通
This character means ‘to go through, to pass,’ tōru in Japanese, tōng in Chinese, as well as ‘street; way, manner,’ tōri in Japanese.
The element that wraps around the left side and underside of the character means ‘to go step by step, with the smallest bits of it representing footprints.
The element in the upper right
甬
means ‘path.’ However, I can find no explanation of its origins. We have seen it before, though, in the character for ‘to dance.’
踊 .
Maybe it would work to think of 通 as ‘going step by step’—i.e., passing—along a path around a bon dance tower (yagura), with 甬 representing the tower and the roof above the tower.
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