Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 向 originally depicted a window in a wall (宀 representing a building/room) with an opening. In oracle bone script, it clearly showed a window aperture. Over time, its meaning expanded from the physical 'window' to 'direction' or 'orientation' - what the window faces toward. By the Han dynasty, it had acquired the meanings of 'to face,' 'toward,' and 'direction.' The character exemplifies how Chinese characters often evolved from concrete objects to abstract concepts. Arrived in Japan: The character 向 was likely introduced to Japan during the 5th-6th centuries CE, along with the broader introduction of Chinese writing system and literature. It appears in early Japanese texts like the Kojiki (712 CE) and Manyoshu (8th century), indicating it was part of the initial wave of Chinese characters adopted for writing Japanese.