Elusive Kanji

[L. Spiro]

Can anyone identify this Kanji?

I created the image by modifying 前.  Much appreciation to anyone who can figure out what this Kanji is and what it means.


L. Spiro

[luksy]

Any hints as to where you saw it?

My best guess for now is a non-standard simplification of 葥 (木苺, raspberry). It could of course also be completely made up by anyone for any reason, there are some pretty crazy ones out there

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taito_%28kanji%29

[L. Spiro]

I saw it on Japanese TV on a show called HIRUOBI—a variety show.  We all watch it during lunch before playing Mario Kart 7 or Bomberman DS.
The first time I saw it I was writing all the Kanji I know just from memory and I glanced at the screen for inspiration.  I saw the above Kanji by chance and remembered that I knew 前 from memory and jotted it down.  But I wondered why it had 3 marks on top, so I watched the screen longer and saw, in the same font, 前.  It was visibly different from the Kanji above, so it isn’t a matter of fonts.  Sometimes 前 looks similar to the above in some fonts, but this was the same font and they were visibly different.

So I asked my Japanese teacher and she replied that no such Kanji exists.  Her dictionary confirmed her story and I decided to consider that I had made a mistake.
Until I saw the same Kanji one week later plastered over the entire screen on the same show, in a very very plain font that made it clear it was indeed not 前.

I drew it for coworkers and none recognized it.

My teacher did some more research and found this:
http://kanji.sljfaq.org/mrj.html

6   光   当   7   肖   労   8   学   尚   畄
鼡   9   恍   栄   洸   削   単   10   珱   胱
悩   哨   宵   党   屑   峭   悄   挙   晃   晄
档   桜   消   11   巣   梢   淌   猟   脳   蛍
逍   堂   常   12   絖   覚   営   掌   弾   敞
敝   棠   硝   稍   13   溢   剿   勦   當   甞
幌   戦   滉   禅   蛸   誉   14   嫦   瑣   蝋
褝   誚   趙   隠   嘗   厰   裳   15   蝉   銷
霄   輝   賞   幤   廠   弊   撹   樔   箪   蔽
16   瞠   暼   獣   靜   鞘   鴬   17   償   瞥
螳   蟐   厳   18   鮹   斃   礑   襠   鎖   19
蟷   騨   20   巌   耀   黨   21   鐺   欅   22
儻   襷   25   鼈

Originally her dictionary confirmed that there is no such thing as a flat bar with 3 strokes above it in Japanese, but something similar does exist in Chinese.
挙 is one example.  But the strokes are not a match.  There it is:
\\ /
But what I saw was very clearly:
\ //


I am now watching TV and everything else I can see to find this Kanji again and either take a picture or show my coworkers while it is still on the screen.

But if anyone can solve this mystery here, you are probably amazing.


L. Spiro

[luksy]

The top part of 挙 is 與 (与), but if this were the case then yours is missing 八, and I can't find one composed of 與 + 月 + 刂

oh and any hints as to the context or was it completely random?

[L. Spiro]

The first time I saw it was during a news feed along the bottom of the screen.
I just happened to glance up while it was scrolling by, but I got a good look at it because I was confused as to why it had 3 marks on top instead of 2.

The second time was on a big font and part of some kind of title such as, “The Family, After 3 Months.”
I don’t remember exactly what it said because I was in a bit of shock to be seeing the exact same Kanji I was told did not exist and very clearly there it was.  I focused mainly on its shape and form to make sure I had not made a mistake before (which was then confirmed) and did not pay attention to the text around it nor the context.

Next time I see I will not only pay even more attention to it, but I will also try to get a photo or at least get a Japanese witness.


L. Spiro

[luksy]

I think it is a font issue, you may have just confused the end of the first top stroke as an extra dot, e.g. in MS Mincho at around size 11 or lower it kind of looks like a dot .

But then again the big font is kind of odd too...

[L. Spiro]

The first time I saw it  I saw both the above Kanji and 前 in the same font.  It was the same stream of news feed scrolling along the bottom of the screen.
The second time I was even more sure it was not a font issue because it was quite large and the font was very plain.  They didn’t do any decorations like how MS Mincho does.  It was like a stick font with just plain straight lines being used, and it was very clear that it had a flat bar with 3 separate marks on top.

I will pay even more attention to these details next time I see it though, and hopefully get a photo.


L. Spiro