Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
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The character 崩 (bēng) originally depicted a mountain (山) collapsing or crumbling, representing the concept of collapse, destruction, or death (as in the passing of an emperor). In ancient Liushutong, the character evolved from more pictorial representations of mountains splitting apart to the modern form with 山 at the top and 朋 below, where 朋 may have served as a phonetic component while maintaining the semantic meaning of mountain collapse. Arrived in Japan: The character 崩 arrived in Japan during the Yayoi period (around 300 BCE-300 CE) or early Kofun period (300-538 CE) 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 texts, and was incorporated into the Japanese writing system as a kanji with the meaning 'collapse' and the readings 'hō' (on'yomi) and 'kuzureru' (kun'yomi).