Pay attention to these kanji:
- 猫 (ねこ, cat)
- 獄 (used in 地獄 (じごく), hell)
- 狗 (used in 天狗 (てんぐ), a long-nosed demon)
- 狂う (くるう, to go crazy)
All those kanji have the same shape on its left side. I call that shape “devil’s hand”. Here’s the illustration.
Imagine a devil wanting to kidnap a baby. First, he opens a portal that goes to the baby’s cradle:
After that, he can take the baby using his hand through the magical portal:
Notice the shape similarity. Here’s the superimposed image:
Thus, the mnemonic for that shape is “devil’s hand”, or alternatively just “devil”.
