Kanji began as pictograms. Kanji convey little information about pronunciation (even less than English spelling does!), but are all about conveying representing things by way of their shape. Well, at least that's the idea. Those original shapes, conceived thousands of years ago in China, have changed considerably, morphing into logograms, and are now representative only in a very abstract way.

Some kanji retain that pictographic sense of direct representation. Ones that immediately come to mind are ? (ichi in Japanese) for one, ? (kuchi) for mouth, ? (mon) for gate,?? (ta) for ricefield, and ? (take) for bamboo. You look at them and think, "OK, I get it."

But even if you don't "get it" at first sight, kanji have a way of insinuating themselves and coming to feel like very natural ways of conveying a particular thing or concept pretty soon after you've gotten to know them.
For example, if you'd never seen ? before, you'd probably be hard-pressed to guess it meant heart, but once you've learnt it, you can almost see it beating and the blood itself pumping. And whenever you see it as a component (in technical terms, as a radical) in another more complex kanji, you know that that kanji's meaning pertains to feelings or emotions.

One such kanji for me is ?, which once you've gotten to know it, is very anthropomorphic to the point of being outright cute.

? (onyomi: gu or go; kunyomi: kure) Read more about onyomi and kunyomi kanji readings

Even without kn...