Kanji for Tree — 木

木 is read ki on its own and moku or boku in compounds. It means both tree and wood as a material, so 木 covers the thing growing in the garden and the plank it becomes. Four strokes: a trunk, a horizontal branch line, and two roots spreading down.

It is the clearest building block in the whole writing system. Two trees side by side make 林 (hayashi, a grove); three make 森 (mori, a forest); a stroke across the roots makes 本 (hon), which means origin, and from there book. Once 木 is solid, a whole family of characters falls into place.

木曜日 (mokuyōbi) is Thursday, the wood day of the classical week. And 木 is a favourite in names — 鈴木 (Suzuki) and 佐々木 (Sasaki) are among the most common surnames in Japan.