Arrow

by Nao

ya, shi

An arrow is “ya” in Japanese. Arrows are also “ya.”

Yumiya means a set of a bow and an arrow.

If somebody asks you to do something ceaselessly, you are suffering from “ya no saisoku,” literally meaning a request like arrows. Saisoku means demand or a request.

“Time flies” is translated as the proverb, “kōin ya no gotoshi.” Kōin means the sun and the moon. The proverb means that time is like an arrow. As this example tells us, an arrow is analogous to a quick mover.

When you shoot arrows, you fit an arrow to your bow. This action is described as “ya wo tsugu.” The verb tsugu means “to fit an arrow to a bow.” If you do something like a rapid-fire series of actions, you do it in a pace of yatsugibaya. Yatsugi maens fitting an arrow to a bow; baya means rapid. This expression implies that when you shoot arrows, you need to fit arrows to your bow very quickly.

1. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top.
2. Draw the horizontal line touching the previous stroke.
3. Draw the other horizontal line from left to right.
4. Draw the curve. Make the line thinner gradually.
5. From where the second and third strokes intersect, draw the shorter curve.

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