Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 会 (huì) originally depicted a lid covering a container, symbolizing 'meeting' or 'gathering' as things coming together. In its ancient bronze script forms, it showed two containers joining. Over time, it evolved through seal script to its modern simplified form, maintaining the concept of convergence. The character carries meanings of 'to meet,' 'to assemble,' 'to be able to,' and 'society' or 'organization,' reflecting its fundamental idea of things coming together in time, space, or purpose. Arrived in Japan: The character 会 arrived in Japan during the 5th-6th centuries CE, primarily through the introduction of Chinese writing systems via Buddhist texts and cultural exchange. It was adopted into Japanese as 会 (kai) with similar meanings of 'meeting,' 'association,' or 'gathering,' and became integrated into the Japanese writing system during the Asuka and Nara periods when Chinese cultural influence was particularly strong.