Designed for all levels of students, from the beginner to the advanced, Heisig's (Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, Nagoya, Japan) text provides students of Japanese with a simple
method for correlating the writing and the meaning of Japanese characters in such a way as to make them easy to remember. Rather than follow the traditional method of ordering the kanji
according to their frequency of use, Heisig organizes them according to their component parts or "primitive elements," each with a distinct meaning with its own distinct image. Heisig's
approach has enabled tens of thousands of students to achieve an exceptional level of literacy and facility for writing Japanese. The text includes four indexes: kanji, primitive elements,
kanji in stroke order, and key words and primitive meanings. Revisions from the 2000 fourth edition to the fifth edition are not stated. Annotation 穢2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
(booknews.com)
