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The character 投 evolved from ancient pictographs showing a hand (扌/手) throwing a weapon or object. In oracle bone script, it depicted a hand holding a tool like an axe or dart, ready to throw. By the small seal script period, it standardized into the recognizable form with the hand radical and the 殳 component (meaning 'to strike with a weapon'). The core meaning has always centered around 'throwing,' 'casting,' or 'projecting,' which expanded to metaphorical uses like 'to submit' (投書), 'to join' (投靠), and 'to throw oneself into' (投⼊). Arrived in Japan: The character 投 likely arrived in Japan during the 5th-6th centuries CE, when the Japanese writing system was being developed and Chinese characters (kanji) were systematically imported along with Buddhism, Confucian texts, and Chinese administrative practices. It appears in early Japanese documents like the 8th-century Man'yōshū poetry anthology.