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Stroke order rule 7 – vertical skewer last

A vertical stroke that pierces a whole shape is written last.

Unlike rule 6, the stroke doesn’t have to protrude from both sides. We have three possible configurations illustrated in the diagram below:

  1. the stroke protrudes from the top and the bottom;
  2. the stroke protrudes only from the bottom;
  3. the stroke protrudes only from the top.

The first two configurations are illustrated in the diagram below.

Kanji stroke diagram showing the kanji 車 kuruma 'wheel', 半 nakaba 'middle', 事 koto 'thing', 制 SEI 'system', 筆 fude 'brush' (to write), 平 taira 'flat', 羊 hitsuji 'sheep', 単 TAN 'simple', 手 te 'hand', 拝 ogamu 'to pray'. It illustrates stroke order rule 7: a piercing vertical stroke is written last.
車 kuruma ‘wheel’, 半 nakaba ‘middle’, 事 koto ‘thing’, 制 SEI ‘system’, 筆 fude ‘brush’ (to write), 平 taira ‘flat’, 羊 hitsuji ‘sheep’, 単 TAN ‘simple’, 手 te ‘hand’, 拝 ogamu ‘to pray’.

This rule applies only to the intersecting part of the shape.

If a vertical skewer is surrounded by other strokes without intersecting them, the rule is not applied to the non-intersected part. This is not an exception, but a confirmation of the rule.

Kanji stroke diagram showing the kanji 様 sama 'condition', 第 DAI 'sequence', 逮 TAI 'apprehend', 兼 kaneru 'serve both as'. The rule doesn't apply to surrounding, non-intersecting strokes.
様 sama ‘condition’, 第 DAI ‘sequence’, 逮 TAI ‘apprehend’ and 兼 kaneru ‘serve both as’.

In the characters 様 sama, 第 DAI, 逮 TAI and 兼 kaneru, the vertical strokes (in red) are written after all the strokes they intersects, but before the strokes they don’t intersect (in green).

The vertical skewer last rule also applies where a vertical skewer protrudes from the top but not the bottom (the third configuration listed above).

We can consider the shapes contained in the kanji 専 moppara, 唐 TOU and 書 kaku.

Kanji stroke diagram showing the kanji 専 moppara 'solely', 唐 TOU 'Tang' (dynasty), 書 kaku 'to write'. It shows piercing vertical strokes that protrude from the top but not the bottom.
専 moppara ‘solely’, 唐 TOU ‘Tang’ (dynasty) and 書 kaku ‘to write’.

In 書 kaku, the vertical skewer (in green) is written after all the strokes it’s crossing (strokes 1-4) and touching (stroke 5).

Non-protruding skewers

If the piercing vertical stroke is entirely contained between the top and the bottom stroke, then the shape is written in this order:

  1. upper part (red);
  2. vertical piercing stroke (brown);
  3. lower part (green).
Kanji stroke diagram showing the kanji 里 sato 'village', 動 ugoku 'to move', 勤 tsutomeru 'to serve'. It illustrates piercing strokes that don't protrude from either end. The skewer-stroke is written written after the top part of the shape, and before the bottom part.
里 sato ‘village’, 動 ugoku ‘to move’ and 勤 tsutomeru ‘to serve’.

The stroke orders of the kanji 里 sato, 動 ugoku and 勤 tsutomeru follow this principle.

We had in fact already seen this under a different light: the 隹 furutori ‘old bird’ exception of stroke order rule 4.

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