Japanese Kanji Compounds confusion
せいじ
politics
政 (politics) + 治 (cure) = 政治 (politics)
I am just starting to learn japanese and I keep seeing this pattern pop up where a kanji is made up of sub conji that mean the same thing... is there something I am missing? I saw the same thing with demon/devil "Akuma" being made of bad + demon/devil. Thanks!!

Question

Japanese Kanji Compounds confusion
せいじ	
politics 
政 (politics) + 治 (cure) = 政治 (politics) 
I am just starting to learn japanese and I keep seeing this pattern pop up where a kanji is made up of sub conji that mean the same thing... is there something I am missing? I saw the same thing with demon/devil "Akuma" being made of bad + demon/devil. Thanks!!

Answer

政　originally meant something ritual or religious. Almost all country has the age religious authority has the biggest power in the country. That's why.

治　means "rule" or "control" something. When you control your body, you are not ill.

Answer

The first symbol is more like "government," so the combo means politics. Keep in mind, the kanji system was borrowed from Chinese, where using two symbols makes perfect sense, based on the nature of the spoken language.