亀

turtle, tortoise

Kanji 1985

People universally associate turtles with slowness. The Japanese do, too, but they’ve taken turtle symbolism quite a bit further. They also see these ponderous animals as representing luck, longevity, wisdom, experience, divisiveness, ugliness, and sexual attractiveness! Ugliness and sexual attractiveness?! Quite a range! As if all that weren’t enough, 亀 is also a radical and a new addition to the Joyo set, as of 2010.