When “本” fills a head
Why it is in the set
For the pile. Not for reading — reading is quiet and does not make a joke — but for the specific and widely shared condition of owning more unread books than you can finish. Japanese has a word for it, 積ん読 (tsundoku), which is worth knowing in any language.
What a head full of it looks like
A stack by the bed that only grows. Three bookmarks in three books. Buying another one on the way home from the library. A head led by 本 is full of intentions with covers on them.
Words that use it
本 (hon, a book), 本当 (hontou, true, really), 本人 (honnin, the person in question), 日本 (Nihon, Japan), 積ん読 (tsundoku, buying books and not reading them).
Kanji it turns up with
暇 (free time) behind 本 is the optimistic version. 忙 (busy) behind it is the usual one.
Where “本” comes from
A tree, 木, with a stroke across the bottom marking the root. The original meaning is the base of something, the origin.
From there: 本当 (really), 本人 (the person themselves), 日本 (Japan, “origin of the sun”). The book sense came later, from the idea of a source text.
It is also the counter for long thin things. Two pens is 二本, and so is two bananas, two bottles and two train lines.
A line you might get for “本”
“Four started. None finished. A fifth has been ordered.”
Count the “本” in your own headOthers in “Doing”
“本” is filed under “Doing”. These are the rest of that group.
The 36 kanji
This is entirely a joke and has nothing to do with any real person.