Dear (you, the person who is reading this),

Hereby I would like to place a request for various stories concerning kanji number 582 - group. I find the stories currently posted at the story-page not working for me and am currently unable to think of a better story myself. Any help will be much appreciated.

Regards,

Roderik

Wow, really? That one came incredibly easy for me. There's already a ton of stories there, and it's only two primitives, so its hard to imagine that anyone could come up with any new ideas for it that haven't already been explored. What specifically are you having trouble with, regarding this kanji? The keyword? One of the primitives? Just the whole thing in general?

It seems that lately, I've been having more and more trouble remembering these kanji in general. As far as this sole kanji is concerned though, the problem lies in the fact that I simply can't imagine a group of pent-in people glued together, or a variation on that theme. I think I will spend some extra time this evening on thinking about a nice image for this kanji, who knows, perhaps I will suddenly be hit by a burst of creative genius.

That came incredibly easy for me too.

"A group of kids putting glue in other people mailboxes."

Well there are expressions about people who are always together. For instance two best friends who always go everywhere together, you can say something like "they are always stuck together" or "they act like they are glued together". For me, this is how I see the glue primitive being used.

How about something like "Glue a group of your favorite stamps onto postcards and pent them up in a box for a fine collection."

Heh, I kind of like that one and may go add it to my stories now even though I'm not that far.

Zarxrax, thanks a lot for your response in general and for bringing the idea of two people stuck together to my mind. If Cirion's example fails, I will elaborate on that thought.

Cirion, I think I've just fallen in love . Thanks a lot for your idea about those stamps. Not that I ever use stamps, but for some reason it is ridiculously easy to make up a mental image for your little story .

Be careful with that, because stamp appears as a primitive later in the book.

I was thinking of glue and box as being the important visuals and collection being the auditory clue for the keyword, but then again in my Japanese class I've already learned stamp as 切手.

Not knowing future primitives is a problem in any story - you won't know till you get there unless someone warns you. Maybe Roderik can use some other group of things that can be glued and put in a box. Pictures in a scrapbook? Tiles on a backsplash in the shape of a square? My example is how a stamp collection my friend inherited was stored.

Anyway, I'm glad you like the idea and hope it works out for you Roderik. I sometimes have the same problem where Heisig's examples can't stick.

When I think of group, I think of hazing or rituals to get into a group (like a fraternity). In this case I imagine wannabe group members glued to a wall in a pent-in place. It helps to make the image embarrassing (eg. football players glued to a wall holding each others hands while wearing funny underwear glued to the wall inside a teacher pent in closet).
Hope this helps...

EDIT: think of the movie "Old School" with Will Ferrel.

Hmm, I just think of team rocket a.k.a. ロケット団. As you can tell, I've been playing the　
ポケモン games in 日本語.

Heh, more fantastic ideas . Thank you guys, they are all usable and very easy to imagine.

Out of all of the post 500 Kanji, I believe this one was the easiest for me. Why? I'm a massive Haruhi Suzumiya fan. And Haruhi's club is, of course, called the SOS団.

So if you still aren't getting it, try tying it into some game or anime you've played or watched. Even if you have to go into the Japanese versions.