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The character 茎 (stem/stalk) evolved from ancient pictographs depicting plant stems. In Liushutong classification, it belongs to the 'form-phonetic' (形声) category, combining the plant radical (艹) with the phonetic component 巠. The original meaning refers to the main stem or stalk of a plant that supports leaves and flowers. Over time, it extended metaphorically to describe anything that serves as a main supporting structure, much like how a stem supports a plant. Arrived in Japan: The character 茎 arrived in Japan during the Yayoi period (around 300 BCE-300 CE) or early Kofun period through cultural exchange with China, likely via Korean peninsula. It was systematically introduced along with other Chinese characters during the 5th-6th centuries when Japanese scholars began studying Chinese writing systems. The character maintains the same meaning in Japanese, pronounced 'kuki' or 'kei'.