Leave-and-return atlas

Split elements

One row is one element name. “Splits” counts each time that element is marked with two or more part numbers. “Characters” counts the jōyō characters that contain such a mark. The two differ when one character repeats the element: 歌 has two 丁, and 箋 has two 弋. “With a gap” counts the splits that have at least one other stroke between the parts. “Longest” is that element’s largest gap.

Gap lengths

Each bar is one step from a part to the next part. The height is how many of those steps have that many strokes between them. Zero means the next stroke is still the same component.

Open the box, write the contents, close it

The first part opens a box. Other strokes are written in that opening. A later part closes the box. In these files the box is 囗, 匚, or 匸. 匸 is in this group only when a stroke sits between its parts. When the two 匸 strokes follow one another, the split is counted with the consecutive parts below. The closure page counts from the stroke that opens the box through the stroke that closes it. The gap here is only the strokes written in between.

The slanted stroke comes back

Some strokes of the component are written, then other strokes, then the slanted stroke. A dot often follows the slanted stroke. The elements are 戈 and 弋, and the groups KanjiVG builds around them. Where 弋 sits inside 戈, both are marked, so one interruption is counted twice.

A component on both sides

One side is written, something else is written in the middle, and the other side comes back. 衣 is the top, then the inside, then the lower strokes. 行 is the left half, then the inside, then the right half. 大 in this group is one stroke, then the inside, then the two legs.

A returning stroke finishes the character

These are not a box, a deferred slanted stroke, or a component on both sides. A later part contains the character’s last stroke. For 十, 丁, and 二 that later part is the other stroke. For 木 it is the vertical and the two legs, as in 東.

The component returns, and the character goes on

The component is left and resumed, and the character continues after that. 十 is the largest set: one stroke, other material, the other stroke, and then more of the character. The first 丁 in 歌 returns the way 可 does, and 欠 is written after it.

Numbered parts, consecutive strokes

The parts are numbered, and no other stroke sits between them. One part is often nested inside another group, so the tree divides what the pen writes in one run. 亡 writes both 匸 strokes in a row. 主 does the same with 亠.

Enclosures written whole