Lesson 47 — Characters 674–684: 差 養 善 様 植 極 端 需 器 品 商 Companion file to Workbook

Quick Reference

#	Kanji	Stroke Order	Strokes	Links
674	差		10	Jisho · AnimCJK
675	養		15	Jisho · AnimCJK
676	善		12	Jisho · AnimCJK
677	様		14	Jisho · AnimCJK
678	植		12	Jisho · AnimCJK
679	極		12	Jisho · AnimCJK
680	端		14	Jisho · AnimCJK
681	需		14	Jisho · AnimCJK
682	器		15	Jisho · AnimCJK
683	品		9	Jisho · AnimCJK
684	商		11	Jisho · AnimCJK

SVGs render inline in VS Code markdown preview, Obsidian, and Word/PDF export. Each stroke is numbered in the diagram. AnimCJK links open animated versions in a browser.

Per-Kanji Stroke Notes

674 — 差 (difference) — 10 strokes

• Structure: Top 羊-derived component (ソ + three horizontals) → bottom ⼯-derived component with left sweep
• Watch: The top starts with the two short diagonal strokes (ノ then ＼), then three horizontals top-to-bottom, before the lower half. Don't start with the horizontals.
• Common error: Confusing stroke order with 着 (which has a similar top but different lower structure)

675 — 養 (nurture) — 15 strokes

• Structure: Top 羊 (8 strokes: ソ + three horizontals + vertical extending down) → bottom 食 (7 strokes)
• Watch: Complete the entire 羊-like top (including its central vertical) before starting 食 below. The 食 bottom uses the standard food-radical stroke order.
• Common error: Writing 食 with wrong stroke count — the bottom-left should be two separate strokes (ノ + dot), not one sweep

676 — 善 (good) — 12 strokes

• Structure: Top 羊 variant (ソ + three horizontals) → middle 一 → bottom 口
• Watch: Similar top component to 差 and 養 — the 羊 variant starts with the two short diagonals. The bottom 口 is written last.
• Common error: Getting the middle section wrong — there's a single long horizontal before the bottom 口

677 — 様 (appearance/manner) — 14 strokes

• Structure: Left 木 (4 strokes) → right 羊 top + 水 bottom (10 strokes)
• Watch: Left 木 first (standard: horizontal, vertical, left sweep, right dot). Then the right side: 羊-like top, then the 水-like bottom with central vertical extending down.
• Common error: The right-side bottom is 永-like, not 水 exactly — check the small strokes carefully

678 — 植 (plant) — 12 strokes

• Structure: Left 木 (4 strokes) → right 直 (8 strokes)
• Watch: 木 left side first. Then 直: top 十, then the 目-like box (horizontal, vertical, inner horizontal, bottom horizontal closing the rectangle), then bottom horizontal.
• Common error: Miscounting strokes in 直 — the inner horizontal of the box is a separate stroke

679 — 極 (extreme) — 12 strokes

• Structure: Left 木 (4 strokes) → right side (8 strokes: 口 + overhead + 又-like bottom)
• Watch: Three 木-radical kanji in a row (様/植/極) — left side is identical for all three. The right side has a complex structure: don't skip the small horizontal above 口.
• Common error: The right side is NOT 亟 written as a simple block — it has a specific top-to-bottom order with the enclosure elements

680 — 端 (edge/tip) — 14 strokes

• Structure: Left 立 (5 strokes) → right: top 山 (3 strokes) + bottom 而 (6 strokes)
• Watch: 立 is written first (top dot, short horizontal, centre vertical splits wide horizontal, left stroke, right stroke). Then 山 on the top right. Then 而 below (一 + long vertical + inner verticals + hook).
• Common error: Writing 而 incorrectly — the top horizontal comes first, then the left long vertical with a hook, then inner strokes

681 — 需 (demand) — 14 strokes

• Structure: Top 雨 (8 strokes) → bottom 而 (6 strokes)
• Watch: 雨 radical on top uses its standard compressed form: horizontal, then the 冂 frame, then the centre vertical, then the four dots inside. Then 而 below.
• Common error: Confusing 需 (demand) with 零 (zero) or 霊 (spirit) — all have 雨 on top but different bottoms. Make sure the bottom is 而 (with its characteristic inner verticals)

682 — 器 (vessel/instrument) — 15 strokes

• Structure: 口口 top (6 strokes) → 犬 center (4 strokes) → 口口 bottom (6 strokes) — but actually 15 strokes total
• Watch: Top-left 口 first, then top-right 口, then centre 大 with the dog-dot (犬), then bottom-left 口, then bottom-right 口. The stroke count is tricky — the 犬 in the centre has 4 strokes (horizontal, ノ, ㇏, dot).
• Common error: Forgetting the dot on 犬 (writing 大 instead) — this is a very common mistake. 器 = four 口 around 犬, not around 大

683 — 品 (goods/quality) — 9 strokes

• Structure: Top 口 (3 strokes) → bottom-left 口 (3 strokes) → bottom-right 口 (3 strokes)
• Watch: Simple and symmetrical. Top 口 first, centred. Then bottom-left 口, then bottom-right 口. Each 口 is: vertical-left, horizontal-top-and-right-vertical (one stroke or two depending on style), then bottom horizontal.
• Common error: Making the three 口 the same size — the top one should be slightly larger/wider than the bottom two

684 — 商 (commerce) — 11 strokes

• Structure: Top 亠 (2 strokes: dot + horizontal) → middle 冂-like enclosure → inner component with 口
• Watch: Starts with the top dot, then horizontal. Then the wide downward strokes forming the enclosure (冂-like). The 八 inside the top. Then the inner 口 near the bottom.
• Common error: Getting the order of the inner strokes wrong — the 八-like strokes come before the bottom 口 section

Stroke Patterns in This Lesson

Shared left component: 木 (き・きへん)

Three kanji share the 木 radical on the left (きへん position): 様, 植, 極. For all three, write the left 木 first (4 strokes: 一 丨 ノ 丶 — note the final right stroke becomes a dot/short stroke when 木 is in きへん position).

Shared top component: 羊-derived

Three kanji share a 羊-like top: 差, 養, 善. The top begins the same way: two short diagonals (ノ ＼), then horizontal strokes. The number and arrangement of lower strokes differs.

Shared component: 而

Two kanji contain 而: 端 (right-bottom) and 需 (bottom). Same stroke order for 而 in both: long horizontal → left vertical dropping with hook → short inner verticals.

Repeated 口 component

品 (three 口), 器 (four 口 + 犬 centre), 商 (口 inside enclosure) — all feature 口 prominently. Practice the compact 口 (vertical → corner/horizontal → bottom close) as it recurs heavily.

Sources

• KanjiVG — github.com/KanjiVG/kanjivg | License: CC-BY-SA 3.0 | ~11,000 kanji/kana as individual SVGs with numbered strokes. Files named by 5-digit hex Unicode codepoint.
• kanjivg-to-png — github.com/nicdgonzalez/kanjivg-to-png | Rust CLI that converts KanjiVG SVGs into step-by-step stroke panel PNGs (one panel per stroke, progressively building the kanji).
• AnimCJK — github.com/parsimonhi/animCJK | License: Arphic Public License | Animated stroke-order SVGs for 6,400+ Japanese kanji. Files named by decimal Unicode codepoint in svgsJa/ folder. View in browser for CSS animation.
• Jisho.org — jisho.org | Uses KanjiVG data for its stroke order diagrams.
• Kakijun — kakijun.jp | Japanese stroke-order reference site with detailed diagrams (in Japanese).