"In the ³rst place, one must be warned
about setting out too quickly. It should not be assumed that because the ³rst
characters are so elementary, they can be skipped over hastily. The method
presented here needs to be learned step by step, lest one ³nd oneself forced
later to retreat to the ³rst stages and start over; 20 or 25 characters per day
would not be excessive for someone who has only a couple of hours to give to
study. If one were to study them full-time, there is no reason why the entire
course could not be completed successfully in four to six weeks. By the time
Part one has been traversed, the student should have discovered a rate of
progress suitable to the time available.
Second, the repeated advice given to study the characters with pad and pen-
cil should be taken seriously. While simply remembering the characters does
not, one will discover, demand that they be written, there is really no better
way to improve the aesthetic appearance of ones writing and acquire a natu-
ral feel for the µow of the kanji than by writing them. The method will spare
one the toil of writing the same character over and over in order to learn it, but
it will not supply the µuency at writing that comes only with constant practice.
If pen and paper are inconvenient, one can always make do with the palm of
the hand, as the Japanese do. It provides a convenient square space for jotting
on with ones index ³nger when riding in a bus or walking down the street.
Third, the kanji are best reviewed by beginning with the key word, pro-
gressing to the respective story, and then writing the character itself. Once one
has been able to perform these steps, reversing the order follows as a matter of
course. More will be said about this later in the book."