When you long for something or someone, do you think of that longing as having a particular location? Do you store it somewhere, such as your heart, mind, soul, or journal? I don’t feel as if my yearnings have specific addresses; they seem all-pervasive. But the following word hints at the idea that desire is actually lodged (宿) somewhere!

宿望 (shukubō: long-cherished desire)     to lodge + desire

This may have something to do with the nuances of 宿 (SHUKU, yado: to lodge), which also appears in two words synonymous with 宿望:

宿志 (shukushi: longstanding desire)     to lodge + purpose

We’ve seen 志 in both 意志 (ishi: will, intention, determination, intention + to intend) and 志望 (shibō: wish, desire, ambition, ambition + to aspire). Working with Halpern’s definitions, I’ve defined this kanji a little differently all three times!

宿願 (shukugan: longstanding desire)     to lodge + desire

You may recognize 願 as the central part of お願い (onegai: wish). GAN is an on-yomi of 願, and we see this yomi again here:

願望 (ganbō: wish, desire)     desire + wish

Aha! We’ve come full circle, returning to 望!

If you also want to return to the idea that wishes can be stored somewhere inside a person, check out this word:

所望 (shomō: desire, request, wish)     dwelling place + wish

As you know, 所 is tokoro, “place.” More specifically, it can mean “dwelling place,” which matches our discussion quite well. However, in 所望, “dwelling place” may not be an accurate interpretation. Halpern says this 所 is a nominalizing particle, one that turns verbs into nouns. Another example is 所得 (shotoku: income, earnings, nominalizing particle + to obtain as profit). I don’t understand how this would apply to 所望, as 望 can be either the noun nozomi, “wish,” or the verb nozo(mu), “to wish, hope.”

But never mind that. Seeing 宿望 and 所望 has conjured up a wonderful image—that we all have secret compartments where we store our longstanding desires. These two compounds illustrate something else, as well—they remind us that, as we’ve seen, 望 can have two on-yomi: BŌ and MŌ. In the remainder of today’s blog, BŌ will pop up every time. No mo’ instances of MŌ.

Let’s start with yokubō:

欲望 (yokubō: desire, appetite, lust)     desire + desire

The sample sentence offers important advice:

欲望と愛を混同するな。
Yokubō to ai o kondō suru na.
Don’t confuse lust with love.

愛 (ai: love)
混同する (kondō suru: to confuse)
     to confuse + same

This discussion is starting to heat up! Here’s another word about desire:

渇望 (katsubō: craving, longing, thirsting)     to thirst + to desire

On 渇 …

Surely the sample sentence will be just as sexy as the first:

我が国の国民は独立を渇望している。
Waga kuni no kokumin wa dokuritsu o katsubō shite iru.
Our people thirst for independence.

我が (waga: us, our)
国 (kuni: country)
国民 (kokumin: nation, people, citizens)
     country + people
独立 (dokuritsu: independence)
     alone + to stand on one’s own legs

We saw this word just last week—in a sign about koalas!

Hmm, definitely not sexy, though the sentence does have a cool double usage of 国, showcasing its two yomi. But if you take 渇望 and add 者, look what happens:

渇望者 (katsubōsha: desiring person; luster)
     to thirst + to desire + person

“Luster”?!?! I didn’t know that was a word, aside from something like, “Use Pledge when you dust, and your wooden coffee table will gleam with a luster you’ve never seen before!” Yes, my dictionary confirms that “luster” can mean “a person who lusts,” as in, “a luster after power.” Wow, is that awkward, or what?!

What are you a luster after? Not all wishes (望) are sexy. Some are just plain practical. Maybe you hanker for a map. If so, good news:

ご要望により地図を送ります。
Go-yōbō ni yori chizu o okurimasu.
A map is available upon request.

により (ni yori: based on)
地図 (chizu: map)     land + map
送 (oku(ru): to send, mail, transmit)

The key vocabulary word here is 要望:

要望 (yōbō: demand for, request)     to demand + to wish

You may recognize 要 as the latter half of 必要 (hitsuyō: necessary, certainly + to require).

Now that I understand all the words in the sentence, I’m amazed at how different the English and Japanese versions are. A more literal translation of the Japanese would be “Based on your request, we will send a map.”

If you want to raise the temperature on the discussion, you’d expect 熱 (NETSU, atsu(i)) to do the trick. After all, it has the fire radical . And 熱 means “hot” or “fever,” depending on the context. Sure enough, 熱 plays a part in one word for “burning desire”:

熱望 (netsubō: longing for, burning desire)     fervent + to desire

But there’s no “heat” in the sample sentence:

我々は世界平和を熱望している。
Wareware wa sekai heiwa o netsubō shite iru.
We are eager for world peace.

我々(wareware: we)
世界 (sekai: world)     world + world
平和 (heiwa: peace)     peaceful + peace

A rhyming word, setsubō, similarly looks poised to be a word about passion:

切望 (setsubō: longing for, earnest desire, desperate desire, hope, yearning)     urgent + desire

I’m assuming that the 切 here is much like the one in 大切 (taisetsu: important, great + urgent). As you likely know, the primary meaning of 切 is “to cut.”

But look at the object of passion in this sentence:

９月に復学することを加藤は切望した。
Ku-gatsu ni fukugaku suru koto o Katō wa setsubō shita.
Katō was eager to return to school in September.

９月 (ku-gatsu: September)     nine + month
復学 (fukugaku: return to school)
     to return to (a place) + school
加藤 (Katō: family name)     addition + wisteria

Ha! I don’t think I’ve ever met a student with that kind of “desperate desire,” as the definition has it! Well, we can’t end with such a namby-pamby desire. Here’s a 切望 sentence that I like much better:

私たちはだれでも、他者との一体感を切望する何かをうちに秘めている。
Watashitachi wa daredemo, tasha to no ittaikan o setsubō suru nanika o uchi ni himete iru.
Each of us has something inside that longs for a sense of oneness with others.

私たち (watashitachi: we)
だれでも (daredemo: anyone, anybody, whoever)
他者 (tasha: another person, others)     other + person
一体感 (ittaikan: feeling of identification, sense of unity)
     one + body + feeling
何か (nanika: something)
うち (uchi: inside, in)
秘める (himeru: to hide, keep to oneself)

Time for your Verbal Logic Quiz!

Verbal Logic Quiz …