艮/コン is the name of the trigram ☶/gèn→ゴン, which means
keeping still or
bound. It’s natural image is a mountain
山 with
roots 根 in the earth; it’s associated body part is the hand
resting at a
stand-still having reached the stage of
completion, compare
既, leading to the image of
覆碗, a face-down bowl: The
eye
目
has finished eating, put down its
spoon
ヒ
and turned its bowl over.
艮 lies to the
northeast in the eight-point compass, a stable spot between the gorge
坎/カン in the north and the quake
震/シン in the east. See also
丑寅/うしとら.
艮 is the
radical for
good 良/ロウ, although no link is apparent between the two characters. The only other character with this radical is
艱 “distressed,” but it’s also the basis of a phonetic series, as seen below.
Sears glosses
艮 as
person-look-away, from eye
目 mù and person-right
匕 bǐ, with the meaning “a person who is
blunt.” This is at least not inconsistent with the I Ching interpretation, especially when you consider that a spoon is a blunt instrument.
Heisig misleadingly calls
艮 silver after
銀. Perhaps he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
艮（*kɯːns）
艱 齦 眼 蛝 限 硍 豤 詪 根 跟 珢 艮 茛 墾 懇 垠 泿 痕 拫 鞎 很 恨 銀 檭.
コン← /kənᴴ/ ← *kɯːns