I started watching the NHK Japanese language class Nihongo de kurasou. They have a section called Kanji in Daily Life and the first lesson was about some ranking?? system with these 3 characters: pine/bamboo/plum. I couldn't really understand the explanation.
Where they saying it's a way to classify things without really making one thing superior to another? The textbook doesn't seem to have any translation for the kanji section.
How often are these really used in daily life in Japan?

You really need to supply a link to the video/website so we can actually watch it and then comment. It would be much more helpful

It's called shouchikubai in Japanese. It's a ranking system with pine being top and plum being the bottom. It's not terribly important to know it for daily life but it might come up in a restaurant or ryokan where they would offer different meal sets.

The pine set would be the most expensive choice.

Yeah I've only seen it in restaurants.

Thank you for your replies.

Here is the passage from the textbook:
これらはどちらも飲食店のメニューでよく見る漢字です。一つの品物についての質、大きさ、豪華さなどについてのランク分けに使われます。並より上が、上より特上の方が、質がいいか大きいか豪華です。
松・竹・梅は、どれもいい意味を持つ木の名前です。松は一年中緑の葉をつけています。竹はまっすぐ上に伸びます。梅は寒い冬の後できれいで香りのいい花が咲きます。このようにどの木もおめでたい意味を持っています。したがって木そのものにはランク分けはありませんが、特上・上・並と同じようにランク分けに使われています。

For some reason I imagined it was a really well known textbook (like Genki and Minna no nihongo).
It even has its own wikipedia page
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHK%E6%97%A...D%E3%81%86

raluca Wrote:I started watching the NHK Japanese language class Nihongo de kurasou. They have a section called Kanji in Daily Life and the first lesson was about some ranking?? system with these 3 characters: pine/bamboo/plum. I couldn't really understand the explanation.

The key bits for understanding the paragraph you've quoted are the first two sentences and the last one (the section in the middle is explanatory fluff). You should probably make sure you understand at least what those sentences mean (feel free to ask more specific grammar/vocab questions).

Thank you for your help.

I believe I understood most of the text, but I'm having trouble with a couple of sentences.

First:
並より上が、上より特上の方が、質がいいか大きいか豪華です。
what I believe it says is:
Special is better than regular, but extra special is better than special, it is better quality or bigger or (more) exquisite.
The second ga had me confused for a while, but I guess I should take it like a set phrase - no hou ga. Also, I believe the three adjectives refer to extra-special, but I'm not 100% sure.

The last sentence is also a bit confusing for me:
したがって木そのものにはランク分けはありませんが、特上・上・並と同じようにランク分けに使われています。
I read it as:
Subsequently, it's not a distinction based on the types of trees itself, but it is used as a distinction based on regular, special, extra special.
If my understanding is correct, then I don't really see the connection to the whole backstory of the bamboo growing tall, pine tree being green all year long and plum tree blooming early.

It's just telling you that all three trees have their good point, so the idea is not that the trees themselves are being judged.

Thanks for your help.
Most of the Kanji in Daily Life parts seem focused on cultural concepts unique to Japan.
I'm at lesson 10 right now and the kanji words are: 御中元 and 御歳暮. The previous ones were equally mysterious to me.
It's definitely a challenge, but I'm starting to enjoy deciphering the Japanese text.