What ㆗ means
Use a Unicode input tool such as a character map. Enter U3197 when a name search does not find it; ordinary 中 is a different character. Plain text can hold ㆗, but a Kanbun-aware layout is needed to scale and place it in the margin.
What does ㆗ do in Kanbun?
It marks the middle return level in Kanbun. Kanbun is the Japanese method of reading Classical Chinese in Japanese word order while leaving the Chinese text in place. Kaeriten, or return marks, show where to go back in that reading; ㆗ marks the middle level in the 上・中・下 (“upper, middle, lower”) series, for a broader return than the simple mark or numbered ㆒ and ㆓ marks.
Around 800, an annotation example combines reading marks called wokototen, punctuation, and signs for reversing reading order. That example does not settle whether the notes served Korean reading, Japanese reading, or both.
Specialist and educational: it signals Kanbun annotation or scholarly typesetting.
Do not substitute 中: it is part of the text, while ㆗ is a reading instruction.
Don't confuse it with
1
Related characters
5
Questions people ask
1Why does ㆗ look too large?
It may appear at full character size in a plain-text field. Kanbun-aware layout scales the mark and positions it beside the text.
More like this
9
How to type or find ㆗
- Also called
- 中点
- Search it as
- u+3197 · chuten · kaeriten · kundoku · kanbun return marks
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
㆗\3197Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.