Wow, what a simply incredible site! I'm (just!) through Part I/Lesson 12 of Heisig, and heard about the site from a fellow studier. Glad I found it early on.

Question about the water droplet primitive... not 水 itself, but when it's off to the left-hand side, like in 潮, 泊, etc. Numerous renderings seem to elongate the third droplet quite significantly. What's the proper trick to writing this correctly? The stroke order drawings in the book make it look like a little checkmark, but in other places it looks like a much more pronounced or elongated "Y" shape. Should I even bother to fuss about it?

Cheers,
-Beckett (or possibly, ベケット)

I'm not sure if that's what you were thinking about but it might simply be the ending hook. The strokes, at least when done with a brush, can end in different ways, which you can notice if you look at the kanji in the RTK book carefully. One of them is the hook. Just end your stroke with a little 'jump'... it's hard to explain on the internet but give it a try. It should be a small mark like in the RTK book, not a full extra stroke. It feels more natural when writing quickly.

Check out the fiesta primitive, it flows very nicely with the proper stroke endings

Edit: Very bottom of http://japanese.gatech.edu/WebCTVista/kanji/kanji0.html

[Katsuo]

The three-stroke left-side version of "water" is called 三水 (sanzui) in Japanese.

If you are writing with a pen or pencil, then the three strokes can all be straight lines. The third stroke is longer, and can taper off towards the top.

In Mincho fonts the third stroke may look like a modified "Y". But those fonts are for printing, not handwriting.

The "checkmark" is also an acceptable way to write the third stroke.

Incidentally, NHK are currently screening a series of twelve five-minute programs called 簡単ルールできれいな字を書く showing how to write kanji stylishly. Last Thursday's program (no. 8) included how to write "sanzui". The series seems to be repeated frequently.

Mincho fonts put the tick/checkmark in to try and represent what you do with a brush which isn't quite the same as a tick. It's more like putting slight pressure at the start of the stroke and then easing the pressure as you move up.

So when I write with a pen/pencil, I tend to do the same. You press hardest at the start of the third stroke and and flick up to ease the pressure.

Hope this makes sense.

Thanks! All very helpful. (Too bad the NHK mini-lessons aren't online!)