The kanji character 和 primarily represents "harmony," "peace," "Japanese," or "togetherness." It encapsulates the idea of balance, agreement, and a unified state. It can also refer to things that are Japanese or in the Japanese style.

・On-yomi (音読み): ワ (wa) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): やわ(ら)ぐ (yawara(gu)), やわ(ら)げる (yawara(geru)

⚫︎ 平和 (へいわ) Translation: Peace ⚫︎ 和食 (わしょく) Translation: Japanese cuisine ⚫︎ 和解 (わかい) Translation: Reconciliation

The kanji 和 is a pictophonetic character. The left part of the character, 禾 (ka), depicts a type of grain, which originally meant "ripe grain" or "harmony". The right part of the character, 口 (kuchi), means "mouth." Together, the character implied people with food from ripe grain share the pleasure harmoniously, thus evolved to mean "harmony." The association with Japan is likely due to the country's early name, 大和 (Yamato), using this character.