This is a phono-semantic character. Before the current version of it, it was written like this: 「气」and its related sound was "ki". This part was actually a representation of moving clouds. It was thought of as the power of existence and considered to be its foundation. Since rice 「米」was the field's harvest and related to the "energy from above", the rice character was added to it, thus becoming 「氣」. Elsewhere, in the old Chinese compound character 「餼」 we can see that the right part has that same radical「氣」 attached and the whole meant "gift or present". Furthermore, this energy character 「気」being the source of all "forces of action", people linked to it the idea of atmosphere「大気」and vigor「元気」. Ancient Chinese people thought that humans lived due to their "breathing-energy", so, to characterize humans, this character brought the concepts of spirit「気質」, temperament「気性」, disposition「気立て」 and traits「気風」. The last one being thought of as people from the same region having the same affinities.

This is a phono-semantic character. This letter was made from the character「隱」 and its sound was "in" 「㥯」 . 「隱」 represents two hands 「爪」and「手」holding a sacred cup「工」 in front of what was believed to be God's stairs「阝」. Because a prayer contains a "secret" it came to mean "to hide" or "to be hidden". The daily used kanji got simplified and the part containing the religious cup「工」in this character isn't there so, for Japanese people, it is difficult to understand why this kanji means "hidden". Because there is "something hidden" about the gods, people extended that concept to "something unknown".

This is a compound ideograph kanji and is derived from the character "sei"「靜」 . It is composed of two parts: 「青」 meaning "blue" and 「争」 meaning "conflict". The first one, "blue"「青」, comes from a greenish earthy color painted on a sacred container used to sanctify. For this kanji, 「争」 represents strength, instead of its "conflict" meaning, and was drawn as a shape of a tree branch「耒」 held with a hand「手」. People used the word "sei" 「靜」when practicing a formal purifying act with a stick that was pigmented with a bluish color. Furthermore, they thought that crops would depend on how this stick would "bless" the fields from the infestation of insects and on how much it would be able to produce an abundant harvest. Depending on how much the farm tools would be "blessed", people would get a sentiment of calmness in the outcome of plenitude. Because they wished for that tranquility of mind for their harvest, this kanji came to mean "silence" or "calmness".