Closure distance — Kanji Morphology

Closure distance is that gap, counted in the writing sequence. 国 is one box on the page and two moments in time. 囗 part 1 is s1–s2: the left side, then the top and the right, and the bottom is still open. 王 (s3–s6) and the dot (s7) are written in that opening. 囗 part 2 is s8, the bar that closes the frame. The distance is 8 − 2 = 6, every stroke after the opening stroke through the stroke that closes it. KanjiVG records the break with kvg:part. The same gap, read off the files, is what the atlas ranks.

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国 · 囗 part 1 is s1–s2, part 2 is s8. Distance 6.

Indigo strokes are written while the frame is still open. The cinnabar stroke closes it. Click a plate to replay. With reduced motion the finished character stays still, and the colors stay.

Written while it is open
The stroke that closes it

The characters that end on the closing stroke

Atlas

Every jōyō character whose closure distance is at least 2, one row for its longest gap. A part-split reports the closing index minus the opening index. A 繞 has no opening stroke: the distance is how many strokes are written before the floor, and the closing index is where that floor starts. The forty plates are the longest intervals. The table lists every such character, forty to a page. Small diagrams load as they scroll.

The forty longest

Character

Opening index: last stroke of part 1. Closing index: first stroke of part 2, or the first stroke of a 繞. A range under the index is the rest of that part.

	Diagram				Element	Family

Histogram

Four habits

The same idea of “something waits, then a later stroke finishes the shape” is not one habit. These four are the contrast.

国 · split 囗. Opens on s2, closes on s8, distance 6.

間 · 門 is s1–s8 as one run, then 日 (s9–s12). No kvg:part on 門.

近 · 斤 is s1–s4. ⻌ starts at s5. Distance 4, the strokes before the floor.

裏 · 衣 opens on s1–s2, 里 is s3–s9, 衣 returns at s10 (through s13). Distance 8.

門, including the ones that look like exceptions

In this snapshot, 16 jōyō characters contain 門, and none of them split it. The gate is written whole, then filled. 閥 and 欄 are not exceptions here: 閥 writes 門 as s1–s8, 欄 as s5–s12. What does split in those two files is something else — 弋 in 閥 (opens s12, closes s14), 木 in 欄 (opens s13, returns at s18).

閥 · 門 s1–s8, one run.

欄 · 門 s5–s12, one run.

Outside the jōyō list

A few classical forms KanjiVG still draws. They are not in the histogram or the count of 2,136.

圖 · outer 囗 opens on s2 and closes on s14, distance 12. An inner 囗 opens on s9 (part 1 is s8–s9) and closes on s13, distance 4.

國 · 囗 opens on s2, closes on s11, distance 9.

圍 · 囗 opens on s2, closes on s12, distance 10.

圓 · 囗 opens on s2, closes on s13, distance 11.

What this shows

The interior is sized against a frame that is still open, and the stroke that closes the frame comes after that interior. That is what the files show for 囗, 匸, and 匚 when KanjiVG splits them. It is not a law of every enclosure. 門 is written whole, then filled; in these jōyō files it is never split. A 繞 lays the floor last, under marks that are already on the page. 行 and 衣 open, leave for the middle, and return. Other elements — 戈, 弋, 十, 木, 日 — do the same at a smaller scale. The families do not share one distance or one habit. The numbers are KanjiVG’s order in this snapshot.

Stroke diagrams: KanjiVG, Ulrich Apel et al., CC BY-SA 3.0, from commit 70a0b7ae0c18ceb5cb358274b029cce0234a43bc of github.com/KanjiVG/kanjivg. Twelve worked files also sit in site/assets/kanjivg/. Jōyō index: the list used on the Gallery. The enclosure examples on Rules and Strokes are the same 国.