Anyone recognize this Japanese character?

**zombifier25** · May 16th, 2012

For some reason, my sister asked me what this character is. I have tried various OCR program; none works, so I hope if anyone speaking Japanese can help tell me what this is ~~(or is it even a valid character)~~

**s.fox** · May 17th, 2012

Are you sure it is Japanese? It looks like it could be Chinese to me.

**Metallion** · May 17th, 2012

Never seen it before. I also think it might be Chinese.

**areteichi** · May 17th, 2012

It's probably a calligraphic form of 気 (ki or き, which roughly means gas, air,)　

(Or should I say that's all I can think of, assuming that it's a Japanese character)

I suppose it would be just as correct to call it a Chinese character insofar as the Kanji is derived from the traditional Chinese. I'm not sure how the Chinese people write the character today though (as they simplified their writing system during the cultural revolution in the 60s).

**mips** · May 17th, 2012

Try http://www.nciku.com/

**zombifier25** · May 17th, 2012

Ok, it might be Chinese; no wonder my (very basic) Japanese-speaking sister can't recognize it.

**whatthefunk** · May 17th, 2012

Originally Posted by areteichi

It's probably a calligraphic form of 気 (ki or き, which roughly means gas, air,)　

(Or should I say that's all I can think of, assuming that it's a Japanese character)

I suppose it would be just as correct to call it a Chinese character insofar as the Kanji is derived from the traditional Chinese. I'm not sure how the Chinese people write the character today though (as they simplified their writing system during the cultural revolution in the 60s).

Theres no way its 気. "Ki" has 6 strokes and the Kanji the OP posted has 9.

My guess is that its archaic.

**kumaryukuma** · May 17th, 2012

As pointed out earlier, it vaguely "resembles" the character:

JP: 気 (ki) Trad Ch: 氣 or Simp. Ch: 气 (qi)
Meaning "steam", "air", or less commonly but more widely known in the West, mystical "life force" derived thereof.

However, on closer inspection, it's merely a random juxtaposition of what appears to be Chinese or Japanese character brush strokes. Its not a 気 character deformed through calligraphic deconstruction either.

Each stroke appears to be "authentic" as far as the dynamics of brush strokes are concerned. The extra thickness of the two strokes forming a kind of a pyramid shape near the bottom indicates that they were copied from characters of a different size. From this, we can assume that they were copied from elsewhere and composited together.

I hope no one's got this as a tattoo. I've seen some truly embarrassing ones permanently etched on some really hilarious places... Embarrassing for me that is.

**forrestcupp** · May 17th, 2012

I drew it in nciku.com and nothing similar came up. I searched for the image on Tineye, and it didn't find anything at all. Based on that and what kumaryukuma said, I think someone just made it up.