Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 良 originally depicted a food container or vessel with something good inside, representing the meaning of 'good,' 'excellent,' or 'virtuous.' In its earliest oracle bone script forms, it showed a container with two lines indicating contents. Over time, the character evolved through bronze script and seal script, gradually simplifying into its modern form. The meaning expanded from concrete goodness (like good food) to abstract goodness (moral excellence). In modern Chinese and Japanese, it maintains these core meanings and is used in words like 良好 (good, fine), 良心 (conscience), and 改良 (improvement). Arrived in Japan: The character 良 likely arrived in Japan during the 5th-6th centuries CE, when the Japanese writing system was developing and extensively borrowing Chinese characters (kanji) through cultural exchange with China and the Korean peninsula. It appears in early Japanese texts like the Kojiki (712 CE) and Manyoshu (8th century), indicating it was among the foundational characters imported during this period of cultural transmission.