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

缶: the tin can

缶 is a container, jar, or tin can.  I don't get it either.  But maybe the stroke at the upper left is the opened lid.
陶, pottery:  Beyond the terraced hills ⻖, there's a kiln 勹, and a container cooking inside.  Yep, that's how you make pottery.
謡, ballad:   Song you might sing while carrying your containers by hand.  (Keeps your mind off how heavy they are, maybe.)

缶陶謡

冘: movin' on

冘:  this 表外漢字 means something like "move on."  I can picture it as someone with broad shoulders or football pads, walking right at a fast pace. 

沈, sink:                   Movin' on under water.  Just not in a good direction.
枕, まくら (pillow):  Well, maybe the stuffing is wood chips or sawdust. 
                                  Movin' you on to dreamland.

冘沈枕

九か十のもの

卆は表外漢字ですが、「soldier」です。はい、but I find it easier (and funnier) to think of it as nine or ten.

砕, smash:  9 or 10 rocks out to smash 'most anything.
枠, frame:  9 or 10 trees can frame any view.  (It's sort of a
                    frame or bounding box.)
酔, drunk:  What you get after 9 or 10 drinks.
粋, chic:     You might just use rice or flour, but I use at least 9 or 10
                     types of grain.  Très chic!

砕枠酔粋

豸: 奇妙な動物

豸is 表外漢字, meaning (per Kanji Study) snake, bug IIRC, and badger.  I'll go with badger as it looks sort of like 豕 but with extra stuff at the top.  Teeth?  That helps with...

貇, which is also 表外漢字, and seems to mean "gnaw."  Which is what a critter might do with things it stops to stare at 艮 because they look like good 良い food 食べ物.

So after all that:

墾, cultivate:  One way to get land 土 ready for planting is to get critters 豸 to
                        gnaw on it  貇.  (Farmers do this with pigs, but maybe badgers
                        will work in a pinch.)
懇, cordial:     The warm fuzzy feeling a critter gets when you give it
                           something to gnaw.

Kanji: 墾懇.

我: It's all about ego this time

我, self:  a halberd with tassels.  Maybe I think I'm special so I decorate my halberd?  But I think it looks like (yet another) altar too.  Just a very halberd-like one.  That connotation will help with some of these derived symbols.
餓, starve:             My selfish self sees food and I'm starving.
義, righteousness: The sheep 羊 is a symbol of virtue; my self's virtue is my righteousness.
犠, sacrifice:         The cow counted for my righteousness is the one I sacrifice to the gods.
儀, ceremony:       But really a person can best touch his righteousness, and his soul, in ritual.
議, discussion:      Let's have some words about how awesomely righteous I am.

Kanji: 我餓義犠儀議.

卜: the divining rod

卜、単独で (by itself)、人名用漢字(kanji for proper names)です。  It's a divining rod, and looks like one.  Since there's no mention of water I can find, I think it's more general than the western version, which looks for water.

外, outside:  Magic happens at night, so that's when to look for a divining rod.
朴, crude:     A divining rod is a crude use of wood.
掛, suspend: The daring thief takes divining rod in hand to find the square jewels.
赴, proceed:  At a run, follow the divining rod to proceed to the treasure.
訃, obituary: Words written up as the thief goes to meet the divine.  He shouldn't have proceeded!

外朴掛赴訃.

斬: some gruesome 漢字

Let's be honest:  this set's mnemonics are gruesome.  But when your root is "beheading," I don't know what else you can do.
斬, beheading:    It's the French Revolution, and the cart is carrying the hapless
                                victim to the site with the man with the axe.
暫, temporarily:  Just for a short while, the beheading victim gets to see the sun.
漸, steadily:        And then, that splash of -- urk, too awful to say -- steadily streams out.

斬暫漸

十。。。九。。。八。。。

あけおめ！ことよろ！