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The other day, I encountered 追 (TSUI, o(u)) in three different contexts: during a Skype-chat with a Japanese friend, on a random visit to a website, and in a dictionary as I searched for something else. In all cases, this kanji appeared in words I didn’t know: 追加 (tsuika: addition), 追う (ou: to chase), and 貝殻追放 (kaigara tsuihō: ostracism).
I took it as a sign that the kanji gods wanted me to fall in love with 追—or at least investigate it. I have done their bidding and will look at this character in the next three blogs.
I’m not sure I’m in love with 追. After all, it breaks down as “moving buttocks”—not the most charming of ingredients! But I’m intrigued, partly because 追 contains opposite meanings:
1. to chase after, to pursue
2. to chase away, to drive (cattle), to shoo (flies)
Last week we saw another kanji with similar schizophrenia—出る (deru) can mean both “to leave” and “to appear.”
Everything Contains Its Opposite …
These characters actually combine in 追い出す (oidasu: to chase away, to kick out, to chase away + to thrust out), although in this case the intransitive 出る has changed to the transitive form 出す (dasu), which can mean “to thrust out.” When these two on-the-fence characters merge in a word, they lose all their wishy-washiness and convey a decisive message: Get out!
Whereas 出 contains only a physical tension (i.e., coming versus going), 追 can also have an emotional tension. That is, you can pursue someone while yelling, “Hit the road! Don’t ever come back!” Although 追 looks fairly compact, it therefore contains quite a bundle of energies moving in opposite directions. Let’s look at each of these contradictory meanings.
追 as “To Chase After, To Pursue”
The chase is on! What kinds of things do humans chase? Love? Wealth? Power? Paper? (Wonder if anyone will get that reference!)
Before we look at Japanese compounds involving hot and heavy pursuit, let’s hear what Westerners have said on the topic:
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“Don’t refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase—that’s what wild geese are for.” —Anonymous “With the catching end the pleasures of the chase.” “I’m not an ambulance chaser. I’m usually there before the ambulance.” “If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.” “Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” |
We find, from this brief survey, that Westerners pursue butterflies, rabbits, wild geese, and ambulances. An interesting assortment. And in the East?
追突 (tsuitotsu: rear-end collision) to chase + to collide
The second kanji, 突, can mean “to stab, to pierce,” so I was hoping that that meaning applied here. After all, if a car chase ends in a collision, it’s as if one car has stabbed the other! But Halpern says 突 in 追突 means “to collide.”
追い越す (oikosu: to outrun, pass, overtake)
to chase + to outrunAlthough 越す (ETSU, ko(eru)) usually means “to go beyond,” Halpern interprets it as “to outrun” here.
追究 (tsuikyū: thorough investigation)
to pursue + to study exhaustivelyYou likely know 究 from 研究 (kenkyū: research, to research + to study exhaustively).
追尾 (tsuibi: pursuit, tracking) to chase after + tail
This word means “to be on someone’s tail“!
追従 (tsuishō: flattery, boot-licking; tsuijū: to follow (someone) blindly) to pursue + to obey
Boot-licking, huh? An awfully tame (though equally unappetizing) version of the usual idiomatic expressions related to flattery.
追い縋る (oisugaru: to close in on, to be hot on the heels of)
to pursue + to clingI like seeing the 追 shape inside 縋 (a whale-fish relationship!), and for some reason I also like seeing “sugar” inside oisugaru.
追 as “To Drive Away”
It’s harder somehow to think of what we drive away than what we pursue. Horace had some thoughts about the matter:
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“You may drive nature out with a pitchfork, she will nevertheless come back.” —Horace (65–8 BCE), Roman lyric poet |
Wow, clearly a little dated! I think the pitchfork has since won the battle. Well, let’s hear from a Frenchman on the issue:
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“Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.” —Victor Hugo (1802–1885), French writer, The Hunchback of Notre Dame |
OK, that’s a little better. Now, what’s the Japanese take on this?
追儺 (tsuina: exorcism) to drive away + exorcism
This isn’t the exorcism of horror movies but rather a very specific ritual in Japanese culture. How specific? Well, it’s the alternate (and older) name for the ritual otherwise known as mamemaki (豆撒き: beans + to scatter), which is part of the February 3 festival called Setsubun (節分: season + division). Setsubun marks the end of winter and involves driving away oni: (鬼: horned, evil monsters) by throwing beans in the house. JapanesePod101.com did a culture class on this subject two years ago. February 3 is coming up soon, so get your beans ready!
追い払う (opparau or oiharau: to drive away)
to drive away + to drive awayIf opparau sounds familiar, that’s probably because it rhymes with yopparau, “to get drunk.” (And in fact these two words share a kanji, as you’ll see at the next link.) Opparau allows you to drive away drunks … not to be confused with driving away drunk!
追放者 (tsuihōsha: deportee) banish (1st 2 chars.) + person
This relates to the latter half of 貝殻追放 (kaigara tsuihō: ostracism), mentioned above.
追い返す (oikaesu: to repulse, drive back, turn away)
to drive away + to send back
Have I driven you away with all these 追 words? Or do you want to chase after more terms containing 追? You’ll find some wacky ones in the Verbal Logic Quiz.
