Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 訓 (kun) evolved from ancient forms depicting 'words' (言) and a 'river' (川), symbolizing the flow of instruction or the guiding current of language. In its Liushutong form L22260, we see an early variation where the components are clearly recognizable but arranged differently than the modern standard. The character fundamentally means 'to instruct,' 'to explain,' or 'to teach,' reflecting the idea of words flowing from a teacher to a student, guiding them like a river's course. In the context of Japanese kanji, it famously denotes the native Japanese reading of a character, as opposed to the borrowed Chinese reading (on'yomi), thus representing the adaptation and explanation of foreign concepts in the native linguistic stream. Arrived in Japan: The character 訓, along with the broader Chinese writing system, is believed to have arrived in Japan around the 5th century AD, primarily through the Korean peninsula. Its specific use to denote native Japanese readings (kun'yomi) developed later as the Japanese began to systematically adapt Chinese characters to write their own language, a process that was firmly established by the Nara period (710-794 AD).