Mnemonic
To indicate oneself in Japan, you point straight at your nose. You're in a field of wildflowers, sniffing deeply, when pollen overwhelms you. Your hands fly up to pinch your nose shut, but it's too late — the sneeze rockets you backward into the dirt.
Additional thoughts
Oneself → the Japanese gesture of pointing at your own nose to mean 'me.' Field of flowers → pollen triggers the nose. Hands pinching the nose shut completes the physical picture. Stack: self on top, field in the middle, hands at the bottom.Quick recall
Oneself points at the nose in a field of flowers while hands pinch it shut against pollen.Details
The keyword for 鼻 is nose. This kanji refers to the nose, the organ of smell located in the center of the face. In Japanese culture, pointing to one's nose is a common gesture for indicating oneself, as the nose is symbolically associated with the self or ego. The kanji can also be used figuratively to describe pride or conceit, as in the expression of being "nose-high," meaning haughty.
- On'yomi
- び
- Kun'yomi
- はな