before.  Though the etymology's wrong, the thing on the lower left can be something like stand or line up.  When people stand in line in the sun, their heads should still be visible.
頻, recur/frequent:      The two components are 歩 and 頁, so despite its actual evolution (which involves rippling water), I'll say:  walk and you'll frequently and recurringly bob your head.

領頃傾頒顕頻(頁順顔頭願)

More 戊

More now of that long-armed halberd 戊. 

威, authority/threaten:  The woman that has or is a battleaxe (halberd; or maybe she's carrying it over her had as that horizontal line) has some mighty threatening authority. (Don't blame me for this metaphor; Henshall says that was a term of address from a bride to her mother-in-law.  Which no doubt made home life sweet and serene. 😲)
滅, destroy:                   The armies of Armageddon hacked with their halberds and battleaxes, and all was destroyed in fire and water.
茂, overgrown:             The grass/plants that thrust like a halberd wherever they like.
歳, years old:               Your age is roughly the time since your footprints 止 were taken and you were presented at the altar 示...until the current cutoff point, cut off (by the halberd?) right now.  OK, it's quite a stretch.  Henshall says it relates to jamming 歩 into that halberd somehow, but lordy.

威滅茂歳

称 and 弥

Though the thing on the right is supposed to be a simplification of a hand reaching down 爫 to a basket冉 to put the rice 禾 in, I'm finding that hard to remember (duh?).  I find it easier as an altar 示 (tell, show, demonstrate) with its sacrifice at a rakish angle.
称, chant/praise:                      Praise the gods for a good harvest.
弥, increasingly/all the more:   Pull 引 all the more rice plants to justify that praise
                                                  and sacrifice.

弥 doesn't seem to be in Henshall, and in TheKanjiMap the "related words" are proper names.  I guess some of those proper names must be important.

称弥

心の会議

合, meet/fit:               A lid or cover fitting on a container.  Or maybe the 口
                                   is a mouth, and it's about making a "fitting" remark.
答, answer:               Speaking of fitting remarks, you can answer fittingly
拾, gather:                Take your hand to put things into that lidded container.
給, supply/wages:    Join threads together to supply... rope?
荅, adzuki beans.     You'll be relieved to know this is 表外.
塔, steeple/pagoda:  A place put on the ground where you let bean vines grow thick.
搭, get on board:      Take your hand and climb up on those bean vines to
                                   fit into your transport.


合答拾給塔搭

The gift of 知恵

恵, blessing/kindness:  the top is the spinning rattle of 専.  The feeling 心 you get when you give a child a rattle is blessing and kindness.  (専 has its own family, which I may put up later.)

穂, ear of grain:  The blessing a rice stalk gives is its ear of grain.

恵穂

乗手

乗, ride:        I think of this as a cable car (see the line overhead; the compartment in the middle; and the single guiding rail with flanges to keep your feet away underneath).
剰, surplus:   Cut that ride off -- you've gone too far!
棄, abandon:  I personally 厶 am blowing the lid 亠 off that cable car, abandoning it in mid-ride.

With 咸 my 心

We see a lot of 戊.  I very much recommend Kanji Portraits' lessons on the 戊 family.

I am not, however, finding all of those so derived -- most, but not all -- so I'll put the stragglers here and in subsequent posts.
戊 is halberd.
咸, 表外漢字, means "all" or "unity."  Henshall thinks of that as trimming with a sharp weapon to make things neat and correct, plus 口 so what's neat is harmonizing:  maybe it's all of us speaking in harmony.  
感 is (intense) feeling:  With all my heart.
憾, remorse:  With two hearts, it's a doubly intense feeling.  It'll stay with you, like remorse.
減, decrease:  Water eventually wears away/decreases all things.

憾感減

The use of 暴力 (ぼうりょく), violence, in language learning

暴, outburst/outrage/violence:  The sun beats down where we are kept together
                                      with insufficient water -- what a cruel outrage!  (The idea
                                      of the splash at the bottom being insufficient water is from
                                      Henshall.)
爆, bomb/burst:          A bomb is a fiery, outrageous outburst.

暴爆

㓞 and remember

㓞may not even make it to 表外.  It's a tally stick, with a blade to cut notches in it.  Henshall says you put it with its other half on fulfillment of a contract; I'll just say you're making notches to keep track of something.  So it means something like right, proper, correct.

Sorry, another 表外漢字: 

絜, correct:                  Tally those threads to even length to make them correct.

Then:

潔, clean/purify:          To purify is to use water to get something to its correct state. 

契, pledge:                  With open arms, I show you my tally stick, on which I've pledge to keep the contract.

喫, consume/receive:  I gladly receive what you've pledged to me, into my mouth, and consume it.

㓞喫契㓞潔

We can remember it for you 卸 (おろし, wholesale) -- title of a story by Philip Dick

𦈢 is listed by Wiktionary as a variant form of 缶, earthen jar.  Here it, or at least part of it (per Henshall) is a pestle, and 卩 is a kneeling person, though I see it often as seal.  Pounding something with a pestle makes it manageable, maybe and that's kind of like governing.

I'll treat it as an earthen jar with a crack in it (the line moved at its lower right), so that I can get...

卸, wholesale:  You're selling something (wine?) wholesale?  Better seal
                           those messed-up jars.
御, govern:       At the crossroads (that is, in a public place), seal the messed-up
                           jars to manage/govern the leaks, a wholesale solution.

御卸

I can actually read some of this (NHK Easy)

NHK Easy tells me (this week) about 冬の天気やオリンピックや梅まつり。クールです。Go there.

蔵: storage

蔵, storeroom:  Underground, under the grass, with a halberd, I keep watch 臣 over my storeroom.
臓, entrails:      The part of the flesh that's stored inside.

蔵臓

執: seize the day

執, take hold, grasp:  At happy 幸 hour, there's a free round of drinks, so I take hold of mine.
摯, gift:                     Reach out hand and take hold of a gift.
Note about that second one:  it's listed as 常用漢字, but I can't find it in Henshall's index and Wiktionary doesn't (yet) have a definition for it in the Japanese subheading.  Whassup をわかりません。
執摯

徴: signs of the times

徴, sign/omen/indication:       At the crossroads, while the king looks up to
                                                the mountains... someone comes up to hit him
                                                with a stick.  It's a clear sign of something...
懲, penal/punish/discipline:   ...a sign that soon that someone is going to be
                                                punished -- hard.

徴懲

万 reasons to be encouraged by horse chestnuts

万 is 10,000, from second-grade kanji.  It shouldn't really be a part of the following, because 厉 is actually a simplified version of 厲, meaning whetstone.  But we take what we can get.
栃, Japanese horse chestnut: There are 10,000 horse chestnut trees on that cliff.
                                                  That'll be 10,000 crashes in the next storm.  I have
                                                  no idea why this is important enough to be
                                                  常用 (regular-use) 漢字.
励, encouragement:                Encouragement gives people 10,000-fold power.
                                                  Stand at the cliff and deliver it!

The 方 of all 肉

方, way:            Originally a tassel.  Maybe they mark the way with tassels tied to
                            trees so you won't lose the path?
訪, visit:            To visit is to call along the way.
坊, boy/priest:   The way to tell it's a boy is he's got dirt all over him.
旅, travel:          The way we travel is to pile lots of people in and go.  (I know
                            the right パーツ are supposed to be clothes, but to me it looks
                            like several persons crammed into a car.)
妨, obstacle:      Stop the car!  There's a woman in the way waving a tassel!
傍, nearby:         Person stands near to Chinese lantern 立 on pedestal 宀 along the way 方.
族, family:           A family is the way a person produces his line (using arrow 矢 here
                              for line.)  This is in the work 家族(かぞく), family.
房, room/tassel: A tassel under the awning marks the room.
旋, rotation:        A rotation is the way a person spins around on one foot.
旗, banner/flag:  The tassel-like thing a person waves at the hopper 其 at harvest-time
                             -- celebrating a banner harvest.
放, release/emit: The way to release seed at harvest -- and other things -- is to
                              hit 'em with a stick!
倣, imitate:          A person will imitate the way you have for him if you offer to
                             hit him with a stick.
芳, fragrance:     The way to enjoy plants is through their fragrance
肪, fat:                The way of all flesh is to get fat.
紡, spinning:       The way to make thread is to spin
遊, play:              The way a person should move with a child is in play.
防, protect:          The way to protect is to hide behind that terraced hill
施, giving/alms:   The way to connect to someone's existence is to give generously.

方訪坊旅妨傍族房旋放旗族倣放倣芳肪紡遊防施

Just like 復旧 (past events)

旧 means ex- or old times:  It's stuff before the current day, like the line is left of day here.
児, newborn:  A living thing (with legs) that was born yesterday.
稲, rice plant:  Per Henshall, the 旧 is a corruption of something like 臼, mortar -- the rice is pressed by hand into the mortar to be ground.

旧児稲

In the 軍 (ぐん) now

軍, army:               An army might have its vehicles under cover to protect
                                them from being seen.  It helps with the next kanji if I think
                                of that covering as a sort of big tent.
輝, sparkle/shine:  A light outside that tent warehouse shines to light the way
                                for soldiers loading up before dawn.
暉, light/shine:       When day light shines on those covered vehicles, the army's ready.
揮, command:        The one who commands raises his hand and gives the order to...
運, transport:          ...move out, army!  Transport those troops where they need to go.

Various (庶) things

庶, various, commoner.  The squarish thing in the middle is an object, and what's below is fire.  Henshall suggests:  Various objects get destroyed in a house fire.  Various people are commoners.
遮, obstruct:                    When you're trying to move, various things can obstruct you.

庶遮

A little 援助 (enjo, help) from 私の友達たち

友 is a second-grade 漢字, an image of two hands coming together:  "friend."
抜, take out:                            I take this as the hand on the left trying to extract
                                                 something held by two hands on the right.
髪 (かみ), hair:                        Long + hair + two hands/friend.  A good friend is
                                                 one who'll tell you, Your hair's getting too long, pal,
                                                 get it cut.
爰 is 表外漢字.  Between the top hand and the bottom is a two-knotted rope.  It's supposed to mean something like bring together (which will happen if those two hands both pull that rope).
暖 (あたた.かい), warmth:   I am drawn to the sun because of its warmth.
援, help:                               A helping hand draws people together.  
媛, beautiful woman:           A woman who is attract-ive.
緩, relax/slacken:                Draw the two ends of the thread together and it becomes slack.

爰抜友髪暖爰援爰媛緩

Talking about 云 talking

云は人名用漢字です。It means talk:  when two 二 selves 厶come together, they talk.
会, meeting/assocation:  Where people talk under a roof.
絵 (え), picture:              Where threads meet (as a canvas).
伝, communication:        Persons talking.
芸, art:                             Artists communicate with us by attention to detail 艹.
転, rotate:                        Vehicle's "conversation" (action) works by parts rotating.
陰, shadow/secret:          Let's talk now, hidden behind the hills.  Why?  To keep secrets.

I omit 曇雲 as more relevant to 雨 weather stuff, and 魂 as more relevant to demons 鬼.

云会絵陰伝芸転

夋: linger here with me

夋は表外漢字です。Per Henshall, it's something like linger, from a self 厶 on legs, with 夂 stroll:  maybe a self that walks slowly, dawdling.

俊, excellence:        This person's so great he can dawdle and still come from behind and win.
酸, acid/bitter:         Booze that sits too long maybe turn bitter/acid instead.  (IDK if that's true.)
唆, entice/suggest:  Words that say, "Linger here with me."

夋唆俊酸

摂 and associated explosions

摂, absorb:            Hold hand to ear to avoid absorbing the sound of an explosion.
渋, diarrhea:          If you try to stop the explosion of diarrhea, it's apt to spray.
                                (Yuck, but it's a yucky subject.)
塁, baseball, fort:  On the baseball field, you'll get a splash of dirt when you
                               slide into base.
                               OR:  When there are explosions on the field of battle,
                               you need earthenworks for your fort.

摂渋塁

主: I'm kind of a big deal

主, main/chief:  It's like a king with a mark at the top pointing out, he's the big deal.  Example use:  主婦 - しゅふ, housewife.
注, pour/concentrate:  Pour water on the king's head.  Example:  注ぐ - そそぐ, pour.
住, reside:  A person's main spot is the home.  Example:  住む, to live somewhere.

For the rest, I like to work from 住 not 主.

往, formerly/journey:  When you're always traveling, the intersections are your home.  Example:  一往 - いちおう, more or less.  Also 往来 - おうらい, comings and goings.
駐, stay/reside:  A home for the horse to stop and stay.  Example:  駐車場 - ちゅうしゃじょう, parking lot.
柱, pillar/support:  The main load-bearing beam in your residence.  Example:  電柱 - でんちゅう, telephone pole.


主住往駐柱注

Learn these 早く

早, early/fast:           Sun rising over the grass, early in the morning.
草, grass:                 Put the grass marker above that rising sun to emphasize
                                    it's the grass you're talking about.
卓, table:                  Early, put things on (上) the breakfast table.
悼, lament:               No smiles, not a single word at the breakfast table -- a
                                   sad song, or lament.
章, chapter:              Early in the book, you'll find a stand of chapters growing
                                   (table of contents).
彰, clear/public:       The chapter's details are clear for the public to see in the
                                    lines that follow.
障, harm/handicap:  Keeping your life's chapters isolated behind the hills can
                                    be quite a handicap.


早草卓悼章彰障

Taking on the 任 to say "にん"

壬は人名用漢字です。It may mean something about carrying a pole.  I've decided to let it mean a king 王 that's leaning toward (deferring to, friendly to) something.
任, （にん）reponsibility/appoint/entrust:  The king leans toward appointing/entrusting things to the man who is responsible.
賃, （ちん）fee/charge/wages:                    You are responsible to pay your fees/charges/etc.
妊, （にん）pregnant:                                  Even the king must defer to the needs of the pregnant woman.

任賃妊

敢: dare to learn kanji

敢, daring:  Grab someone's ear by the top and hit it with a stick -- a daring
                     (if foolish) act!
厳, strict:    Someone represses (pushes down) your daring, keeping it
                     locked inside -- that's strict.
敢厳

王: おお my, what a piece of work that king is

たくさん漢字derive from 王, おお, meaning "king."  I am going to skip over descendants of 金 (metal, money) because that's a whole lot more kanji.  I'll also put 主 and its descendants in another post.

王, king:                   The one who links heaven (top line), earth (bottom line),
                                   and mankind (middle line).  Yes, the Chinese did have a
                                   high opinion of kings.  Or pretended to.
旺, flourishing:         The Sun King makes everything seem to flourish.
斑, blemish/spot:     The kings aren't getting along -- it's part of the culture to find
                                   fault (blemishes) on each other.
班, squad/corps:      The corps puts a skinny sword between the 2 kings, but
                                   they're still ready to fight.
琴, harp:                   Now let's play the harp for the kings.
狂, insane:               The king is now gone mad as a wild beast.
皇, emperor:            The emperor, white with anger, sits on the king to
                                   make him behave.

"Straighten up or you're dead meat."

望, wish:                  Many seem to wish for the throne; if the king's not careful,
                                  he will be dead meat.
徴, indications:        At the crossroads near the mountains, the king seeks teaching
                                  to learn the signs.  And here is what he learned:

全, all:                     "I've got heaven, human society, and earth all under one roof
                                 -- I've got it all!"  Be grateful for what you have, etc.
栓, stopper, plug:    "And a  piece of wood to hold all the stuff in."  A letdown,
                                  when you think that...
金, money/metal:    The king learned to focus, under his roof, on all that money.
玉, jewel:                 ...and the jewel he's so attached to he keeps it at his side.
宝, treasure:             All those jewels under his roof are his treasure or valuables.
国, country:              In fact, everything in the borders of the country, he considers his treasure.
呈, exhibit/present:  You got an audience!  Speak before the king to exhibit/present
                                   your wisdom.  But he asks...
程, how much:         "How much rice harvest are you exhibiting to me, the king?" Argh!
潤, profit:                  What will it profit him?  The king's behind his gates, and the
                                   rains come and wash his wealth -- rice harvest, jewels, money,
                                   whatever -- away.

王旺琴斑班皇望狂望全栓金玉宝国呈程潤

莫: the mists of sunset

莫 is 人名用漢字 (recall, that's kanji used for names but not part of the standard set).  It's supposed to be the sun setting behind reeds:  you can see them at the top, and the 大-like symbol below is also reeds, by simplification.  TheKanjiMap says it's something like isn't or mustn't, but I think of it (per Henshall) as a situation when things are not quite clear (like at sunset), fuzzy, obscure

暮, sunset:        The extra sun is there to emphasize that this time, we're really
                            talking about the sunset, not using any extended meaning.
模, imitation:      It's not clear if this is real wood or an imitation.
膜, membrane:  A vague, fuzzy layer of flesh is a membrane.
墓, grave:          At the sunset of life, they put the body in the earthen grave.
幕, curtain:        Cloth that obscures the play you're about to see.
漠, vague:         The mists at sunset make what you see vague and obscure.
募, recruit:         Raw recruits' knowledge if vague and fuzzy, but they
                            empower your organization.
慕, yearn:          When I see the twilight of sunset, my heart yearns for home. 
                           (And it feels broken up -- maybe that's why it's drawn in that unusual way.)

莫模膜墓幕漠募暮慕

酋: furthermore, respect the chief

酋も表外漢字です。It means chieftan.  Maybe it's putting horns on your drinking cup -- if you can drink everyone under the table, you deserve to be chief.

猶, furthermore/yet:  The chieftan's pet is something you, furthermore, must
                                    pretend to respect as well.
尊, exalted/respect:   The measure of a chieftan is how much respect he earns.

猶尊

交 （こう）: kou-ming together

交 means "intersection" or "coming together" or some such.  Think of it as a map, perhaps, a dead end where two roads cross.  Either that or father 父 wearing a hat when he meets his friends.

Each of these symbols can be pronounced こう.  Nice.

校, school:      A wood room where we come together to learn.
効, effect:      The coming together of our abilities makes us effective.
郊, outskirts:  Intersections outside the city.
較, compare:  We wait at the intersection comparing cars.
絞, strangle:   Strangle with the intersection of a tight thread.

I don't want 父 to feel lonely, so I'll put him and his other descendant here too.

父, father:                   Someone holding two switches to keep you in line. 
                                     (Childrearing used to be rough.)
釜 （かま）, kettle:  Metal device for steaming poppa?

交校効郊較絞父釜

付と守

寸 (measurement; think of a hand with measuring tape) has lots of descendants, too many to put in one group.  So I'm taking two subgroups:  付 and 守.
付, attach:                   Use hand to stick tape onto a person.
附, attach:                   Past the hills, you can still use your hand to stick
                                     tape on a person.
                                     (Meanings of these 2 漢字 seem to be the same.)
府, urban prefecture:  A place with houses near enough to attach to each
                                     other must be urban
符, sign/token:           Attach a bamboo sign on the wall
腐, rot:                       Sticky, rotten meat in your kitchen.  This is also part of the
                                    word tofu 豆腐, bean rot -- yum.
守, protect:                Under the roof, measure the house to verify it's safe
                                    and protect people
狩, hunt:                    Hunter protects, under the roof, Little Red Riding Hood
                                    from a wild animal.

府付附付符狩守寸