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The character 止 originated as a pictograph of a footprint, representing a foot with toes pointing upward. In its earliest oracle bone script forms, it clearly depicted toes and the sole of a foot. Over time, it evolved to mean 'to stop' or 'to cease,' as footprints mark where someone has stopped. The character later extended to mean 'only' or 'just,' and became a common radical in characters related to feet and movement like 步 (step) and 武 (military). Arrived in Japan: The character 止 arrived in Japan during the 5th-6th centuries CE, likely through the introduction of Chinese writing systems via Korean peninsula. It was adopted into Japanese as part of the kanji system, where it reads as 'shi' in on'yomi (Chinese reading) and 'tomeru/to(maru)' in kun'yomi (Japanese readings), maintaining its core meanings of stopping and ceasing.