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The character 試 (test/try) evolved from ancient forms showing a person speaking or making an oath beside a ritual vessel, combining 言 (speech) and 式 (pattern/ceremony). In bronze inscriptions, it depicted the solemn act of verifying truth through formal speech or ritual. By the small seal script period, it standardized into its modern structure, representing the concept of examination, experimentation, or putting something to the test - originally through verbal challenges or ceremonial proofs, later expanding to mean any form of testing or attempting. Arrived in Japan: The character 試 likely arrived in Japan during the 5th-6th centuries CE as part of the broader introduction of Chinese writing systems through Buddhist scriptures and Confucian classics. It appears in early Japanese documents like the 8th-century Man'yōshū poetry anthology, where it was used both for its meaning and in the Japanese phonetic script.