Jisho.org Forum

Hi there:

I'm brand-new to Japanese (I've been studying it for four months, once a week). I'm currently studying to take the Kanji Kentei Level 10 test, and am using a review book meant for Japanese first-graders to learn and practice the kanji.

Often, the example words or phrases given in the book are ones I can't find in the dictionary. I have no context for them, and they are written mostly in kana, not kanji. (The one thing I know is that the average Japanese six-year-old would presumably be expected to know these phrases. ;)

One I am trying to figure out now, given as an example for the kanji 竹, is: 竹うまにのる. (The reading is たけうまにのる).

Denshi Jisho says that うまにのる (馬に乗る) means "to get on (mount) a horse." It also gives たけうま (竹馬) as "(walk on) stilts; bamboo horse."

So, does 竹うまにのる mean "to get up on stilts"? "To walk on stilts"? Or something else? (Also, does anyone have any idea what a bamboo horse is?)

Thanks so much!