100% found this document useful (1 vote)

842 views47 pages

Bible Stories in Chinese Characters

Q: What relationship does the document suggest exists between kanji characters and biblical stories?

The document suggests that certain kanji characters might have been influenced or inspired by biblical stories, especially in terms of religious and mythical narratives surrounding creation and divine entities. Characters that seem to depict divine acts or concepts related to life are thought to share parallels with biblical stories, such as the creation narrative in Genesis. This relationship implies a cross-cultural influence or convergence where sacred texts and ancient scripts may reflect similar philosophical and theological themes, fostering a richer understanding of both kanji and biblical histories .

Q: How does the concept of sacrifice relate to worship in the context of religious practices as presented in the sources?

Sacrifice is deeply connected to worship in religious practices as it acts both as a form of devotion and reverence to divinity, and as a means to communicate with the divine. In Chapter 22, titled 'Sacrifice and Worship', the kanji for 'sacrifice' (犠牲) and 'worship' (礼拝) highlight this relationship. The act of offering a sacrifice is seen as both a way to honor God and a form of communication, reinforcing the sacred bond between humans and the divine .

Q: How does the pictographic representation of God reflect cultural interpretations similar to those found in other ancient civilizations?

The pictographic representation of God in ancient Chinese characters, such as those discussed in the context of divinity and creation, reflects similarities with other ancient writing systems like Egyptian hieroglyphics. Both systems use symbolic imagery to represent divine concepts, indicating a universal tendency to associate certain images with spiritual meanings. This suggests a shared human inclination to encode religious beliefs in written forms that transcend mundane interpretations, indicating historic connections and cultural exchanges across civilizations .

Q: Analyze how the imagery of hands is utilized in the ancient character compositions to convey divine interaction in creation according to the sources.

The imagery of hands in ancient character compositions represents divine interaction in creation, symbolizing God's active role in shaping life. Characters with downward-facing hands depict God's influence descending upon the earth to create or bless life, emphasizing the act of crafting or nurturing. Conversely, upward-facing hands could illustrate human reception of divine blessing. This dual imagery conveys a dynamic interaction between the divine and human realms, reinforcing the narrative of creation as a collaborative process between divine agency and earthly existence .

Q: In what ways might the early interpretations of certain Chinese characters, such as 生 (sei, alive), suggest an embedded religious framework similar to Genesis?

Early interpretations of Chinese characters like 生 (sei, alive) are seen to have religious connotations, mirroring stories from Genesis where life is spoken into existence. The character often associated with the 'breath of life' concept suggests a theologically rooted framework, highlighting the divine act of creation. The structure of these characters may indicate a deep-seated alignment with religious narratives, implying that early Chinese scripts were not purely practical but intertwined with spiritual ideologies, reflecting a Genesis-like understanding of life's origins .

Q: What are the implications of the ancient Chinese characters' potential connection to religious concepts rather than everyday life, as suggested by the document?

The potential connection between ancient Chinese characters and religious concepts suggests that these characters may have been more than practical symbols for daily objects. Instead, they may embody deeper spiritual and mythological meanings, possibly reflecting narratives and deities akin to those found in early religious texts like the Old Testament. This implies a cultural and theological intersection, where language serves as a bridge between the tangible and the metaphysical, extending its role beyond communication to encompass cultural identity and spiritual practice .

Q: Evaluate the role of 'breath' or 気 (ki) in ancient Chinese spiritual practices according to the source.

In ancient Chinese spiritual practices, 気 (ki), representing 'breath' or 'vapor,' plays a central role as it is seen as the essence of life and spiritual energy. The rising vapor interpreted as divine presence underlines its significance in connecting the corporal world with the spiritual. The character's depiction and its frequent use in religious contexts suggest that 気 was perceived not just as a physical breath but a manifestation of spiritual vitality or divine life force, reflecting its foundational role in both spirituality and existential beliefs .

Q: Discuss the significance of the number three in the ancient Chinese characters' depiction of spiritual concepts as noted in the document.

The number three bears significant spiritual meaning in ancient Chinese characters, often representing concepts of balance, unity, and divine presence. In the context of spiritual concepts, it relates to the three 'persons' involved in divine manifestations, akin to the Holy Trinity in Christianity. This repeated numerical motif across characters underscores a universal archetype signifying completeness and the divine order, suggesting an ancient understanding of the number three as a powerful symbol in both theology and cosmology .

Q: Analyze the role of the character 父 (fu) in context of the creation narrative and its symbolic significance from the document.

The character 父 (fu), meaning 'father,' holds symbolic significance in creation narratives as it represents the concept of the 'Heavenly Father' or divine creator, akin to a potter shaping life. This imagery resonates with both biblical and Shinto perspectives of creation, where God or the heavenly entity is seen as a paternal figure. This symbolism suggests a paternal role of guiding, nurturing, and creating life, reinforcing the character's depiction in both historical and religious storytelling to symbolize authority and origination .

Q: What parallels can be made between the character 若 (jaku, young) and biblical stories, and what significance does this hold?

The character 若 (jaku, young) parallels biblical stories by its original meaning of 'bearing the image of' or 'resembling,' connoting a likeness akin to humans being made in the image of God. Its evolution reflects a symbolic connection to the 'fields of God,' reminiscent of the Garden of Eden. This character's foundation in resemblance highlights its significance as a testament to humanity’s divine origin narratives, mirroring biblical stories of creation where humans are depicted as reflections of divinity, espousing similar ideas across cultures about creation and divine imagery .

This document discusses how ancient Chinese characters may contain hidden references to biblical stories like the Tower of Babel. It explains that Chinese characters are often composed of simpler characters that together form associations and narratives. The author speculates that early Chinese scribes, living thousands of years after events in Genesis, may have still had oral traditions of biblical stories that unconsciously influenced the meanings they embedded in characters. The document then analyzes specific characters that seem to reference concepts and narratives from early chapters of Genesis in surprising ways.

Uploaded by

lezlie_2k2

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

100% found this document useful (1 vote)

842 views47 pages

Bible Stories in Chinese Characters

Uploaded by

lezlie_2k2

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Preface: Introduces the purpose of the book, historical context, and author's intentions behind merging biblical stories with Chinese character interpretations.
Part I: The Makeup of Chinese Characters and the Genesis Stories: Describes the relationship between Chinese characters and biblical Genesis narratives, exploring historical and cultural interpretations.

BIBLE STORIES HIDDEN

IN CHINESE CHARACTERS
A JAPANESE PERSPECTIVE

塔
� � + 一 + 口 = 合
� � humanity one language unite

� 合 + 土 + 艹 = 塔
� � � � � dirt grass
� � unite (brick materials) = tower

Did a distant memory of the Tower of Babel prompt ancient Chinese

scribes to use these associations to build up the character for "tower?"

by Timothy D. Boyle
Chinese characters, or "kanji" (漢字) as they are referred to in
Japanese, are often made up of combinations of simpler characters
that in themselves have meaning. As ancient Chinese scribes
developed more and more pictographs to symbolize words in their
spoken language, it is clear that they were making associations that
in themselves told a story of some sort. They left no record to
indicate what they specifically had in mind, and so we who live some
4000 years after the fact can only speculate as to what was in their
minds. It is truly amazing, however, to see how so many of the
associations they used make perfect sense if we use as a working
assumption that they still had oral traditions handing down stories
similar to what we find in Genesis.

This book details numerous basic characters that would have been
among the first developed. These characters tell stories through
their internal associations that are amazingly similar to those we find
in the early chapters of Genesis. Numerous other characters that
would appear to have no direct connection with any specific story in
Genesis nevertheless tell stories that are remarkably consistent with
biblical themes. They all, however, point to the hand of God
somehow directing the ancient Chinese to make these associations.
This book is designed to provide readers with tools to make the
Scripture and its timeless truths come alive in a new way to those
people who still use the descendants of these ancient characters in
their writing systems today, namely the Chinese, Japanese and
Koreans.

義
羊＋我 = 義
lamb (sheep) ＋ self (ego) = righteousness

Putting one's ego (我) under the Lamb (of God) (羊) is the essence
of the biblical meaning of righteousness (義).

Published by:
Timothy D. Boyle
Kobe, Japan, [Link]
Originally published under the code: ISBN4-925124-02-1 c0016
Table of Contents 1!

Table of Contents

Preface� � � � � � � � �� p.11
Part I The Makeup of Chinese Characters and the Genesis Stories
漢字の形成と創世記物語

Chapter One: The Religious Concepts Of Ancient China�� p.27

� � 漢字を生み出した古代中国の宗教観
1. (犧 = 犠) (GI = sacrifice)

Chapter Two: Could the Ancient Chinese Have Known About�Eden?

古代中国人はエデンの園の話を知っていたでしょうか？ � � � p.33
� � �
2. 靈（霊） [ ] (REI, tama = spirit)
3. 造 [ ] (ZŌ, tsuku(ru) = construct, make)
4. 土 [ ] (TO, DO, tsuchi = soil, dirt)
5. 生 [ ] (SHŌ, SEI, iki(ru), u(mu) = life, exist, be born)
6. 告 [ ] (KOKU, tsu(geru) = tell, inform)
7. 气 [ ] (KI = vapor)
8. 風 [ ] (FŪ, kaze = wind)
9. 神 [ ] (JIN, SHIN, kami = god, deity)
10. 丁 [ ] (TEI, CHŌ = adult male)
11. 印 [ ] (IN, shirushi = seal, imprint, symbol)
12. 天 [ ] (TEN, ama = sky, heavens, Heaven)
13. 大 [ ] (TAI, DAI, ōki(i) = large, great)
14. 父 [ ] (FU, chichi, tō = father)
15. 甫 [ ] (HO, hajime = beginning, father, field)
16. [ ] (saketsubo = vessel (for sake))
17. 若 [ ] (JAKU, waka(i) = young, similarity)
18. 參（参）[ ] (SAN, mai(ru) = visiting (a shrine))

Chapter Three: Happiness in the Garden of Eden� p.46

エデンの園にあった幸福
19. 福 [ ] (FUKU = blessing, happiness)
Table of Contents 2!

20. 富 [ ] (FŪ, tomi = wealth, abundance)

21. 家 [ ] (KA, KE, ie = home, household)
22. 園 [ ] (EN, sono = garden, park)
23. 泉 [ ] (SEN, izumi = spring, fountain)
24. 西 [ ] (SEI, nishi = west)
25. 要 [ ] (YŌ, i (ru) = necessity, requirement)
26. 里 [ ] (RI, sato = village, parents home)
27. 肉 [ ] (NIKU = flesh, meat)
28. 孝 [ ] (KŌ = filial piety)
29. 夾 [ ] (KYŌ, hasa(mu) = to hold tight, near)

Chapter Four: The Mountain of the Lord p.54

主なる神の山
30. 山 [ ] (SAN, yama = mountain)
31. 阜 [ ] (FU = hill, mound)
32. 陽 [ ] (YŌ = sun, positive)
33. 陵 [ ] (RYŌ, misasagi = imperial tomb, hill)
34. 陛 [ ] (HEI = stairway)
35. 降 [ ] (KŌ, fu(ru), o(riru) = descend)
36. 声 [ ] (SEI, koe = voice, sound)
37. 祉 [ ] (SHI = happiness)
38. 留 [ ] (RYŪ, RU, todo(maru) = stay, remain)

Chapter 5: The Ancestors of Humanity p.59

人類の祖先�
39. 元 [ ] (GAN, GEN, moto = origin, foundation)
40. 完 (KAN = completion)
41. 祖 [ ] (SO = ancestor)
42. 族 [ ] (ZOKU = family, tribe)
43. 氏 [ ] (SHI, uji = family, clan)
44. 昏 [ ] (KON = dark, dusk, bride)
45. 身 [ ] (SHIN, mi, karada = body, person)
46. 旦 [ ] (TAN = dawn, morning)
47. 火 [ ] (KA, hi = fire)
48. 赤 [ ] (SEKI, aka = red)
49. 文 [ ] (MON, BUN, fumi = literature, civilization)
3!

p.66

p.82
p.71
見 [ ] (KEN, mi(ru), mami(eru) = see, have audience with)

61. 後 [ ] (GO, KŌ, ato, ushi(ro) = rear, later, successor)

�

r.l S{$SE.3N ( * ) "4ne.,J I' r( =.R e.. A AlP-nlp'lv 0 rzs'p1-' ffir1

59. 宗 [ ] (SHŪ, SŌ = religion, head person, revere)

ol H
57. 營（営） (EI, itona(mi) = encampment, operation)

col
,Etr. dy s.! Q g, E1+ p t1 I I Q ti.{d rz Ar rfl$i+x #' F. x } R s sq#E$€ e l,!-4o
.llt\ :.r J V€ 0 V 3 J {" J & J' I * r1'o+o }Q < "pA' Q &IKAJ'I1 +16 0'! "ffiS
+16 -J

75. 示 [ ] (JI, SHI, shime(su) = reveal, indicate)

�

ri€tltt^ ar
&€[Link] P { o,,oAr,pAJ' I S {$ti kEJ e fi mr.r J P 8A'*'
(DAN, dan(jiru) = converse, discuss)

74. �好 [ ] (KŌ, kono(mu), su(ku) = good, like)

r
rl(r ( * ) S+

69. 魂 [ ] (KON, tamashii, tama = soul, spirit)

Iriln,nfui#[Link]" fi{HQ{t'Np€a fr tl*1(t}E{n-' ll0e

68. 魅 [ ] (MI, baka(su) = bewitch, enchant)

rJ rgr ( tt ) &1^.e{..aOgs'ffi^v:l l,e'1 r -i)Ktr(lJX1l(J-tE'ft *V 3'F6't^'
52. 榮（栄) [ ] (EI, saka(e) = glory, splendor)

76. 禁 [ ] (KIN, kin(jiru) = prohibit, forbid)

iJ it \ QES+qlt l0 o&H.{$K&€0 v' H
(+t \) K'VOl l0 A{<e KS 1 0

71. 畏 [ ] (I, osore(ru) = fear, reverence)

63. 弗 [ ] (FUTSU, doru = negate, dollar)
Chapter 7: The Devil That Deceived Humanity
會（会）[ ] (KAI, a(u) = meet, assemble)

p€o,il rltfiH{e ft#i{e t(r (@*rlfrf r I ' I +) 'ft^s'' <ENffiJ4lrrrJllt^'( yS rKE

62. 弔 [ ] (CHŌ, tomura(u) = mourning)

Chapter 8: The God Who is Always Watching

58. 宮 [ ] (KU, KYŪ, GŪ, miya = palace)
53. 光 [ ] (KŌ, hikari = light, radiance)

tH (*) S$+t.s'9r4l'
[Link]'ttF! r(Ej (\) +1.,F'(+r6+^Ar' r€r ({) 'J3'ntf!$s-' r5V3PR(5&

65. 弘 [ ] (KŌ, hiro(i) = broad, wide)

r<+NH: (*) !t^"el a-t :

67. 魔 [ ] (MA = demon, evil spirit)

64. 夷 [ ] (I, ebisu = barbarian, kill)
0 +,$1..r -,1 3,nfu{B!{1's'+xt^' Ht$EJ's"l{P'(+r6'1^rJ'
� �

66. 鬼 [ ] (KI, oni = devil, demon)

,n{mi#.l1{#S tftffi-j (Nirvana) {5V .3.tr6t^" E[t^"o g' r#EL +l',-?Fl.*'a S!{#S

72. 蛇 [ ] (DA, JA, hebi = snake)

73. 死 [ ] (SHI, shi(nu) = death)
r#3r P€.s.' d/.*r1tr(K rHir 'l{tnorjlg'!^" 16j S{[Link]}'(+1'{l'z' {#

60. 宅 [ ] (TAKU = residence)

&+Eg< 0 [Link] 3,i.1 3tnt'{s'affiHQ g :ft{r+re g(Rq'o*'k I q@l{]3{'i'Np+^"
fe !' r.t e fi'&'\' A H'<! *RA V S^s

常に見ておられる神� �
,o J & J +l
^s' d# S r J e +'+ts{$$\t"(+ldflS&'{ Q
55. 勞（労) (RŌ = labor, toil)
{ J * +t P <' [Link] J' r*r S {l'H+1,riP'(+r6 +^Ar "{v * 11 El l€{]{g'$E,Elg
Chapter 6: The Radiant Couple

R S .ft ,p

70. 媿 [ ] (haji = shame)

(EI = grave)
ol
col H r.l S{$SE.3N ( * ) *"4ne.,J I*' r( =.R e.. A AlP-nlp'lv 0 rzs'p1-' ffir1

人間を騙した鬼
J.t rc.o
輝いている二人

dy s.! Q g, E1+ p t1 I I Q ti.{d

5{$$J rz Ar rfl$i+x #' F. x } R s sq#E$€ e l,!-4o
,Etr.
.llt\ :.r J {" J & J' I * r1'o+o }Q < "pA' Q &IKAJ'I1 +16 0'! "ffiS
J V€ 0 V 3 +16 -J
r,(31^r
I 0+1ri€tltt^
P 8A'*' ar (+Kffi<) 9' ,p,n
a&€[Link] P { o,,oAr,pAJ' I S {$ti kEJ e fi mr.r J '\,e
rtOfi.e fi1$r:r1tl0&€s.' r I
g+1 rr-1rqt^t
Iriln,nfui#[Link]" fi{HQ{t'Np€a fr tl*1(t}E{n-' ll0e rl(r13,.'^l'l#iL'
(H)' .tx+l r6+Efuf.-, ( * ) S+
r IR
rJ rgr ( tt ) &1^.e{..aOgs'ffi^v:l l,e'1 r -i)Ktr(lJX1l(J-tE'ft
fi(+(S{t
iJ it \ QES+qlt l0 o&H.{$K&€0 v' H
Np€,e 6 (+t *V 3'F6't^'
,u$He < {,r$$"(+}6&'rJ'
\) K'VOl l0 A{<e KS 1 0
\-/1 ( <-<+L'/\)
<< (t<) 11 rtEN({$
1i6'il A^ (t- + Lz1+
p€o,il rltfiH{e ft#i{e<rt(r (@*rlfrf r I ' I +)P€.s"
(<q€.{o{K\Hl)
'ft^s'' <ENffiJ4lrrrJllt^'( yS rKE
tH (*) S$+t.s'9r4l' H{
x1^ \ l-6 rH.L rH(Er 9€"0''rpgl&'*'i1' r'(31^' hK{(r p€041+'\)
r(Ej (\)
[Link]'ttF! (<q' tz^,)K r#r g€0{F'l+,i1tu0V!P.0*{]iuE[S{I<l'-h\"{
+1.,F'(+r6+^Ar' r€r ({) 'J3'ntf!$s-' r5V3PR(5& (Z() * tH
r<+NH: (*) !t^"el a-t :
( 5' ( )Ht$EJ's"l{P'(+r6'1^rJ'
Table of Contents

-,1 3,nfu{B!{1's'+xt^'
0 +,$1..r tor,ft_r Ar1'nlHPi!{t's+6t^"
,n{mi#.l1{#S tftffi-j (Nirvana) {5V .3.tr6t^" E[t^"o g' r#EL +l',-?Fl.*'a S!{#S
r#3r P€.s.' d/.*r1tr(K rHir 'l{tnorjlg'!^" 16j S{[Link]}'(+1'{l'z' {# p' r$
q $Kffi4(!.6'.(riJ' rJ e{.1-Afri$11 r{<+toka{arrSnPSs'Olml
&+Eg<a0 [Link] 3,i.1 3tnt'{s'affiHQ g :ft{r+re g(Rq'o*'k I q@l{]3{'i'Np+^"

54. 塋

56. 談
50.
51. fe
.J
@
*,
sf

,o J & J +l
# ^s' d# S e +'+ts{$$\t"(+ldflS&'{ Q
R { S .ft ,p J * +t P <' [Link]

r J !' r.t e fi'&'\' A H'<! RAyq='i;*t'

,0 3' (rtu.31 { !,nfr1$!eEp+€'N.,Jfrln3
o +,l r[Pr
J' r*r S {l'H+1,riP'(+r6
p ds a(i+{&fiK+{ +^Ar { s
"{v
{t+K
* 0 El
V S^s
] I 0 €.s'+ttt^'
l€{]{g'$E,Elg
11
e ![Link]! r(r ( "-- ) & r9{r .rl',ffo V1'4ft(NHtSpt^K' "o

J&J' Eg{1'N
,r. I 0e{$t1rEHe r1g., *:{ml(11 A^ (g<E) ttet+'\)+L't1${^H{$t+'{1e 9' p
$R (w
N
5{$$J J.t +1{J
rc.o
3 &rrm{3 rt{+^" &&V' .VS I 1 0 S{S11i-qt+'Kffifr].+'(j*4lK! I 0
{{1 0 4l ep
oa
a rtOfi.e fi1$r:r1tl0&€s.' '\,e I 0+1 r,(31^r (+Kffi<) 9' ,p,n I
g+1 rr-1rqt^t (H)' .tx+l r6+Efuf.-, 13,.'^l'l#iL'
r IR Np€,e 6 ,u$He < {,r$$"(+}6&'rJ' << (t<) 11
fi(+(S{t
rtEN({$
<r P€.s" \-/1 ( <-<+L'/\) 1i6'il A^ (t- + Lz1+
(<q€.{o{K\Hl)
Table of Contents 4!

77. 婪 [ ] (RAN = covet)

78. 令 [ ] (REI = command, order)
79. 命 [ ] (MEI, mei(jiru), inochi = command, life)
80. 旨 [ ] (SHI, mune = will, instructions)
81. 始 [ ] (SHI, haji(mari) = beginning)
82. 杜 [ ] (TO, fusa(gu) = prevent, bar)
83. 視 (SHI, mi(ru) = look at)
84. 省 [ ] (SHŌ, kaeri(miru), habu(ku) = watch over, omit)
85. 躱 (TA, kawa(su) = escape, hide)

Chapter 9: The First Clothes and the Covering of Nakedness p.88

� 裸の恥を被う最初の衣服� � �
86. 衣 [ ] (I, koromo = garment, robe)
87. 裸 [ ] (RA, hadaka = nakedness)
88. 被 [ ] (HI, kabu(ru), o(u) = cover, conceal)
89. 補 [ ] (HO, ogina(u) = assistant, supplement)
90. 初 [ ] (SHO, hatsu, haji(maru) = beginning, first)
91. 美 [ ] (BI, utsuku(shii) = beauty
92. 義 [ ] (GI = righteousness)

Chapter 10: Humans Are Punished p.93

� 刑罰を受ける人間
93. 遠 [ ] (EN, to(zakaru) = distant, alienated)
94. 袁 [ ] (EN = robe)
95. 哀 [ ] (AI, awa(re) = pity, grief)
96. 喪 [ ] (SŌ, mo = mourning, loss)
97. 依 [ ] (I, yo(ru) = depend on)
98. 卒 [ ] (SOTSU, sos(suru) = die)
99. 苦 [ ] (KU, kuru(shii), niga(i) = suffering, pain, bitter)
100. 刑 [ ] (KEI = punishment, penalty)
101. 荊 [ ] (KEI, ibara = thorn, brier)
102. 棘 (KYOKU, toge, odoro = thorn, thicket)
103. 朿 [ ] (SHI, toge = thorn)
104. 刺 [ ] (SHI, toge, sa(su) = thorn, pierce)
105. 楚 [ ] (SO, ibara = whip, sorrow)
106. 束 [ ] (SOKU, taba = tie together, restrain)
Table of Contents 5!

107. 困 (KON, koma(ru) = to be in trouble)

108. 因 (IN, china(mu) = cause, to be associated with)

Chapter 11: The Gate To Eden Is Closed p.99

� � 閉ざされたエデンの門
109. 劍（剣）[ ] (KEN, tsurugi = sword)
110. 閑 [ ] (KAN = quiet, crossbeam of a gate)
111. 関 [ ] (KAN, seki = barrier, gateway)
112. 問 [ ] (MON, to(u) = question, inquire)
113. 聞 [ ] (BUN, ki(ku) = hear, listen)
114. 逆 [ ] (GYAKU, saka(rau) = opposite, rebel)
115. 徒 [ ] (TO = companions, follower)
116. 従 [ ] (JŪ, shitaga(u) = follow)
117. 圉 [ ] (kunizakai = border)
118. 畛 [ ] (sakai = boundary)
119. 界 [ ] (KAI, sakai = world, limits, boundary)
120. 際 [ ] (SAI, kiwa = edge, borderline)
121. 郊 [ ] (KŌ = suburb, outskirts)

Chapter 12: Worshipping God Outside the Garden p.106

� � エデンの外で神を祭る
122. 旅 [ ] (RYO, tabi = journey, trip)
123. 旋 [ ] (SEN = go around, return)
124. 祈 [ ] (KI, ino(ru) = pray)
125. 異 [ ] (I, koto(naru) = strange, different)
126. 祭 [ ] (SAI, matsu(ru) = worship, celebrate)
127. 祀 [ ] (SHI, matsu(ru) = enshrine, offer sacrifice)
128. 羔 [ ] (KŌ, kohitsuji = lamb)
129. 禪（禅）[ ] (ZEN = meditation)
130. 禜 (EI, matsurinoniwa = place of worship)

Chapter 13: A Parting of the Ways Between Blessings and Curses p.113
祝福都呪いの分れ道�
131. 兄 [ ] (KYŌ, ani = elder brother)
132. 兇 [ ] (KYŌ = wickedness)
133. 祝 [ ] (SHUKU, iwa(u) = bless, celebrate)
Table of Contents 6!

134. 呪 (JU, majinai, noro(u) = curse, cast a spell over)

Chapter 14: Noah s Ark and the Flood� p.115

� ノアの箱舟と大洪水
135. 船 [ ] (SEN, fune = ship, boat)
136. 洪 [ ] (KŌ = flood, vast)
137. 沿 [ ] (EN, so(u) = follow along, pass along)
138. 昔 [ ] (SHAKU, mukashi = long ago)
139. 穴 (KETSU, ana = hole, cave)
140. 空 (KŪ, kara, sora = sky, empty, vacant)
141. 公 [ ] (KŌ, oyake = public)

Chapter 15: The Scattering of Humanity p.118

� � 散らばって行く人間のありさま
142. 塔 (TŌ = tower)
143. 分 [ ] (BUN, BU, wake(ru) = divide, part)
144. 四 [ ] (SHI, yon = four)
145. 散 [ ] (SAN, chi(rasu), bara(su) = scatter, disperse)
146. 遷 [ ] (SEN, utsu(ru) = move, transfer)

Chapter 16: The Longed-for New Eden p.122

憧れの新しいエデン�
147. 甸 (DEN = imperial domain)

Summary of Part One 第一部のまとめ p.124

� �
Part Two: A Biblical Association Game With Kanji p.129
漢字による聖書的連想ゲーム

Chapter 17: Jesus Christ, the King of Kings p.130

� � 王の王、イエス・キリスト
148. 聖 [ ] (SEI, hijiri = holy, sacred)
149. 王 [ ] (Ō, kimi = king, ruler)
150. 全 (ZEN, matta(ki), sube(te) = all, complete)
151. 主 (SHU, nushi = lord, owner)
152. 注 � (CHŪ, soso(gu) = comment on, pŌr on, anoint)
Table of Contents 7!

153. 永 � (EI, naga(i), towa = long, eternal)

154. 主観 (SHUKAN = subjective)
155. 客観 � (KYAKKAN = objective)

Chapter 18: That Special Tree p.134

� 気になる木
156. 來（来)� (RAI, ku(ru), ki(taru) = come)
157. 休 (KYŪ, yasu(meru) = rest, bring relief)
158. 柱 (CHŪ, hashira = pillar, support)
159. 樣（様)� (YŌ, sama = manner, pattern, situation)
160. 倣 (HŌ, nara(u) = imitate, emulate)
161. 標 [ ] (HYŌ, shirushi = signpost, target)

Chapter 19: The Righteous Lamb of God p.137

義なる神の小羊
162. 義 (GI = righteousness, justice)
163. 儀 (GI = ceremony, ritual)
164. 協議 � (KYŌGI = consultation, discussion)
165. 養 (YŌ, yashina(u) = nurture, bring up)
166. 善 [ ] (ZEN, yo(i) = goodness, virtue)
167. 詳 (SHŌ, kuwa(shii) = detailed, accurate)
168. 躾 (shitsuke = discipline, training)

Chapter 20: Kanji in Which You Feel (Kanjiru) God p.144

� � 神を感じる漢字
169. 祕（秘) (HI, hi(meru), hiso(ka) = secret, concealed)
170. 宗教 � (SHŪKYŌ = religion)
171. 困 (KON, koma(ru) = to be in trouble)
172. 崇 (SŪ, aga(meru) = worship, revere)
173. 祖 (SO = ancestor, founder)
174. 助 (JO, tasu(ke) = help, rescue)
175. 祟 (SUI, tata(ri) = divine curse)
176. 祈 (KI, ino(ru) = pray)
177. 祷 (TŌ, ino(ru) = pray)
178. 祥 (JŌ, SHŌ, saga = happiness, good omen)
179. 祐 (YŪ = help)
Table of Contents 8!

180. 禊 (KEI, misogi = Shinto purification ceremony)

181. 禎 (TEI = happiness)
182. 禍 (KA, wazawai = calamity, misfortune)

Chapter 21: Standing On The Cross p.151

十字架の上に立つ
183. 十字架 � (JŪJIKA = cross)
184. 才 [ ] (SAI = ability, talent)
185. 惡（悪) (AKU, niku(i) = evil, hate)
186. 辛 [ ] (SHIN, tsura(i), kara(i) = bitter, harsh)
187. 幸 [ ] (KŌ, saiwa(i), shiawase = happiness, fortune)
188. 辜 (KO, tsumi = sin, fault)
189. 報 [ ] (HŌ, muku(i) = report, reward)
190. 辭（辞) (JI, ya(meru) = word, resignation)
191. 避 (HI, sa(keru) = avoid, evade)
192. 壁 (HEKI, kabe = wall, fence)
193. 癖 (HEKI, kuse = habit, trait)
194. 新 (SHIN, atara(shii), ara(ta) = new, novel)
195. 親 (SHIN, oya, shita(shii) = parent, intimate, friendly)
196. 叶 (KYŌ, kana(eru) = grant, answer)
197. 支 (SHI, sasa(eru) = branch, support, maintain)
198. 枝 (SHI, eda = branch, limb)
199. 辻 (tsuji = crossroad)

Chapter 22: Sacrifice and Worship � � � � � p.160

犠牲を捧げる礼拝
200. 禮（礼) (REI = salutation, appreciation)
201. 拝 [ ] (HAI, oga(mu) = worship, adore)
202. 奏 [ ] (SŌ, kana(deru) = play (an instrument))
203. 奉 [ ] (HŌ, tatematsu(ru) = serve, revere, offer)
204. 捧 � (HŌ, sasa(geru) = consecrate, offer)
205. 献 � (KEN, sasa(geru) = dedicate, offer)
Table of Contents 9!

Chapter 23: Religion and Government� � � � � p.166

まつりとまつりごと
206. 政 (SEI, matsurigoto = government)
207. 司 (SHI, tsukasado(ru) = rule, administer)
208. 祠 (SHI, hokora, matsu(ru) = small shrine, deify)

Chapter 24: The First Emperor �� p.170

最初の皇帝
209. 古 [ ] (KO, furu(i) = old, ancient)
210. 克 � (KOKU, ka(tsu) = victory)
211. 皇 [ ] (KŌ, Ō = emperor)
212. 帝 [ ] (TEI, mikado = emperor, the creator)
213. �禘 [ ] (ōmatsuri = an ancient imperial ceremony)

Chapter 25: Jesus, God's Samurai � � � � p.175

神の士（さむらい）、イエス
214. 士 (SHI, samurai = gentleman, scholar, knight)
215. 博 (HAKU, haku(suru) = win acclaim, receive)
216. 仕 (SHI, tsuka(eru) = official, serve)
217. 吉 (KICHI, KITSU, yoshi = good luck, joy)
218. 詰 (KITSU, tsu(meru) = pack, stuff in)
219. 結 (KETSU, musu(bu) = join, unite, tie together)
220. 志 (SHI, kokorozashi = will, intention)
221. 隷 (隸) (REI = servant, slave)
222. 贖 (SHOKU, agana(i) = redemption, atonement)

Chapter 26: Faith, Peace, etc. � � � � � p.181

信仰、平和といろいろ
223. 信仰 � (SHINKŌ = faith)
224. 儲 (CHO, mō(karu) = be profitable)
225. 平和 � (HEIWA = peace)
226. 恵 (KEI, E, megu(mi) = grace, blessing)
227. 恩 (ON = debt of gratitude, favor)
228. 忠 (CHŪ = loyalty, fidelity)
229. 交 (KŌ, maji(wari) = association, fellowship)
230. 校 (KŌ = school)
Table of Contents 10!

231. 偽 (GI, itsuwa(ri) = lie, deception)

232. 甦 (SO, yomigae(ru) = resurrect, revive)
233. 罪 (ZAI, tsumi = sin, crime)
234. 危機� (KIKI = crisis)
235. 人間 � (NINGEN = human being)
��仲間 (NAKAMA = comrade)
��世間 (SEKEN = the world, society)
��時間 (JIKAN = time)
��空間 (KŪKAN = space)

Summary� � � � � � p.189

Footnotes� � � � � � � � � p.191
Preface ! 11

Forward to the English Edition

This book was originally published in Japanese in 1994 under the title
of 漢字に秘められた聖書物語 (Kanji Ni Himerareta Seisho Monogatari一
Bible Stories Hidden In Chinese Characters). The process of putting
together this compilation of "messages" that flow quite naturally out of
the associations between the various parts that make up a particular
character and its overall meaning began over 30 years ago. My interest
in Chinese characters, however, dates back to 1967, when as a junior in
college, I began to study Japanese at the East-West Center in Honolulu,
Hawaii. Though the Japanese later developed their own
"alphabet" (which consists of greatly simplified symbols based mostly
on Chinese characters), the characters they imported from China are
still central to their writing system. Thus, the study of "kanji" has been
a central part of my study of the language.
While pastoring Christ United Methodist Church, a mostly Japanese-
American congregation in Santa Maria, California, I ran across a book
entitled, "The Discovery of Genesis" (by C.H. Kang and Ethel R. Nelson,
1979, Concordia). This book (and sequels entitled, "Mysteries
Confucius Couldn't Solve" by Nelson and Richard Broadberry, 1986, and
"God's Promise to the Chinese" by Nelson, Broadberry and Ginger Tong
Chock, 1997, both by Read Books, Dunlap, TN) really piqued my
interest in researching the origins of Chinese characters and using them
as a tool to communicate biblical truths. I owe a great deal to these
books, though I take a considerably different approach to the subject. I
have added numerous characters and details not found in any of them
(while eliminating ones I thought in error or that I could not
corroborate). Likewise, I distance myself from the "young-earth
creationist" interpretation given in these books 一 not only because I
disagree with that but also because I feel such speculation is an
unnatural imposition on the evidence we actually have concerning the
development of these characters. I am not compiling this book as a
definitive or scholarly study of the origin of Chinese characters and
what the first scribes who put them together had in mind. This book
simply lists those characters that serve the purpose of illustrating
various biblical truths and that can serve as bridges in tying together
Preface ! 12

those truths with the oriental cultures that utilize characters in their
writing systems (specifically, Chinese, Japanese and Korean).
After my wife, Yuko "Juji," and I came back to Japan as missionaries
in 1982, I began experimenting with biblical interpretations that can be
given to many characters, and generally have had a very positive
reception. The only negative reaction I've received was from a
Japanese scholar with some expertise in the mainstream etymological
study of Chinese characters when a colleague suggested I have him
read over my preliminary manuscript. The first attempt at assigning an
explanation to the origins of Chinese characters was that of a Chinese
scholar named Hsu Shen 許慎 (Kyoshin in the Japanese reading) in
about 100 AD. Since that time, mainstream scholarship in that field
has been based on his system of interpretations. Needless to say,
connecting the association of the composition and meanings of any
particular character with biblical thought was not a part of that system.
Thus, this particular scholar that I showed my manuscript to was not at
all receptive to the idea. After all, who was I, as a foreign non-expert,
to suggest that the traditional understandings of the development of
even one Chinese character might be in error? I was "tested" to see if I
knew some obscure fact that only a scholar in the field would know.
When I admitted ignorance of that, he took it to mean I had no right to
say anything on the subject. I had not "paid my scholastic dues." As he
even went so far as to call my manuscript "dangerous," it was clear that
he had a strong, emotional vested interest in the traditionally held
views. This is a common occurrence in any field, as people who have
invested a large portion of their lives into a particular theory frequently
find it hard to be open to contrary evidence and the competing theories
they engender.
This experience reflects the fact that Japanese scholarship in general
tries to downplay any religious significance in the origin of Chinese
characters. This flies in the face of the widely accepted anthropological
principle that early writing systems and religion are intimately related.
In the section entitled, "Summary of Part I" (see pages 124-128), I go
into more detail concerning this, but I think it is important to note this
in the preface. The Japanese are certainly not the only ethnic group to
rewrite history for their own cultural, political or nationalistic goals, but
Preface ! 13

this denial of the religious origins of the writing system they adopted
and modified goes hand in hand with the creation of a national identity
that sets the Japanese apart from the rest of Asia. Numerous scholars
have documented the relatively recent and reactionary creation of a
Japanese identity, with much of the impetus for its construction coming
from a negative reaction against Christianity. Nevertheless, Japan did
emulate the West in one sense, and that was to become a colonizer.
Thus, Japan set itself apart from the rest of Asia, and in a modified
form, it has tried to maintain this aloofness with its continued emphasis
on "uniqueness," as is exemplified in the popularity of "Nihonjinron" (日
本人論, meaning a theory of Japanese (uniqueness)). Language is a key
part of this "unique" Japanese identity, which according to
"Nihonjinron" makes everything Japanese ̶ from people's brain
structure to cultural sensibilities ̶ somehow different from that of any
other people. (Of course, in one sense, every ethic group is by
definition "unique," but "Nihonjinron" means this in a stronger sense,
not unique within the diversity of mankind, but unique apart from the
rest of mankind.) This has resulted in a kind of "taboo" on linking the
Japanese language with any other Asian language. The denial of any
but the most mundane significance to the origin of characters fits this
overall strategy.
I do not have the expertise to delve into this further, but I feel it is
important to point out the obvious relationship between Japanese
identity and the denial of the apparent (though not directly provable)
relationship I am detailing in this book between character origins and
religious concepts. It needs to be stressed that I am not writing this
book from the position of a recognized scholar in the field. I am an
outsider, and my main interest lies in the obvious illustrative power so
many characters have in communicating biblical truths. I do, however,
make numerous references to mainstream scholarly works, most of
which, in fact, actually lend support to the interpretations I am giving. I
also point out that this entire field is by its very nature extremely
subjective, with no direct evidence whatsoever to back up any
interpretation of the origins of at least the earlier characters. The
ancient Chinese scribes who created new characters by combining
already existing characters left no record of their intent, and therefore
Preface ! 14

the only evidence available that can serve as a basis for any particular
interpretation is strictly circumstantial. Thus, even if the interpretation
I give to a particular character does not in fact agree with the original
etymology of the character (which is usually unknowable anyway), as
long as it serves my purpose as a communication tool for the biblical
story, then I will not hesitate to use it. In fact, a few of the characters I
present here are analyzed from a purely "word association game"
perspective, and the twist I give to them quite obviously has little if
anything to do with the original association of meanings. I make note of
this where appropriate, but again, since my objective is to provide
illustrative tools for communicating biblical stories and truths, I have
included such characters in this work.
I have grouped characters together into chapters related to various
themes, and although I have added several additional characters not
found in the original Japanese version, I have maintained the same
chapter divisions. (The second edition in Japanese, however, has a
section added with most of these additional characters.) The numbers
attached to the various characters, however, will not exactly
correspond to the original. I have also made a number of changes from
the original Japanese, including adding additional explanation where it
would be helpful to a non-Japanese audience. Thus, this is not strictly a
translation of my earlier work, but rather a rewriting of the entire work
using English as the language of communication.
For those unfamiliar with the Japanese language, I will include a brief
explanation of the "romaji" used to write the Japanese words in
western script. Japanese has only 5 vowel sounds, with an "a" always
being pronounced like the "a" in "father," an "i" like the vowel sound in
"beat," a "u" as in "boot," an "e" as in "bet" and an "o" as in "boat."
There is also, however, a clear distinction made in the length of both
the "o" and "u" sounds, as they sometimes are chopped off short while
at other times are drawn out in length. The most common way of
indicating that with a horizontal line over the "o" or "u" (ō and ū) to
indicate the lengthened-out sound. In the original print version, my
word processing software didn't give me that option, and so I simply
transliterated directly from the Japanese system. Written by
themselves, the "o" (お) and "u" (う) are the shortened versions. The
Preface ! 15

drawn-out versions (おう and うう) were thus represented by "ou" and
"uu." There are a few words where the lengthened "o" is written おお
("oo"), but the pronunciation is still the same ̶ just a lengthened "o"
sound. In this electronic version (along with the hard copies made from
it), however, I have taken the time to convert to the ō and ū forms.
Consonant sounds are essentially the same as in English, except for the
"r." The Japanese sound is actually much closer to an "l" than an "r,"
but as the accepted convention is to represent that sound with an "r," I
have (reluctantly) followed suit.
Unlike Chinese, which assigns only one reading (pronunciation) to a
character, there are usually at least two readings in Japanese. When
the Japanese imported characters from China, they adapted the
Chinese reading to their own phonetic system and used that reading for
the most part in compound words. They also, however, assigned the
words they already had in their spoken language to the characters with
the same meaning, and thus there are typically two readings to each
character. The modified Chinese reading is referred to as the
"ON" (pronounced "own") reading, while the original Japanese is
referred to as the "kun" (pronounced coon ) reading. When giving the
readings of a particular character, I will put the "ON" readings in capitals
and the "kun" readings in lower case, such as in 告 (KOKU, tsu(geru)),
with the "(geru)" representing the part of the "kun" reading that
requires the "hiragana" syllabic "alphabet" symbols (the part of the
word that changes with verb tenses, etc.). When referring to a
Japanese word in the ordinary text, however, I will not maintain that
distinction and use only lower case letters. Likewise, as some
characters have more than one "ON" and/or "kun" reading, I will usually
only list the most common reading of each.
While most of the characters analyzed in this book are commonly
used, I have also included a few that have gone out of general use and
are unknown to the average Japanese. The reason I have included them
is that with a little explanation, they can still make great illustrations,
and they also add to the weight of evidence supporting the hypothesis
that the ancient Chinese based many of the earliest characters on
stories that were at least similar to those found in Genesis. I have
indicated in the text when a particular character is not among the "Tōyō
Preface ! 16

Kanji" 当用漢字 (official list of 1800 characters recognized by the

Japanese government). Likewise, I make note of the occasional change
in meaning or usage that one finds between the way the Japanese use a
particular character and the original Chinese meaning. With the writing
reforms that took place after World War II, a few of the characters
analyzed here were simplified somewhat. I will be using the older forms
(which are still used in Taiwan), but I have indicated the simplified form
now used in Japan in parentheses afterwards. For instance, 榮 (sakae,
glory) is now written 栄. (In mainland China, many of the characters are
even further simplified.)
Another problem that arises in the process of describing the origin of
Chinese characters in English is the terminology used to translate
various specialized terms. Dictionaries dealing with this subject include
descriptions of the various stages of development of a character in
addition to categorizing the character as to type and describing its
usage. As it is necessary to include this type of information, I make
reference to the technical terms used for this purpose, giving an
approximate English equivalent. First of all, there are six basic
categories characters are put into depending on their make-up. "Shōkei
moji" 象形文字 are characters derived directly from a pictographic
representation of the object in mind. For instance, the modern
character for a fish 魚 (sakana) is directly descended from a drawing of
a fish . These were the first characters to be developed. The term I
use to refer to these characters as "pictographs."
As the need to communicate more complicated thoughts in writing
increased, two or more of these "shōkei moji" were sometimes
combined to make new characters. This category is called "kaii moji" 会
意文字, meaning that the association of the two or more character parts
(usually termed "radicals") is what gives the meaning of a combined
character. As an English translation of this term, I will use "meaning-
association character." An example of a purely "kaii moji" is the
character for festival 祭 (matsuri) (#126, p.108), which is made up of
the now simplified characters for meat 肉 (niku) → plus hand 手 (te),
which was originally written and in this character is reduced to , plus
god (altar) 示 (shimesu, which is used now to mean "reveal" or "show"),
which together yield 祭. In other words, it is derived from a pictograph
Preface ! 17

describing the action of placing a meat offering on the altar in worship,

and the original Chinese pronunciation given to it is not related to any
of its "radicals" (parts of the character).
Most characters, however, are included in the third basic type, the
"keisei moji" 形成文字. These characters are composed of two basic
parts, one that puts the character into a very general category of
meaning and the other that gives it its pronunciation. An example of
this category is the character with which we begin our journey. In 犠
(gi, sacrifice), the left side 牛 (ushi = cow, ox) puts this character into a
general category, while the right side, 義 (gi, righteousness) gives it its
sound. The English translation I use for this category is "sound-
association character."
Occasionally among "keisei" characters, there is also a significant
association of meanings of the various parts in relation to the meaning
as a whole, thus making it a combination of both the "kaii" and "keisei"
categories. This category is referred to in Japanese as "kaii ni koe wo
kasaneta ji" 会意に声を重ねた字. As this is a combination of the previous
two categories, I refer to it as a "meaning/sound-association
character." This category is technically not one of the original six
"rikusho" 六書 (literally, "six writings") referred to by Hsu Shen. For our
purposes, however, it is very important, and as one of the original six is
not clearly understood and has gone out of use, this has in effect
replaced it. Mainstream scholarship considers the number of characters
in this category to be rather few, but it is my contention that a number
of the characters that are traditionally put in the category of pure
"keisei," with no reference to the association of meaning, do in fact fit
into this category ̶ at least to some extent. 犠 (gi) is referred to in
Japanese kanji dictionaries as a simple "keisei" character. In other
words, the meaning of 義 (gi), righteousness, is not thought to have
any bearing on the meaning of 犠 (gi), sacrifice, as a whole. From a
purely "keisei" perspective, the choice of 義 (gi) to get the proper
sound (for the already existing spoken word in the original Chinese) was
strictly arbitrary. Thus, according to this view, any other character with
the same pronunciation as the targeted spoken word this new character
was to represent would have been just as likely a candidate.
The majority of "keisei" characters do seem to fit this pattern, as
Preface ! 18

there would appear to be no rationale for the radical chosen for the
pronunciation. For instance, in the character 惨 (san), which means
"cruel" or "wretched," the left side, which is a reduced form of 心
(kokoro), heart, puts it into a category having to do with the emotions.
There would, however, appear to be no association intended with the
meaning of 参 (san), which originally meant to visit a shrine (#18, p.
44). It seems to have been a strictly arbitrary choice for its sound
alone. My own hypothesis is that whenever the ancient Chinese scribes
contrived a new character in this fashion to represent a spoken word,
they would choose from among characters with the proper sound the
one that made the most sense from the association of meanings. When
no good candidate was available, then the choice would be more or less
arbitrary, and since that was often the case, most "keisei" characters
appear to have no "kaii" aspect to them. As you will see from the
analysis of "sacrifice" 犠 (gi), however (as well as a number of other
characters I analyze), it seems highly probable that the associations of
meanings of each of the parts was intentional and meaningful.
The last two categories are not particularly important for our study,
but for completeness, I mention them briefly. "Shiji moji" 指事文字 are
not very numerous and consist of "shōkei moji" pictographs with a dot
or line added to give it a different meaning. An example is the character
for "blade" 刃 (ha), which is simply a sword 刀 (katana) with a "slash"
across it to represent that which cuts.
The last of the six categories is not really a different type from the
standpoint of the makeup of the character, but from the character's
actual usage. Called "kasha" 仮借 (also "shakuyō" 借用), this "borrowed
usage" refers to the common practice of using a character to express a
concept unrelated to the character's basic meaning. The distinction,
then, is determined by context.
Another important aspect of the study of Chinese characters is the
terminology given to the various styles of writing that were historically
used. The earliest examples we have of Chinese writing date to
approximately 1500 BC. How much earlier than that the very first
characters came into being is uncertain, but it is generally thought to
be several centuries earlier than that. There is no way of determining
the earliest form of a particular character, but it is thought to have
Preface ! 19

been fairly close to what is termed the "bronzeware characters" and

the "oracle
Preface ! bone characters" of the second millennium BC. The pictures 19
below show examples of these two styles of writing.
below show examples of these two styles of writing.
Known as "shōtei moji" 鐘鼎文字, or "kinbun" 金文 in Japan, what
Known as "sh!tei moji" 鐘鼎文字, or "kinbun" 金文 in Japan, what
we're calling "bronzeware characters" are found engraved in ceremonial
we're calling "bronzeware characters" are found engraved in ceremonial
bronze containers.
bronze They
containers. were
They formed
were byby
formed carving
carvingthe
thecharacters
charactersinto
into
the mold into which the molten bronze was poured, and thus they have
the mold into which the molten bronze was poured, and thus they have
survived intact.
survived intact.

Bronzeware Characters
Bronzeware were
Characters molded
were into
molded containers
into used
containers ininreligious
used religious
ceremonies, often with the characters on the interior.
ceremonies.

11th Century B.C. specimen with characters molded into interior.

The "oracle bone characters," which go by the names "k!kotsu moji"

甲骨文字 and "keibun" 契文, were directly carved into the bones of
animals and shells of tortoises. As the English term suggests, they
were used in various divination practices.
The materials on which these characters were produced and the
method used to create them determined to a certain extent the style
they would take. Likewise, as the earliest forms of the characters were
drawn by different scribes at different times and locations, there are
many variants, and standardization was only gradually introduced.
Consider, for instance, the variety of ancient forms found for the
Preface ! 20

Preface ! 20
Oracle Bones were used by priests for divination purposes.

Examples of Oracle Bone Characters carved into turtle shells. Oracle

Bones were used by priests for divination purposes.
modern character 陽 (Y! = sun, positive) (#32, p.55). Its form in the
"oracle bone" style was , while the following variants were found
The "oracle bone characters," which go by the names "kōkotsu moji"
among
甲骨文字 the "bronzeware
and "keibun" characters": ,
契文, were directly and . As
carved youthe
into canbones
see, one
of
carver (perhaps
animals suffering
and shells from dyslexia?)
of tortoises. has it reversed,
As the English term suggests, but during
they
thiswere
ageused
when standardization
in various had not yet developed, this happened
divination practices.
fairlyThe
often.
materials on which these characters were produced and the
The nextused
method majorto stage
create in the determined
them development to aofcertain
"kanji"extent
camethe with the
style
development of theLikewise,
they would take. "seal" 篆文 (tenbun)
as the earliest characters
forms of theduring the middle
characters were
part of the
drawn byfirst millennium
different scribesBC. These characters
at different times andare still used
locations, today
there arein
manyseals,
official variants, and out
but went standardization
of general usewas as only graduallymore
the modern, introduced.
abstract
Consider,
forms for instance,
of characters the varietyfor
were developed ofease
ancient forms found
in writing. for the
The following
modernshows
example character
how 陽 (YŌ
this = sun, positive)
development took(#32,
placep.55).
for 降Its form
(K!, in theo
fu(ru),
"oracle
(riru) bone" style
= descend) (#35,was , while the following variants were found
p. 57):
�among
� the "bronzeware
→ → characters":
降 , and . As you can see, one
carver
"oracle has it→
bone" reversed,
seal →but during form
modern this age when standardization had not
yet developed, this happened fairly often.
The next major stage in the development of "kanji" came with the
development of the "seal" 篆文 (tenbun) characters during the middle
part of the first millennium BC. These characters are still used today in
Preface ! 21

official seals, but went out of general use as the modern, more abstract
forms of characters were developed for ease in writing. The following
example shows how this development took place for 降 (KŌ, fu(ru), o
(riru) = descend) (#35, p. 57):
� � → → 降
"oracle bone" → seal → modern form

Preface to the Japanese Original

Prior to my junior year in college, my knowledge of the Orient was like
most Americans 一 practically non-existent. While the number of high
schools, colleges and universities offering courses in Japanese language
has skyrocketed in recent years, when my odyssey with Japanese
began in 1967, the study of oriental languages in the United States was
not at all widespread. Like the vast majority of other universities, my
school, Arizona State University, did not offer any courses at all in
Japanese, Chinese or any other oriental language.
As a first step towards resolving this deficiency, the U.S.
government-sponsored East-West Center (which is attached to the
University of Hawaii) began a Junior Year Program, in which 30 students
from around the U.S. were selected, with 15 each in the Japanese and
Chinese programs. Being able to study in beautiful Hawaii on a full
scholarship certainly was a factor, but I also decided to apply with the
goal of broadening my horizons and being able to utilize future language
ability in scientific exchange (since I was majoring in physics).
The total program was for 15 months, with the first 12 being in
Hawaii studying Japanese at an accelerated pace. The first summer
was intensive, with language study during the regular school year being
done in conjunction with work in one's main field of study. All told, we
received the equivalent of 4 years of credits at the regular pace in that
one year. The final 3 months, then, was spent studying in Japan.
I returned to Arizona with a growing fascination with Japanese culture
and its language, and continued to study on my own while finishing up
my physics degree. I was then accepted on a full National Science
Preface ! 22

Foundation fellowship to Florida State University to get my Ph.D. in

meteorology, but after only one year of study there, the same
government that was paying my way drafted me into the military and I
was forced to quit.
Needless to say, at the time I was very disappointed in that turn of
events, but in hindsight, I can clearly see the mysterious hand of God
leading through all of that. I won't go through the complicated details,
but eventually things worked out so that I didn't have to serve in the
military and the way opened up for me to return to Japan as a short-
term missionary. After spending 3 years in Sapporo, I returned to the
U.S. to enter seminary and become a minister. Thus, instead of
studying the physical weather, I began to study the "spiritual weather"
of the human heart.
When I first began studying Japanese, the daunting prospect of trying
to memorize almost 2000 Chinese characters looked monumental, but
as I got into the subject, it became very interesting and even enjoyable.
Japanese children generally memorize characters by rote, but as an
adult trying to learn these characters, I needed a different approach.
Thus, I often made it into a kind of word association game, wondering
what on earth the originators of these characters had in mind.
It is logical to assume that when the ancient Chinese scribes began to
express their spoken language through a writing system, they made
associations with objects and stories that were a part of their everyday
experience. We who live some three to four thousands years later, of
course, have no way to know specifically what was in the minds of the
scribes when they first designed a new character. For the past 1900
years, scholars have tried to trace the origins of specific characters and
have come up with many plausible explanations. It is quite common,
however, to have competing theories for how a specific character came
about, and this is particularly so with the "keisei moji" (sound-
association characters). It is not my purpose in writing this book to
make arguments as to the proper theory of origin of any specific
character. I am not a credentialed scholar in the field and thus am not
qualified to do that. Likewise, I feel that rather than spinning one's
wheels trying to determine which theory of origin is correct, it is more
important to utilize such study to make the characters easier to
Preface ! 23

remember and to make the language come more alive. Thus, I see no
problem in using whichever association is most meaningful to oneself.
In learning Japanese as an adult, I always made an effort to learn the
characters for each new word I learned. As an aid, I would often try to
imagine what sort of association the ancient Chinese had in mind or just
simply dream up one of my own to make it easier to remember. For
instance, when I learned the character for "lake" 湖 (mizūmi), I
remembered it as something made out of last month's 月 old 古 water
水(氵). I rather doubt that was the original association the Chinese had
in mind, but it did make it easier to learn that character.
There were, however, a few instances in which it seemed to me that
the natural association of the constituent parts of a character meant
the exact opposite of the character itself. For instance, the character
for hunting, 狩 (kari) is made up of the radical derived from dog 犬�
(犭"kemono hen" 一 "hen" being the Japanese term for a "radical" on
the left side of a character) added together with the character for
"protect" 守 (mamo(ru)). Somehow, "protecting an animal" doesn't
quite seem to fit in with the idea of "hunting." Likewise, the character
for "vow" 誓 (chikai) is made up of the characters for "break" 折 (o
(reru)) and "word" 言 (kotoba). Again, "breaking one's word" doesn't
seem to go hand in hand with taking a vow (unless you're a politician, of
course!). But my Chinese friend said that since the character for
"break" 折 is made up of "hand" 手 (te, simplified to扌as a radical) and
"axe" 斤 (ono), the image that came to his mind was that of holding an
axe in one's hand to threaten someone into keeping his promise.
Likewise, among the compound words I was learning, I found a few
that seemed to make no sense. For instance, the word for "apologize,"
謝罪 (shazai) was to me a very strange combination indeed. It seemed
to literally mean giving thanks 謝 for sin 罪. "Thanking someone for
sinning? Hmmm!" But as I looked further into the matter, I realized that
this is a good example of a fundamental difference between occidental
and oriental cultures. The same character 謝 is used in expressions
related to showing appreciation 一 example: 謝する (shasuru) (also, in
Chinese, "thank you" is 謝謝 (sheshe)一 remember, "e" is as in "bet") as
well as expressions meaning apology 一 example: 謝る (ayama(ru)).
These, however, are two concepts that people from a western cultural
Preface ! 24

background would never mix. One would never use an expression

having to do with apology when expressing gratitude.
In Japanese, there are, of course, expressions that clearly distinguish
between these two concepts. For instance, one would not say "gomen
nasai" (excuse me) in place of "arigatō" (thank you). An expression
such as "sumimasen," however, can be used in either context. It
literally means "(my obligation) doesn't come to an end," and would be
something like "much obliged" in English. But it is used both when
apologizing for something as well as when expressing thanks for
something. Even the word 謝する (shasuru) can, according to the
dictionary, be used for expressing thanks as well as making an excuse.
Likewise, I learned that this character's original meaning was that found
in the word 謝絶 (shazetsu), meaning to refuse or decline (an offer).
This all made me wonder if this wasn't somehow related to the
"strange" (at least from western eyes anyway) custom of first refusing
something that is offered even though the person really does want it. It
is considered good etiquette to first refuse something and then accept
it when it's offered the second or third time. At any rate, a great deal
can be learned about culture from the dictionary.
The study of kanji can also provide some humorous material for jokes.
Take the example of the characters for the now defunct Japanese
Railway, 国鉄 (kokutetsu). Up until the time of its privatization a few
years ago, "JR" piled up a huge debt that the national government is
still paying off. One look at the make-up of the characters convinced
me that the ancient Chinese must have been prophets. That is because
the character for "iron" 鉄 (tetsu) is made up of two parts, 金 (kane =
money, metal) and 失 (ushina(u) = lose). Thus, it seemed to me to be
saying, "that which loses the government's money." When I jokingly
pointed that out to a friend who worked for JR, he defensively blurted
out, "On no! You have it all wrong! 国鉄 Kokutetsu is an abbreviation of
国有鉄道 (kokuyūtetsudō)!" But I wouldn't let him off the hook. 有 (yū)
simply means "to own" while 道 (dō) means "way" or "road," and so it is
just saying "the way 道 in which the money 金 the government 国 owns
有 is lost 失!"
While that bit of analysis is meant in a light-hearted vein, I want to
now move on to the meat of this book and look at a number of
Preface ! 25

characters in a more serious light. For the past thirty plus years, the
study of the development of Chinese characters has been a kind of
hobby for me. Even earlier in my study of the language, I had been
fascinated by these unwieldy symbols, but what really got me started
on this quest was my reading of a book written by a Chinese pastor and
an American medical missionary. I will mention more about that book
later, but its basic theme was that the makeup of many characters fits
in very well with the stories found in the Bible. From this initial
exposure, I began to see other characters that likewise fit in surprisingly
well with the message and the stories of the Bible. Through that
discovery, my study of characters became even more interesting and
meaningful, and so I want to share what I have discovered with my
readers.
The first half of this book contains those characters that can be easily
interpreted within the framework of the stories in Genesis chapters 1
through 11. For a few of them, when taken in isolation, the association
may seem a bit contrived, but when seen in light of the large number of
characters that fit so perfectly in that framework, I don't think they can
simply be written off as an artificial contrivance or simple coincidence.
While no direct evidence has yet been found to tie the cultures of the
ancient Near East which gave birth to the Bible to the culture of ancient
China, a great deal of indirect and circumstantial evidence points to
some sort of connection. In Chapter 1, I want to look at how the
religious ceremonies and concepts of ancient China were really very
similar to those of the Old Testament as we analyze our first character,
(gi = sacrifice).

(Note: Footnotes with an asterisk * beside them contain information

other than a mere source reference. All Scripture references are from
the New International Version (NIV), unless otherwise indicated. I have
occasionally used the Today's English Version (TEV) when the NIV
wording didn't fit well with my purpose.)
26

Part I
The Makeup of Chinese Characters and
the Genesis Stories

漢字の形成と創世記物語
Kanji no Keisei to Sōseiki Monogatari
Chapter 1: The Religious Concepts of Ancient China 27

Chapter One
The Religious Concepts Of Ancient China
漢字を生み出した古代中国の宗教観
Kanji wo Umidashita Kodai Chūgoku no Shūkyōkan

Pronounced "GI" in Japanese and meaning

1. "sacrifice," this character has a very meaningful
composition. While animal sacrifice was apparently not
very common in ancient Japan, it played a very
（犠） important role in ancient China, just as it did in the
GI ancient Near East. This can clearly be seen in the
sacrifice makeup of the character for sacrifice, particularly in its
older form.
1*

牛＋羊＋秀＋戈 =
ushi hitsuji sugu(reru) hoko gi
ox sheep excel spear sacrifice

Many of the sacrifices described in the Old Testament required the

worshipers to offer a male ox or sheep "without defect," that is, an
animal that "excelled."
The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all
the Israelites and say to them: 'If any of you ̶ either an Israelite or
an alien living in Israel ̶ presents a gift for a burnt offering to the
Lord, either to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, you must
present a male without defect from the cattle, sheep or goats in
order that it may be accepted on your behalf. Do not bring
anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your
behalf.'" (Leviticus 22:17-20)
Such an animal was, of course, killed with a sharp instrument of some
sort. Hoko 戈 is defined as a "halbert," which is a combination spear
and battle-axe. At any rate, the combination of these four elements to
make a character for an animal sacrifice is in perfect harmony with the
biblical description for such a sacrifice.
Chapter 1: The Religious Concepts of Ancient China 28

With the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912, the Chinese

emperor system, which had lasted some 4400 years, came to a close.
On the morning of the winter solstice (December 22) of 1911, the
emperor rode in a special carriage to the "Temple of Heaven" 天殿
(tenden) to offer a male ox as a burnt offering to "Shang Ti" 上帝 (jōtei
in Japanese reading). (As this "last emperor" was still a child, he, of
course, had help from his court retainers.)
A description of this "Temple of Heaven" from the early 19th Century
described it as having no idols or any other representation of God.
Likewise, the animal sacrifices were described as taking place not within

the temple itself but on a large stone altar outside the temple.2
This giant stone altar was 75 meters across and resembled a giant
three-tiered wedding cake. The Temple of Heaven itself also was three-
tiered, and as will become clear later, it would appear that this number
three was of special significance in the Chinese understanding of Shang
Ti. In between the Temple of Heaven and the "Altar of Heaven" 天壇
(tendan) was a smaller building referred to as the "Temple of Prayer" 祈
年殿 (Kinenden) which contained a wooden plaque with the characters
Chapter 1: The Religious Concepts of Ancient China 29

皇天上帝 (nōtenjōtei) written on it. Literally, the four characters mean

"emperor," "heaven," "above" and another character meaning
"emperor." The first two characters are the same ones used to refer
to the Japanese emperor 天皇 (tennō), though in reverse order, and
literally mean "heavenly emperor." In the Chinese way of thinking, 天皇
(tennō) and 上帝 (jōtei) would basically have the same meaning, and
thus the Chinese emperor was never referred to as 天皇 (tennō).
Instead, he was called 天子 (tenshi, the "Child of Heaven"). Thus, it is
only natural that both the Chinese and the Koreans never refer to the
Japanese emperor 天皇陛下 (tennō heika) using the characters 天皇
(tennō). Instead, they merely refer to him as "King of Japan" 日王
(nichiō).
There are many parallels between the "Temple of Heaven" and the
sacrifices that took place on the "Altar of Heaven" with the temple in
Jerusalem and the sacrifices that took place there during Old
Testament times. These parallels go beyond mere surface-level
similarities, as the concepts the ancient Chinese had concerning "Shang
Ti" 上帝 appear to have been quite close to the biblical understanding of
God.
As evidence for this assertion, let us take a look at three examples
from the recorded liturgy for the worship of "Shang Ti." (Note: In the
Japanese original, I quoted the original Chinese and then a classical
Japanese translation of that done by a Japanese scholar of ancient
China, Professor Shunya Nakamura of Tsukuba University. That was
then followed by my own translation into modern Japanese from a
comparison with the English translation given by James Legge in his
1852 classic, "The Notions of the Chinese Concerning God and Spirits."
Here, I give only the original Chinese and my translation, which reflects
both Professor Nakamura's and Legge's translations.)

1. To greet the approach of the Spirit of Shang-Ti

於昔洪荒之初兮、混濛、五行未運兮、�兩曜未明、其中挺立兮、
有無容聲、神皇出御兮、始判濁清、立天立地人兮、羣物生生
Of old in the beginning, there was the great chaos, without form and
Chapter 1: The Religious Concepts of Ancient China 30

dark. The five elements (referring to "fire" 火, "water" 水, "wood" 木,

"gold" 金, and "soil" 土, the same five characters used to designate the
five planets observable with the naked eye) had not begun to revolve,
nor the sun and the moon to shine. In the midst thereof there existed
neither form nor sound. O Spirit Emperor, You brought them under your
control, and for the first time divided the impure parts from the pure.
After you made heaven and earth, you made human beings. �In that, all
living things came into being. 3

2. Upon making an announcement to Shang Ti

帝闢陰陽兮、造化張、神生七政兮、精華光、圓覆方載兮、
兆物康、臣敢祇報兮、拜薦帝曰皇

O Ti, when You separated the Yin and the Yang (i.e. the heavens and the
earth), Your creating work proceeded. You produced, O Spirit, the
seven heavenly bodies (i.e., the sun, the moon and the five planets that
can be seen with the naked eye), and pure and beautiful was their light.
The round heaven was like a covering over the square earth, and all
things were at peace. I, Your servant, come before You in reverence to
report. O Ti, I worship you, calling You "Emperor." 4

3. Words said when making a wine offering to Shang Ti:

羣生總總兮、悉蒙始恩、人物盡囿兮、於帝仁、羣生荷徳兮、
誰識所從來、於惟皇兮、億兆物之祖眞

All the herds of living things were created and exist according to your
kindness. O Ti, all humans and all things are under your loving care. All
living things bear the mark of your goodness, but who knows from
whom their blessings come. You alone, O Emperor, are the true
ancestor of all things. 5

These three examples show that the concepts the ancient Chinese
Chapter 1: The Religious Concepts of Ancient China 31

had of Shang Ti were really very similar to what the Bible teaches about
God. "Of old in the beginning, there was the great chaos, without form
and dark" reminds one of the first words of Genesis: "In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless
and empty, darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of
God was hovering over the waters."
Likewise, the "dividing of the impure parts from the pure" and the
"separating the Yin and the Yang" (陰 (in) = shadow, darkness, 陽 (yō)=
sun, light) resembles the description of God "separating light from
darkness" and separating the "waters above from the waters below."
Also, the statement that Shang Ti is the "true ancestor" (or "parent")
of all life and that all "living things were created and exist according to
His kindness" certainly are consistent with biblical teaching.
Scholars generally agree that these ceremonies connected with the
worship of Shang Ti (which continued right into the 20th century) have
existed from the beginnings of Chinese culture and are far older than
Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Thus, it is apparent that prior to
the influences of polytheism, the original Chinese religion was
monotheistic, focusing on the worship of Shang Ti. Likewise, the
evidence points to many similarities between the religious concepts and
rituals of ancient Israel recorded in the Old Testament and those of
ancient China.
Even though polytheistic concepts influenced Chinese religiosity for a
very long time, the original monotheistic forms inherent in the worship
of Shang Ti were maintained until the end of the emperor system in
1911. Within the proscribed prayers of the ceremonies, there was a
clear distinction made between Shang Ti as the unique God of Heaven
and the spirits 神 (shin) that served him. (Note: In Japanese, the
character 神 (kami) is used both for God and gods. As there are no
"upper case" and "lower case" distinctions like in English, no articles
such as "a" or "the," and no consistency in designating singular and
plural, 神 (kami) is a very vague and undifferentiated concept.)
Among the prayers the Chinese emperor recited when he came with
his own servants to bow down before Shang Ti are included the
Chapter 1: The Religious Concepts of Ancient China 32

following most interesting words:

萬神翌衛兮、而西以東、臣俯伏迎兮、敬瞻帝御、願垂歆鑒兮、拜徳曷窮
Translating into English Professor Nakamura's Japanese translation,
"Ten thousand spirits (神) accompany You as imperial guards and
stretch from the east to the west. O Ti, as we await Your arrival, Your
humble servants bow down before You. O Ti, as we worship You in Your
infinite goodness, we beseech You to accept these our offerings."
Concerning this concept, Legge said, "I wish to call attention to the
distinction made between Shang Ti and all the shin, or as I translate the
word, spirits. They are His guards or attendants. Just as Jehovah came
from Paran with holy myriads (Deut. 33:2) ̶ as He revealed Himself on
Sinai among thousands of angels (Ps. 68:17) ̶ so did the ancient
Chinese believe that when Shang Ti descended to receive their worship
offered by the emperor, He came attended by ten thousand spirits. He
is not one of them, though He is 'a spirit.'"6
We can thus conclude that the 萬の神 (yorozu no shin) of China were
not considered as "gods" in the sense that the 萬の神 (yorozu no kami)
of Japan are (萬 (万)=10,000). On the contrary, they were thought of
as spirits in the same sense that the Bible portrays angels. The verse
Legge refers to in Deuteronomy 33:2 reads, "The Lord came from Sinai
and dawned over them from Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran. He
came with myriads of holy ones from the south, from his mountain
slopes."
It would appear that the ancient Chinese concept of "shin" as seen in
the worship of Shang Ti was consistent with biblical thought. There is
only one true God and all other spirits were created by God in the same
sense that he created the physical universe. Thus, they are not to be
the objects of worship. The essence of Shang Ti and "shin" were
originally completely different, but as polytheistic tendencies began to
creep in, that distinction became blurred and by the time the Japanese
adopted Chinese characters, 神 was applied to the various gods of
Shintoism.
Chapter 2: Could The Ancient Chinese Have Known About Eden? ! 33

Chapter Two
Could The Ancient Chinese Have Known About Eden?
古代中国人はエデンの園の話を知っていたでしょうか？
Kodai Chūgokujin wa Eden no Sono no Hanashi wo Shitte ita Deshō ka?

Characters That Fit the Garden of Eden Story

The origin of Chinese characters roughly coincides with the origin of
the Chinese civilization as a whole, and thus many characters had
already been formulated before the original worship of Shang Ti was
influenced by later polytheistic thinking. A very interesting theory was
proposed in a book published in 1979 under the title of "The Discovery
of Genesis: How the Truths of Genesis Were Found Hidden in the
Chinese Language" by a Chinese pastor, C. H. Kang, and a medical
missionary to Thailand, Ethyl R. Nelson. They proposed that the stories
found in Genesis 1 through 11, from the creation accounts up through
the Tower of Babel, were brought to ancient China along with
civilization. According to their hypothesis, the makeup of numerous
characters is based on these Genesis stories or at least stories that are
very similar.
Nelson, with the help of a missionary in Taiwan by the name of
Richard E. Broadberry, also put out a sequel to that book in 1986 under
the title "Mysteries Confucius Couldn't Solve." Then with the help of
Ginger Tong Chock, who has a PhD in the history of Chinese art,
additional characters were introduced in the 1997 book, "God's
Promise to the Chinese." In addition to looking at many of the older
forms of a number of characters, Nelson made the claim that some of
the characters traditionally categorized as "keisei moji" (sound-
association characters) make much better sense if categorized as "kaii
moji" (meaning-association characters). (Note: I am adjusting her
terminology to fit the terminology I am using in this book.)
The study of character origin and development, called
"setsumongaku" 説文学, has traditionally been based on the work of
Hsu Shen 許慎 (Kyoshin in Japanese pronunciation), who published the
first "dictionary" of Chinese characters, called 説文解字 (setsumon
kaiji), in about 100 AD. Hsu Shen lived over 2000 years after
Chapter 2: Could The Ancient Chinese Have Known About Eden? ! 34

characters were first developed and the writing styles he was familiar
with varied considerably from the originals. He was apparently unaware
of the more ancient forms such as the "oracle bone characters" 甲骨文
字 (kōkotsu moji) and the "bronzeware characters" 鐘鼎文字 (shōtei
moji) that date from around 1500 BC. Thus, since Hsu Shen was unable
to look at the original characters and their makeup, it is only natural
that he would make mistakes in his analysis of the later character's
origins.
Hsu Shen considered the vast majority of characters to be "keisei
moji," with one radical giving a general category of meaning and the
other giving the character its pronunciation (with no reference to the
meaning of that radical). He made little effort, however, to surmise the
reason why a particular combination of radicals were used to construct
a character with a specific meaning.7
We can assume that Hsu Shen was familiar with the ceremonies
surrounding the worship of Shang Ti, although it is apparent that he did
not understand their true meaning. Even the most famous scholar of
ancient China, Confucius 孔子 (Kōshi in Japanese) said that their origin
and true meaning were a mystery. James Legge translates a section
from Confucius' writings as "He who understands the ceremonies of the
sacrifices to Heaven and Earth would find the government of a
kingdom as easy as to look into the palm of his hand! "（明乎郊社之禮、....
治國其如示諸掌手）8
郊社 (Kōsha) refers to the two main sacrifices to Shang Ti, with 郊
(kō) referring to the sacrifice the emperor 天子 (tenshi) offers to Shang
Ti on the winter solstice and the 社 (sha) referring to a similar sacrifice
offered at the summer solstice. 郊 was considered the most important
event, with the emperor making his offering at the Temple of Heaven 天
殿 (tenden) located on the south side of the capital in the 郊外 (kōgai,
which is presently used to mean "suburbs"). The 社 sacrifice was made
at the "Temple of Earth" 地殿 located to the north of the capital. Both
events centered around the sacrifice of an animal to Shang Ti, as is
clear from the words of Confucius, "The ceremonies of the celestial and
terrestrial sacrifices are those by which men serve Shang Ti" (郊社之禮
所以事上帝也).9
As we have seen, the religious concepts of the ancient Chinese
Chapter 2: Could The Ancient Chinese Have Known About Eden? ! 35

certainly have many parallels with those of the ancient Hebrews. Thus,
as I proceed to analyze a number of characters, I will make comparisons
with the Bible. There is, of course, no direct evidence that has yet
been found that would specifically show that the ancient Chinese knew
the same stories found in Genesis and that they based numerous
characters on those stories. The fact, however, that the association of
meanings within so many characters fits so naturally into a biblical
framework is at least indirect evidence that there is a connection
somewhere.
So, let us begin by looking at about 150 characters that can be
interpreted from the standpoint of Genesis. This is not to say that
these characters can only be analyzed from the standpoint of Genesis,
but that they make good sense if one assumes that the ancient Chinese
had ancient lore similar to the stories of Genesis and that they based
these characters on those associations.

2. 靈 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the

earth. Now the earth was formless and empty,
霊） darkness was over the surface of the deep, and
REI, tama the Spirit of God was hovering over the
spirit waters." (Genesis 1:1-2)
This character has been somewhat simplified in modern Japanese as
霊, but in its original, more complicated form, it consists of three
sections, 雨 (ame = rain), three 口 (kuchi = mouth, person), and 巫
(miko), a character now used to refer to a sorcerer or a Shinto shrine
maiden.
First, the top part, 雨 has a horizontal line at the top ‾ symbolizing
the "heavens" 天 (ten). Just like the rain, the Spirit of God was thought
of as coming down from above. 冂 is a radical that in many contexts
means "covering," while the rest of the character is an adaptation of 水
(mizu = water). Thus, this part of the character can be interpreted as
saying that that which comes from above is covering the waters, which
would fit in nicely with the words of Genesis, "and the Spirit of God was
hovering over the waters."
Next comes the three "mouths" 口口口. While as a pictograph, 口 is
Chapter 2: Could The Ancient Chinese Have Known About Eden? ! 36

derived from a simple drawing of an open mouth, it is also used to mean

"words" that come from that mouth as well as the "people" who speak
them. It is a mystery why the ancient Chinese would have associated
three persons with the concept of "Spirit," but this certainly agrees
with the biblical concept of the Trinity.10* While Genesis 1:26 does not
specifically refer to a trinity of persons, it does use the plural form, "Let
us make man in our image, in our likeness." Likewise, God's creative
activity is described in terms of him "speaking" things into being, "And
God said, let there be ", and thus the use of three 口 in the character
for "Spirit" would certainly be appropriate for expressing the creative
activity of the triune God of the Bible.
Finally, the bottom part of the character 巫 can also be interpreted as
saying basically the same thing. In analyzing 巫, we can see that it is
made up of two "persons" 人 within a character meaning "work" 工 (KU,
takumi = craftsman, to make something), and thus would seem to be
saying "two people working." However, the character 工 can be further
broken down, with the vertical line being interpreted as a simplification
of "person" (人→｜). In fact, the Japanese often write 工 as , which
would seem to be a kind of hybrid of the two. Also, there is an ancient
form to the character that includes three slashes , again giving the
idea of "threeness."11 Putting this all together, 巫 would seem to be
saying "three persons" "working" 工 under heaven ‾ on earth ＿.
Another possible interpretation in light of the Bible would be to
interpret the 工 in 巫 as itself referring to God s creative activity.
Perhaps they associated it with the great "carpenter of heaven" (天の大
工= ten no daiku) creating the first pair 人人 of human beings.
In its present usage, however, 巫 is only used in words such as 巫術
(fujutsu = shamanism) and 巫女 (miko = a shrine maiden, or spiritual
medium). From a biblical standpoint, this is the natural result of human
beings having turned their backs on the true God. It resulted in
replacing the true God with numerous false gods.
Another ancient character with the same meaning that was not
adopted by the Japanese is . In place of the 巫, there is 示, a
character that refers to God. Thus, this character would also be a very
appropriate character for describing the Creator God of the Bible.
Chapter 2: Could The Ancient Chinese Have Known About Eden? ! 37

3~6. 造、土、生、告
ZŌ, tsuku(ru) DO, tsuchi SEI, iki(ru) KOKU, tsu(geru)
create, make soil, dirt life, exist tell, inform

The combination is included in several characters that appear to

have a connection with Genesis. The associations in these characters
fit together nicely with Genesis [Link] "The Lord God formed the man
from the dust of the ground 土 (adamah) and breathed into his nostrils
(or "mouth" 口) the breath of life, and the man (adam) became a living
being."
Within the makeup of numerous characters, the stroke ノ, such as in
生, denotes "activity" or "life."12 When this is added to the
combination , it becomes 告. In other words, a living being which can
speak. When the "shinny!" radical 㸕 , which indicates "walking," is
added to 告, the character 造 is created.
The Lord God created 造 man s flesh out of the soil 土 and breathed
into his mouth (nostrils) 口 (and through his own "mouth" 口) the
breath of life. Thus, man became a living ノ being. God gave man the
gift of speech 告 and made him to walk 㸕, thus completing his creation.
造 is the present form of the character, but if we go back to the original
forms, we can see that the character 生 in its old form is included
within them. The bronze-ware characters of 3500 years ago have
several variations of what evolved into the modern day character 造.
We can see some rather interesting associations in several old variants
, and ,13 all of which contain (告). (The first two variants
dropped out of use, leaving only to evolve into the modern form 造.)
In considering why the ancient scribes would have used such
combinations, let's first take a look at this character (生). Genesis
1:24 says, "And God said, 'Let the land produce living creatures
according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the
ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.' And it was so."
In other words, the Lord God made "living creatures" from the soil
(土). There are several possible interpretations for the pictograph .
Chapter 2: Could The Ancient Chinese Have Known About Eden? ! 38

The "standard" interpretation is that this symbolizes grass. After all,

the "grass radical" (kusa kanmuri) Ⱂ is derived from its original form
of , and thus this is a natural assumption. However, there is no
evidence that the ancient scribes of 4000 years ago only had the image
of grass in mind when they composed these characters (see #15 甫,
p. 42).
The ancient Egyptians had a writing system that used symbols called
"hieroglyphics" (literally, "holy writing") that had much in common with
the ancient forms of Chinese characters. Hieroglyphics clearly
developed from the religious concepts of the ancient Egyptians, and so
it is reasonable to assume that the religious concepts of the ancient
Chinese also played a role in the development of their writing system.
This is, in fact, consistent with the widely held view that early writing
systems were intimately connected with religion. Thus, if this
assumption is true, then, rather than the commonly held view that the
ancient characters were developed only in reference to objects of
everyday life, one could reasonably hypothesize that many characters
were originally based on stories and concepts connected with the
worship of Shang Ti. While there is no evidence for any kind of written
record related to the worship of Shang Ti in ancient China that is
analogous to the biblical stories of creation and the history of early
human beings that we find in the Bible, as was demonstrated earlier, the
concepts contained within the rituals of Shang Ti worship were very
similar to those of the Old Testament. Thus, I feel that an analysis of
the makeup of Chinese characters ̶ particularly the earliest forms ̶ in
comparison with Biblical concepts and stories, is not an illegitimate
exercise.
Therefore, let us begin with the hypothesis that the pictograph ,
along with the related pictographs and , all of which seem to refer to
God in some way. If, for instance, you were to see the stick drawing ,
you would most likely conclude that it was intended to symbolize a
human being. Such a simple drawing is actually very close to the
bronzeware form of 天 (ten, heaven), which was . We will look more
carefully at this character later on (#12, p.41), but this form would
seem to be referring to the "God of heaven." Likewise, interpreting
Chapter 2: Could The Ancient Chinese Have Known About Eden? ! 39

as referring to the "arms" of God raised in blessing fits in very naturally

with a number of characters, making the original forms of 生 (sei,
alive) , and 告 (koku, tell) fit in very nicely with Genesis.
God created , all living things from the ground , and from
his own "mouth" , he spoke them into existence. As mentioned
above, there are several variations in the original forms of the character
for create (造), but they all include or (告). It is anyone's guess as
to why there are several variations of the character, but it is consistent
that the idea of being spoken into existence is included in all of them.

This character includes the meanings of "breath", "air"

7.� 气 and "vapor," and in its bronzeware form, it was
which is thought to have represented vapor rising.
,

KI
Nevertheless, given the religious concepts of the
vapor
ancient Chinese, I wonder if it didn't also symbolize the
presence of God. The three lines would seem to be
related to the three "persons" 口口口 in the character for
spirit (靈), and as we shall see with characters including (#31-35), as
well as several other characters related to God, this number three keeps
popping up. Likewise, in the seal characters, there is a character with
the same meaning that is written , and can be interpreted to be
referring to "Adam" (see 旦, p.62 and 陽, p.55) being infused with the
breath of life.

In Hebrew, the word, "ruwach" can be translated as

8. 風 "wind," "breath" or "spirit," depending on context. The

oracle bone form for the character 風 would also
F", kaze seem to have a similar relationship. At the top there is
wind a large mouth facing downwards that can be
interpreted to represent God's "mouth", while the small
mouth facing sideways would then represent man.
Into the man , we see entering what could be
interpreted as "breath" ( + = ). The rationale for this
interpretation is that the bronzeware form of 气, which also means
"breath," is , and so the same three lines being "swept" into the
Chapter 2: Could The Ancient Chinese Have Known About Eden? ! 40

man can be interpreted as the breath of God. The "ruwach" (breath)

of God s "ruwach" (Spirit) blew into the first man, Adam, like a divine
"kamikaze" (神風) "ruwach" (wind) to make him a living being. (In
biblical Hebrew, "ruwach" has all three meanings.)

9. 神 Chapter 20 is devoted to this and other characters

containing the god radical 示, but let's first look at it in
SHIN, kami the context of the creation of man. The seal form of
god, deity this character 14 shows what appears to be God 示

reaching down with his "hands" to create man . In

the analysis to follow, we will see other characters that
include what appear to be the hands of God reaching down, and they all
have the hand facing downwards. There are also several characters
that include two hands reaching up , and these make sense when
those hands are understood to represent human hands reaching up.

10. 丁 In present-day Japan, this character is most

commonly used in the word 丁目 ch$me, which is used
TEI, CH# as a counter in addresses for sections of a city. Its
adult male original usage, however, is still reflected in words such
as 壮丁 s$tei, which refers to a male who has reached
adulthood.15
Interestingly enough, in its original form, this
character was simply a large "dot," as in or .16 Why a large dot was
chosen to represent an adult male is a bit of a mystery, of course, but
the fact that it means this is an important key to the interpretation of
many ancient characters from the perspective of Genesis.
As we saw in the analysis of 生 sei (alive) above, its ancient form
contained within it the character for soil (土). If we interpret the dot
in , and to represent an adult male, then they fit in very nicely
with the biblical concept of the creation of the first human as an adult
male from the soil of the ground.
Likewise, in the analysis of 神 kami above, we saw that the seal
character form of the 申 part of the character was . The bronzeware
form of this same character was ,17 with the part being equivalent
Chapter 2: Could The Ancient Chinese Have Known About Eden? ! 41

to the "hands reaching down" , and surrounding what can be

interpreted as an adult male . In Japanese, 申 (m$(su)) is most
commonly used as the honorific form of "to say," but in the original
Chinese usage, it meant to "teach" or "explain." This is exactly what
God did to the "crown of his creation," the newly formed Adam, created
in his image.

11. 印 This common character is used in words such as 印鑑

(inkan, a personal seal) and 印刷 (insatsu, printing),
IN, shirushi but its original form implies that it first applied to
seal, imprint, God's "imprint" through his creation of a spiritual
symbol nature in human beings. In the oracle bone form ,
we see a hand reaching down from above to touch
the kneeling human figure .
The "standard" explanation of this character is that
of forced submission to the one in power.18 While that is certainly
possible, might it not just as easily have originally referred to God's
"hand" putting his "stamp of approval" on his highest creation?

The original form of 天 was a symbol that

12~13. 天大、 simply looks like a stick drawing of a human
being . Again, we see the enlarged "dot,"
TEN DAI, and as we shall see in many other characters
ama $ki(i) as well, this is thought to represent "glory" in
heavens, great, some sense.19
Heaven large The primitive form of 大 dai was similar,
looking like a stick drawing of a human with
outstretched arms and legs . This character,
however, meant more than just "large" or
"great," as it also carried the meaning of a "great, noble person." Thus,
it would seem that the God of Heaven, Shang Ti, was conceived of as a
glorious and noble person.
Chapter 2: Could The Ancient Chinese Have Known About Eden? ! 42

14. 父 The bronzeware form of 父 is , and here again we

see the pronounced thickening of part of the
FU, chichi, t$ character in a manner similar to that for 天 . Thus,
father here also there appears to be an allusion to the glory
of the "Heavenly Father." This is hinted at in the
rituals of worship to Shang Ti, 於惟皇兮、億兆物之祖眞,
which translates as, "You alone, O Emperor, are the
true ancestor (father) of all things. "20
In the bronzeware characters of 3500 years ago, there are a couple
of very suggestive characters of unknown meaning. One is the
combination ,21 which when put into the context we are using here
would seem to be somehow related to the idea of the "Heavenly
Father" creating the first human, Adam . The other character is ,
and since is the primitive form of 乙 otsu, which means a "young
maiden," this character would seem to be referring to Eve, the first
"young maiden" �created by the God the Father��.22

15. 甫 In the oracle bone form, this character is , and in

the bronzeware, it is or . As for its meaning, it has
HO, hajime a very broad usage, including "beginning," "father" and
beginning, "field."23 (It is also the original form of the 圃 in 田圃
father, field tanbo, a paddy field.)
As is often the case, the explanations of the origin
of this character differ widely from dictionary to
dictionary. For instance, according to the 漢和中辞典
(Kanwa Chū Jiten, the Middle-sized Chinese Character-Japanese
Dictionary), "This character is obviously the symbol for grass (草)
(kusa) added on to 田 (den, tan, paddy field). It thus refers to a field
where vegetables are grown."24 On the other hand, the 字源辞典 (Jigen
Jiten, the Dictionary of Character Origins) says with equal authority,
"This character is a 'meaning/sound-association character' which gets
its meaning from the radical 用 (y$, to use) as well as from 斧 (ono,
axe), with the 父 (fu, father) giving it its sound."25
When we consider, however, that this character means "beginning,"
"father" and "field," it would make much more sense to assume that
Chapter 2: Could The Ancient Chinese Have Known About Eden? ! 43

the ancient scribes who first devised this character had in mind the first
"field" that the "Heavenly Father" created in the "beginning," namely
the Garden of Eden. After all, it would appear that the in is related
to (父 father). Thus, it would seem that this character is referring to
the "field of God." If this is correct, then the in the oracle bone form
of the character would not be "grass" but, as we saw before, the
"upraised arms of God in blessing."

This character was not included in the officially

recognized characters, but it was given the reading of
16.
"saketsubo" in Japan. Its original meaning was simply
saketsubo a vessel in general, and in its original form , we can
a vessel for again discern a relation to the creation of man. The
rice wine is an adaptation of (人) (human being), which seems
to envelope the symbol for soil (土) we looked at
earlier. As the (丁) means an adult male, a reasonable
interpretation of this character would be that of "a
man created from the soil," who then is compared to a clay vessel.
This is very reminiscent of the words of Isaiah, "Yet, O Lord, you are
our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of
your hand" (64:8). We likewise find a similar phrase in the Shang Ti
rituals: 皇徳無京、陶此羣生 "O Lord, your greatest virtue is beyond
knowing. As a potter, you have created all life."26

若
In Japanese, this character is used almost
17. exclusively with the sense of "young," but its original
meaning had to do with "bearing the image of" or
JAKU, waka(i)
"resembling." Its usage in words meaning "young" is a
young,
"borrowed usage," and its original meaning, while still
similarity
referred to in Japanese dictionaries, has gone out of
general use.27
When this character's origin is taken into account, it
is clear that the makeup of this character also
"resembles" the Genesis stories. It is a bit difficult to see in the oracle
bone style , but in the bronzeware version , there are clearly three .
In the seal characters that followed some 1100 years later, the form
evolved into , and then finally into the modern character 若. If the is
Chapter 2: Could The Ancient Chinese Have Known About Eden? ! 44

taken to mean "the uplifted arms of God in blessing," as was the case in
(甫) and (告), the combined symbol could be taken to mean,
"three gods being one." In , then, we have a small "mouth" (which
could be interpreted as Adam) being added, with the resulting
combination depicting the "Triune God creating man in his own
image ." As can also mean "hand," this combination of "three
hands united into one" could also be viewed as the hands of God
creating man in his own image.
+ =

� three hands man resemble,

� united into one� � � similarity

While the concept of the Trinity is not specifically referred to in

Genesis, the phrase in 1:26 "Let us make man in our image, in our
likeness" is in the plural, and since the triune nature of God is the clear
teaching of the Bible as a whole, it would appear that even in this area,
the concept of God held by ancient Chinese "resembled" (若) that of
the Bible. (See footnote #10)

18. 參 When one considers the ancient forms of this

character, and , it would appear that the ancient
(参) Chinese composed this character, with its meaning of
SAN, mai(ru) "going into the presence of God," by associating a
visit (a shrine) person (a stylized version of (人)) going before
Shang Ti. Among the Bronzeware characters, there is
a similar character that is thought to be simply a
variety of this same character. The bottom part of
this character appears to be a representation of a kneeling human,
and is quite similar to the ancient form of 光 (hikari = light), which is
� (See p.66).
It is striking that this character also contains three 's connected
together in unity, just like the three in (若#17, p.43) and the three
□ in 靈 (pp.35-36). (We will also see the same pattern in characters
including the阝radical (kozato hen, #31-35), which was three mouths
Chapter 2: Could The Ancient Chinese Have Known About Eden? ! 45

� or three horizontal lines connected with a vertical line and also the
oracle bone form of 帝 (Emperor, which was , #212, p.172). All of
these seem to be pointing toward the mysterious, triune nature of
Shang Ti 上帝.
The Japanese use this character most commonly in the sense of
going to a shrine or visiting the graves of one's ancestors (お参り omairi
or 参拝 sanpai). Also, the three diagonal lines in are similar to those
seen in (風 kaze, p.39), which we saw can be interpreted as the Spirit
of God. Thus, putting these together, if the thesis that the origin of
this character is based on the religious concepts of ancient China is
correct, then the original "omairi" (お参り) of human history was not to
the graves of the ancestors, but into the presence of the God who
created the ancestors, Shang Ti.

� � � +� � +� � =
� three beings� person� Spirit � visiting
� united in one� � � of God� a shrine

Common questions