Stroke direction - Printable Version +- kanji koohii FORUM (http://forum.koohii.com) +-- Forum: Learning Japanese (http://forum.koohii.com/forum-4.html) +--- Forum: General discussion (http://forum.koohii.com/forum-8.html) +--- Thread: Stroke direction (/thread-1327.html)

Stroke direction - Zarxrax - 2008-04-05 I'm getting fairly good at determining stroke order (though I still get mixed up on some particularly complex kanji), but I still struggle with the *direction* that some strokes are written in. How do you learn which way you are supposed to draw the strokes? For example, take the character for temple, 寺. The last stroke is that little drop near the bottom. Do you write it from top-left to bottom-right, or from bottom-right to top-left? I always do it from bottom to top, almost as if it's a continuation of the previous stroke. I don't really know if I'm doing it right though. I'm also left-handed, so I don't know if that might make me tend to do some things the wrong way. Stroke direction - Ryuujin27 - 2008-04-05 The "drop" would be from the top-left to bottom-right. It follows that basic principle of "Northwest to Southeast". At least I think that's how... Stroke direction - Zarxrax - 2008-04-05 Well when heisig introduces the "drop", he says that its generally written from right to left. Of course, when I right a kanji that uses the three water drops on the left, I normally do the first 2 from left to right, and then the last one from bottom to top... I want to break these habits before I get them too ingrained in my head, if I'm not doing them right. Stroke direction - Nukemarine - 2008-04-05 At times like these, you may want to consider adding the stroke order font that's floating around there. Although I have not seen it, I assume the numbers are placed close to where the stroke will start. By the way, as you get advanced (say your reviews are only 20 or 30 a day), you can actually let the stroke order (and direction) determine if you got a kanji correct. Seems to be a major benefit we have over native writers. Stroke direction - Mcjon01 - 2008-04-05 In general, you'll write them top to bottom. So, when the drop slants to the left, like it does in 寺, you write it from left to right. When it slants to the right, write it right to left. Except, don't do that for the exceptions. Stroke direction - atreya - 2008-04-05 The answer is in the image. Stroke direction - Zarxrax - 2008-04-05 Thanks, that site will be useful Stroke direction - JimmySeal - 2008-04-05 The third stroke in the water primitive is usually more like a checkmark than a drop: down first, and then up. In this post, I discuss how you can tell a lot about stroke direction just by looking at an ordinary mincho font.