岡

hill; higher place; outside; beside

Kanji 1968

Find out what role 岡 (primarily “hill”) could possibly play in a bathhouse, on an inkstone, in a wooden carrying box, in unrequited love, and in a 2nd-class red-light district. The essay provides connective thread between uses of 岡 that otherwise seem completely random. See how 岡 relates to 丘, another kanji for "hill." And enjoy a bevy of photos with 岡 in the names of people and places.

Revision history:

Jan. 10, 2025: p. 1, Character Profile: Deleted the line "Learned in junior high school in Japan," as I'm phasing that out.

Feb. 9, 2024: p. 6: Fixed a tiny formatting problem.

Dec. 5, 2023:

• p. 9: Slightly revised the sentence translation, as 色々な means "various," not "colorful"!
• p. 13: Imposed consistency on the formatting of place names.

May 25, 2023: Revised p. 1 and deleted two sentences on p. 7 to reflect that dictionaries likely now include the Shin-Joyo kanji 岡, even though they previously didn't.

May 28, 2021: 

• p. 2: Updated the Henshall etymology.
• p. 5: Removed several broken links and then rewrote/removed the surrounding text.
• p. 16: Added a link to the Kanshudo games.

Sept. 13, 2013: Deleted a false quiz option on p. 15 that was too close to being correct.

Aug. 23, 2013: Originally published.