Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
Historical forms are not available yet. The current form is shown as a reference.
The kanji "源" is a phono-semantic compound, formed during the Shuowen Jiezi era (c. 100 AD) to standardize Chinese characters. Its primary component is the water radical, "氵" (san-zui), which signifies its semantic field is related to water, specifically a "source" or "spring" from which a river originates. The right-side component, "原", serves a dual purpose. It provides the primary phonetic clue for the character's pronunciation (both "源" and "原" are read as *gen* in Sino-Japanese) and also contributes its core meaning. "原" itself is a compound ideograph depicting a spring ("厂" cliff over "泉" spring), meaning "original," "field," or "plain." Thus, "源" visually and conceptually represents the "original spring" or the headwaters of a river, from which everything else flows. Historically, "源" evolved from its ancient bronze script forms, which were less standardized, into the seal script form analyzed in the Shuowen Jiezi. This seal script form was then regularized into the clerical script and finally the modern kaisho (block) script used today. The character, along with the vast majority of the kanji system, was introduced to Japan in several waves, primarily through the importation of Chinese literature, artifacts like bronze mirrors, and Buddhist sutras from around the 5th century AD onwards. It was formally adopted into the Japanese writing system, with its pronunciation borrowed into the Japanese phonological system as *gen* (on'yomi) and *minamoto* (kun'yomi). A significant cultural note is the adoption of "源" (read as *Minamoto*) as a prestigious clan name, most famously by the Minamoto (Genji) clan, one of the two great warrior clans of the Heian and Kamakura periods. This usage powerfully reinforces the character's meaning of "origin," as the clan was often composed of offshoots of the imperial family, establishing a new, powerful lineage from an imperial "source." This demonstrates how the character's intrinsic meaning of a foundational beginning was deeply embedded into Japanese history and social structure.