What kanji symbol does this look like?

[etoile914]

Hello -

I'm writing a fiction piece with Japanese characters who find this symbol (below) and are trying to figure out what it represents. I know this isn't a kanji symbol, but I'm wondering what word or sound a Japanese-speaking person might think this looks like?

map symbol

docs.google.com

Thanks!

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

It doesn't look like any kanji to me, although if you wrote it more smoothly where the line changes direction it would look more like Japanese cursive (sousyo) and thus more passable as a kanji. Sadly, I don't read sousyo very well, so you'll need someone else for further guidance.

Edit: by smoothly, I mean rounded transitions instead of such sharp changes in direction. Does that make sense?

 

[Majestic]

Yeah - doesn't look like anything. Its like posting a picture of a brick and asking what kind of poodle it resembles.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

Yeah - doesn't look like anything. Its like posting a picture of a brick and asking what kind of poodle it resembles.

You mean something like this?

Brick Sculpture - Toy Poodle

Your best friend in brick form! A great gift idea!

firmatodesign.com

 

[mdchachi]

If you need more ideas for fake kanji you can pick one from here.

AI Generated Japan Images

Comparison to "Dune", which banned it (also the comments that follow): https://wapo.st/3BjRUKG

jref.com

 

[Dentanmono]

A Japanese-speaking person would probably think it was a weird English "P", and if you wanted to include a hip cultural reference in your story, they might think it looks like a P as in Pen or P as in Pineapple, or other words a Pen Pineapple Apple Pen ()

 

[etoile914]

A Japanese-speaking person would probably think it was a weird English "P", and if you wanted to include a hip cultural reference in your story, they might think it looks like a P as in Pen or P as in Pineapple, or other words a Pen Pineapple Apple Pen ()

Interesting - thank you!

 

[etoile914]

It's not meant to be kanji - it's a path that's on a map, and the Japanese characters in the story are trying to figure out whether there's any meaning behind the path/pattern. It's not finished yet (the path), but the characters don't know that, so I just wanted to have them guess at what the shape could potentially be, if there was meaning to it (because they're not sure). To me, it looks a little like the Roman letter A or part of a 5-point star, but I was wondering whether it looked like something else to people who use Kanji.

 

[Majestic]

It would look exactly like that to a Japanese person also. Letter A or top part of a star.
(All Japanese kids learn the alphabet in elementary school.)

 

[mdchachi]

If you're open to changing the path and map, we could find something that could be confused with kanji probably.