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The character 瓜 (guā) is a pictograph depicting a melon or gourd hanging from a vine. In its oracle bone script form, it clearly showed the fruit with dangling tendrils. The character has maintained this basic shape throughout its evolution from bronze script to clerical script and finally to the modern standard form. 瓜 represents various melon-like fruits and appears in words like 西瓜 (watermelon), 黄瓜 (cucumber), and 瓜果 (melon and fruit). The character's structure symbolizes the fruit's round shape connected to the vine, beautifully capturing the essence of the plant in written form. Arrived in Japan: The character 瓜 arrived in Japan during the Yayoi period (approximately 300 BCE-300 CE) or early Kofun period (250-538 CE), when Chinese writing was first introduced to Japan through cultural exchange with Korea and China. It was incorporated into the Japanese writing system as a kanji, read as 'uri' or 'ka', and appears in words like 西瓜 (suika - watermelon) and 瓜実 (urimi - melon seed).