Mnemonic
A cliff overlooks the sea where a seal lounges on a rocky ledge. You wave cheerfully, but the seal startles and body-slams you right off the edge—how unlucky! That cliff is cursed: every year the seal returns, and anyone who approaches meets the same miserable, plummeting fate.
Additional thoughts
Picture a specific cliff with warning signs about unlucky ages (yakudoshi). The seal acts as a slapstick agent of misfortune—cute but deadly. Cliff + Seal = calamity waiting to happen.Quick recall
A seal on a cliff startles and knocks you off the edge—utterly unlucky.Details
The keyword for 厄 is unlucky. This kanji conveys the sense of misfortune, calamity, or bad luck that befalls a person. In Japanese culture, it is closely associated with the concept of *yakudoshi*, specific ages considered to be particularly prone to disaster or ill fortune. It broadly encompasses the ideas of hardship, adversity, and being in a cursed or unfortunate state.
- On'yomi
- やく