Thank you Cat Stevens. That was a fantastic album. What is a tillerman anyway? The word can be traced back thousands of years to it's Nordic roots. This Bronze Age carving of a farmer tilling his field is looks very similar to a petroglyph. I really like how the image has an almost arial perspective. Pretty impressive considering they didn't have Google Earth looking down on Gotaland in 1700 B.C.
The image of the farmer tilling his field brings to mind the ancient turtle shell script of China. The symbols are some of the earliest forms of writing. The characters are pictographic, meaning they come from representational pictorial drawings. Early Chinese Characters are derived from observations of nature.
This ancient oracle bone script is a pictogram of the moon. It become stylized over the centuries to the character below.
The Chinese system of writing called, Hanzi, came to Japan in the 5th century. In Japan, the characters are called, Kanji. The moon in Japanese is Tsuki. As in English, the moon also represent a month. Here on Kauai, Kanji is everywhere, and it's exciting when you learn the meanings. I know a dozen first grade Kanji, so only a few thousand to go.
This is the Kanji character for tea, or cha. Quick, run and look on the side of your green tea box.! Now, put the kettle on.