The kanji character for kin, which means gold or money, has been picked as the character that best summarizes the year, a Kyoto-based academic organization announced Monday.
The kanji references the gold medals of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, which proceeded this July after being postponed but under special restrictions due to the COVID-19.
Japan’s athletes won a record number of gold medals — 27 — at the Tokyo Games, smashing the previous record of 16 set at at the 1964 Tokyo Games and in Athens in 2004.
In making the announcement at the 27th annual year-end event organized by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, chief Buddhist priest Seihan Mori of the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto drew the character on a large piece of paper with a giant calligraphy brush.
This is the fourth time the kanji for gold has been chosen. The other times were 2012, 2016 and 2000.
Last year, “mitsu” was selected as the kanji of the year. Meaning “close” or “dense,” mitsu was invoked in warnings about the novel coronavirus.
The foundation began naming a kanji of the year in 1995. The first kanji was “shin” meaning “quake” or “shiver,” which reflected the fear people felt at the time following the Great Hanshin Earthquake and the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.
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KEYWORDS
2020 Tokyo Olympics, kanji of the year
