0041 歩

歩

This character means ‘to step, to walk,’ and is pronounced HO or aruku in Japanese and bù in Chinese. The part on top

止

now means ‘to stop,’ but it originally meant ‘a foot.’ The part on the bottom

少

has been altered in this character by scribes. Originally it was the same as the part on top. This is clear in the archaic version of the character

in which the toes point up and two feet can be seen stepping one in front of the other.

In Japanese 歩 has largely replaced the form that is still used in Chinese:

步.

Unfortunately, the lower element used in the Japanese character, 少, means ‘a little, a few,’ represented by four little sand granules, and obscures the original reduplication of 止.