Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 極 (jí) has an interesting evolution. It originally depicted a person standing at the extreme point of a house or building (from the 木 'wood/tree' radical and 亟 'urgent/extreme' phonetic). Over time, it came to represent concepts of extremity, limit, or the utmost point. In ancient Chinese philosophy, it was used in terms like 太極 (Taiji) meaning 'Great Ultimate,' representing the primal beginning and highest principle of the universe. The character evolved from more pictorial forms in oracle bone script to the standardized form we see today, maintaining its core meaning of 'extreme' or 'utmost' while also being used to mean 'pole' (as in North/South Pole) and 'to reach the limit.' Arrived in Japan: The character 極 arrived in Japan during the 5th-6th centuries CE, along with the broader introduction of Chinese writing system (kanji) through Buddhist texts and cultural exchange. It was formally incorporated into the Japanese writing system and appears in early Japanese texts like the Manyoshu (8th century). The Japanese reading includes the on'yomi 'kyoku' (from Chinese) and kun'yomi 'kiwameru' or 'kiwa' (native Japanese readings), used in words like 極めて (kiwamete - extremely) and 北極 (hokkyoku - North Pole).