0023 面

面

This character means ‘face, mask, surface.’ It’s pronounced MEN and omote in Japanese, miàn in Chinese. I wanted to shine some light on it because it shows up a lot, but all I could find on its history was a suggestion that it represents a face. Here are some archaic versions:

 

I can see it, especially in the guy on the right, who is now starring in his own animated series.

外面

This is gaimen (in Japanese), which means ‘exterior, outward appearance, surface.’ You might remember

外

from an earlier Kanji-of-the-day, 0010. It means ‘outside, outdoors,’ pronounced either GAI or soto in Japanese. As in the Soto Mission, where we went to bon dances last weekend, up on Nuuanu Avenue—or so I thought. I figured it was ‘outside’ as in ‘foreign’ mission. It turns out, though, that it’s really the Sōtō Mission, with long ‘o’s and different kanji entirely for ‘sōtō,’

曹洞,

not to mention a completely different meaning—something like ‘friend cave.’ From Wikipedia: “the sect's name denotes 'colleagues (曹) of the teachings above the caves (洞)' who together follow the "black wind (teachings of Taoism?)" and admire the masters of various sects. Sōtō Zen or the Sōtō school (曹洞宗 Sōtō-shū?) is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It emphasizes Shikantaza, meditation with no objects, anchors, or content. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference.”