Why does the kanji for coffee have a king 王 radical?


The Chinese character for coffee is 咖啡 while the Japanese kanji is 珈琲.

The mouth 口 radical seems more appropriate than the king 王 / jade 玉 radical.

Most kanji come from Chinese characters and are sometimes altered in some way,
but I suspect coffee entered the Japanese culture and lexicon earlier than
Chinese. So I suspect the king/jade version existed before the mouth version.

Any story behind why the Japanese kanji has a king/jade radical ? Maybe only
royalty could afford it at one point or something.




Based on [the hint](https://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/2626958.html) from @wip, I
started to research and found [a wonderful
discussion](https://togetter.com/li/855864). They have shared so many reliable
sources but everything is Japanese and it's very very long so I'll pick up
points relating to this question.

**About kanji variation.** First of all, there were hundreds of variations of
kanji of coffee (as a form of ateji) at least in Japan. You can confirm these
variations thanks to an artwork by a woodblock printmaker, [Okuyama
Gihachiro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gihachiro_Okuyama).

[![Photo by Mitsutoshi, Watanabe, at a coffee bar TOM in
Yoyogi](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XSlBB.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XSlBB.jpg)
(Photo by Mitsutoshi, Watanabe, at a coffee bar TOM in Yoyogi)

Most of these variations are based on mimicking sound as the way Western
people called it, 'coffee', 'Koffie' or others. For example, Japanese first
coffee shop was named
"[可否茶館](https://www.ucc.co.jp/enjoy/encyclopedia/history/popup/j_1888.html)",
which is surprising because "可否" (another kanji form of coffee) is now widely
used as the meaning "possible or not".(Nobody in modern Japan would think this
kanji as coffee. But in fact the pronunciation of "可否" "kahi" is similar to
'coffee' even for Japanese, so it's possible as ateji.)  
We could guess that this enormous variety shows coffee got popular in Japan
rapidly and concurrently.

**Which is the original, 咖啡 vs 珈琲?** 咖啡 and 珈琲 resembles each other. So it's
natural to understand either one mimicked the form of the other.  
The kanji 咖啡 is seen at least in 1819 in a dictionary edited by [Robert
Morrison](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Morrison_\(missionary\))(from
UK). However, coffee might not be so popular for Chinese [at this
moment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_production_in_China#History)
because China was tea giant on the earth. (Note that UK became a big tea
consumer and China became a big tea supplier in exchange for
[opium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Opium_War) in this era. We could
guess UK was eager something to sell to China in order to minimize trade
deficit. Coffee might be one candidate.)  
The first 珈琲 was coined by [Udagawa
Yōan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udagawa_Y%C5%8Dan) (Western learner of
Japan). He has written the first thesis about coffee in Japan in 1816 titled
"哥非乙説". (Here another variation "哥非乙" as 'coffee' shown up) Later, the first
kanji 珈琲 surely appeared in [his another
book](https://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko08/bunko08_c0510/bunko08_c0510.pdf)(page33,
column2, line1) by the time he died 1846.  
Assembled these information, there is no evidence about the original. But we
could suppose 咖啡 was the original because

(1) At the time Robert Morrison was editing the dictionary, Udagawa Yōan was
early of 20 ages. It's unlikely Morrison referred to information by Japanese
young man.  
(2) Udagawa Yōan was Western learner and he was familiar with Western sources.
The dictionary by Morrison seems to have been imported to
[Dejima](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dejima). So it's probable for Udagawa
to have checked Morrison's work.

**So, why 口 radical?** Here is an interesting fact. Especially in old Vietnam,
people seems to have had a custom to put 口 radical for phonograms. For
example, [咭唎](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%A0%B8%84%E5%92%AD%E5%94%8E)
as well as 英吉利 means 'England'. Here 口 may indicate 'speaking'. (Note that old
Vietnamese have used kanji as writing system, called [Chữ
Nôm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%E1%BB%AF_N%C3%B4m).) Phonograms is
useful for loanwords. That means it works in the similar way as katakana.  
First (modern) coffee in China seems to have been [introduced to Yunnan
province](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_production_in_China#History),
which is southern China and near to Vietnam. Considering modern Vietnamese are
prominent coffee lover in Asia, Vietnam may have played a big role to spread
the kanji 咖啡.

**So, why 王 radical?** As @Kantura, @Leebo and @dROOOze mentioned, this is
actually 玉 radical, meaning jade. "珈" is also pronounced as 'kamikazari',
meaning '[kanzashi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanzashi)'(kind of hair
accessory). "琲" means a string to bind jades. Thus the kanji 珈琲 reminds us the
hair accessory with jades. That's why people admire of his cool and playful
selection. People also imagine that he would have known the coffee tree and
beans. You can check the image of [this
article](https://www.ucc.co.jp/enjoy/trivia/atcl046/) about the relation of
coffee beans and kanzashi.  
I'm not sure why he would transform the (probably existed) kanji
intensionally. Maybe just by his playful mind. However, there is another
surprising hypothesis. This source is from a book "珈琲遍歴" written by Okuyama
Gihachiro(the woodprint maker). He wrote in a book

> 珈琲の王扁は、その物の産する土地が遠い所の場合に王扁をつける様だ。  
>  As for 王 radical like in 珈琲, it seems to be used to tell that a place which
> thing/object was made is far from here.

Udagawa may have just followed this rule.

**So, why 珈琲 has won in Japan?** As I showed, there were so many kanji of
coffee in Japan as well as 咖啡. But 珈琲 has won this survival after all. This
reason remains unknown but according to [the
discussion](https://togetter.com/li/855864), [Japanese script
reform](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_script_reform) may have given a
big effect on this battle. (Note that in this era, the relation of China and
Japan were going bad. It's possible the government intensionally avoided using
Chinese way.)




Based on [the hint](https://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/2626958.html) from @wip, I
started to research and found [a wonderful
discussion](https://togetter.com/li/855864). They have shared so many reliable
sources but everything is Japanese and it's very very long so I'll pick up
points relating to this question.

**About kanji variation.** First of all, there were hundreds of variations of
kanji of coffee (as a form of ateji) at least in Japan. You can confirm these
variations thanks to an artwork by a woodblock printmaker, [Okuyama
Gihachiro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gihachiro_Okuyama).

[![Photo by Mitsutoshi, Watanabe, at a coffee bar TOM in
Yoyogi](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XSlBB.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XSlBB.jpg)
(Photo by Mitsutoshi, Watanabe, at a coffee bar TOM in Yoyogi)

Most of these variations are based on mimicking sound as the way Western
people called it, 'coffee', 'Koffie' or others. For example, Japanese first
coffee shop was named
"[可否茶館](https://www.ucc.co.jp/enjoy/encyclopedia/history/popup/j_1888.html)",
which is surprising because "可否" (another kanji form of coffee) is now widely
used as the meaning "possible or not".(Nobody in modern Japan would think this
kanji as coffee. But in fact the pronunciation of "可否" "kahi" is similar to
'coffee' even for Japanese, so it's possible as ateji.)  
We could guess that this enormous variety shows coffee got popular in Japan
rapidly and concurrently.

**Which is the original, 咖啡 vs 珈琲?** 咖啡 and 珈琲 resembles each other. So it's
natural to understand either one mimicked the form of the other.  
The kanji 咖啡 is seen at least in 1819 in a dictionary edited by [Robert
Morrison](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Morrison_\(missionary\))(from
UK). However, coffee might not be so popular for Chinese [at this
moment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_production_in_China#History)
because China was tea giant on the earth. (Note that UK became a big tea
consumer and China became a big tea supplier in exchange for
[opium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Opium_War) in this era. We could
guess UK was eager something to sell to China in order to minimize trade
deficit. Coffee might be one candidate.)  
The first 珈琲 was coined by [Udagawa
Yōan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udagawa_Y%C5%8Dan) (Western learner of
Japan). He has written the first thesis about coffee in Japan in 1816 titled
"哥非乙説". (Here another variation "哥非乙" as 'coffee' shown up) Later, the first
kanji 珈琲 surely appeared in [his another
book](https://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko08/bunko08_c0510/bunko08_c0510.pdf)(page33,
column2, line1) by the time he died 1846.  
Assembled these information, there is no evidence about the original. But we
could suppose 咖啡 was the original because

(1) At the time Robert Morrison was editing the dictionary, Udagawa Yōan was
early of 20 ages. It's unlikely Morrison referred to information by Japanese
young man.  
(2) Udagawa Yōan was Western learner and he was familiar with Western sources.
The dictionary by Morrison seems to have been imported to
[Dejima](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dejima). So it's probable for Udagawa
to have checked Morrison's work.

**So, why 口 radical?** Here is an interesting fact. Especially in old Vietnam,
people seems to have had a custom to put 口 radical for phonograms. For
example, [咭唎](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%A0%B8%84%E5%92%AD%E5%94%8E)
as well as 英吉利 means 'England'. Here 口 may indicate 'speaking'. (Note that old
Vietnamese have used kanji as writing system, called [Chữ
Nôm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%E1%BB%AF_N%C3%B4m).) Phonograms is
useful for loanwords. That means it works in the similar way as katakana.  
First (modern) coffee in China seems to have been [introduced to Yunnan
province](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_production_in_China#History),
which is southern China and near to Vietnam. Considering modern Vietnamese are
prominent coffee lover in Asia, Vietnam may have played a big role to spread
the kanji 咖啡.

**So, why 王 radical?** As @Kantura, @Leebo and @dROOOze mentioned, this is
actually 玉 radical, meaning jade. "珈" is also pronounced as 'kamikazari',
meaning '[kanzashi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanzashi)'(kind of hair
accessory). "琲" means a string to bind jades. Thus the kanji 珈琲 reminds us the
hair accessory with jades. That's why people admire of his cool and playful
selection. People also imagine that he would have known the coffee tree and
beans. You can check the image of [this
article](https://www.ucc.co.jp/enjoy/trivia/atcl046/) about the relation of
coffee beans and kanzashi.  
I'm not sure why he would transform the (probably existed) kanji
intensionally. Maybe just by his playful mind. However, there is another
surprising hypothesis. This source is from a book "珈琲遍歴" written by Okuyama
Gihachiro(the woodprint maker). He wrote in a book

> 珈琲の王扁は、その物の産する土地が遠い所の場合に王扁をつける様だ。  
>  As for 王 radical like in 珈琲, it seems to be used to tell that a place which
> thing/object was made is far from here.

Udagawa may have just followed this rule.

**So, why 珈琲 has won in Japan?** As I showed, there were so many kanji of
coffee in Japan as well as 咖啡. But 珈琲 has won this survival after all. This
reason remains unknown but according to [the
discussion](https://togetter.com/li/855864), [Japanese script
reform](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_script_reform) may have given a
big effect on this battle. (Note that in this era, the relation of China and
Japan were going bad. It's possible the government intensionally avoided using
Chinese way.)

