<p>well, I think you might misunderstand the true meaning of Sapporo beer. To be frank, if you put this question on "Japanese Language" category, you may get better answers.</p>

<ol>
<li>Sapporo is a city of Hokkaido (State? maybe) of Japan, Chinese character is "札幌"。 Sapporo (Full name is <em>Sapporo Breweries</em>) is a beer maker as well, see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapporo_Brewery" rel="nofollow noreferrer">wiki</a>. And "七宝" is one of the beer product's name. this is the <a href="http://www.sapporobeer.jp/news_release/0000010068/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pic</a>
Therefore, Sapporo IS NOT '七宝'.</li>
<li>What is '七宝'？ According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Life_Sutra" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Infinite Life Sutra</a>, '七宝' are seven different treasure: gold, silver, Veluriyam（Pali）, quartz, Tridacninae, coral, agate.
According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Sutra" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Lotus Sutra</a>, '七宝' are: gold, silver, agate, Tridacninae, Veluriyam（Pali）, pearl, ruby.
For Sapporo beer, '七宝' is an abbreviation of '<a href="http://www.ikiya.jp/crest/warituke/sippou.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">七宝文様</a>', a traditional texture of Japan. It is used on the <a href="http://www.sapporobeer.jp/news_release/0000010068/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pic</a>.</li>
<li>Now we can turn to your question '宝' and '寶'; This is easier. As you can see, '寶' is much more difficult than '宝', for simplifying the character, Chinese/Japanese people just reset it... for the evolution of this character, since 200-300 AC, we have '宝' and '寶' both. see this:</li>
</ol>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/v3bRB.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/v3bRB.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>Tip: The time series on the pic is not very exactly...:>   </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-26T10:10:05.660Z
Personal suggestion: better **not** to quote the source in 象形字典, because the editor of this dictionary often proposes some strange theory without citing others' work. And for this example, I highly doubt whether that calligraphic character 宝 is credited to 颜真卿.
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-26T07:19:36.833Z
2015-08-26T07:34:53.237Z
2015-08-26T07:34:53.237Z
Kylxyz
<p>As <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/users/2816/stan">Stan</a> hinted at, 宝 is a Japanese <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjitai" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Shinjitai</em></a> character. It is also a simplified Chinese character, but that's coincidental.</p>

<p>Perhaps this fact isn't so well known, but PRC aren't the only ones that performed simplification to Chinese characters - it is merely the most well known and widespread. Japan attempted their own simplification process, but theirs was less extensive and less radical.</p>

<p>Therefore, to the uninitiated, it may seem that Japanese Kanji is identical to Traditional Chinese. But there are simplified forms that are not as simple as PRC's Simplified Chinese, e.g.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>廣: (Shinjitai: 広), (Simplifed Chinese: 广)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>And those that have been simplified differently, e.g.:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>圓 (Shinjitai: 円), (Simplified Chinese: 圆)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>And forms that happen to be the same; 宝 is an example but so are 台 and 国.</p>

<p>Although the two simplification systems happened independently, may simplified characters are based on cursive forms so it's no surprise that there are many characters that are the same between the two systems.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-26T04:25:30.197Z
2015-08-26T04:25:30.197Z
2017-04-13T12:48:06.457Z
congusbongus
<p>I was trying to figure out the characters for Sapporo, the Japanese beer, the other day and found:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>七宝</p>
</blockquote>

<p>was one of the translations for it. </p>

<p>My initial reaction was to search 「七寶」 in my Japanese dictionary, which returned nothing(!); searching 「七宝」 though returned</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>しっぽう, しちほう【七宝】</p>
  
  <p>noun</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>the seven treasures (gold, silver, pearls, agate, crystal, coral, lapis lazuli)
  noun, の-adjective</p></li>
  <li><p>cloisonne ware (abbreviation) (see also: 七宝焼)</p></li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>I figured Japanese would use 「寶」 over 「宝」.</p>

<p>Even in Hong Kong Sapporo is called 「七宝」 and not 「七寶」.</p>

<p>I don't really get it.</p>

<ul>
<li>Does 「宝」 have its own history separate from 「寶」?</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-26T04:00:05.443Z
You might want to learn something about [日本新字体](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/日本新字体).
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-26T07:25:31.103Z
Here's some information: Chinese characters has evolved and simplified by many for the purpose of production or incorrect writing, but officials have marked the "official/real" versions as "正體字" and the rest is called "異體字". A part of simplified Chinese has a history because some people swapped out part of the character to write faster **and thus some in Simplified Chinese are actual characters used since long ago.**
Daniel Cheung
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-26T07:29:36.230Z
Also I want to add, some simplified pencil stroke characters are evolved from Cursive/Semi-Cursive which has already simplified the writing. It just made them angular and done with the simplifying process. Such can be seen from 貝(tc) and 贝(sc).
Daniel Cheung
<characters><etymology><history><glyph-origin>
Does 宝 have its own history separate from 寶?
# Does 宝 have its own history separate from 寶?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-08-26)

I was trying to figure out the characters for Sapporo, the Japanese beer, the other day and found:

> 七宝

was one of the translations for it.

My initial reaction was to search 「七寶」 in my Japanese dictionary, which returned nothing(!); searching 「七宝」 though returned

> しっぽう, しちほう【七宝】
>
> noun
>
> 1. the seven treasures (gold, silver, pearls, agate, crystal, coral, lapis lazuli)
>    noun, の-adjective
> 2. cloisonne ware (abbreviation) (see also: 七宝焼)

I figured Japanese would use 「寶」 over 「宝」.

Even in Hong Kong Sapporo is called 「七宝」 and not 「七寶」.

I don't really get it.

* Does 「宝」 have its own history separate from 「寶」?

**Tags:** characters, etymology, history, glyph-origin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: You might want to learn something about [日本新字体](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/日本新字体).  
> **username_2**: Here's some information: Chinese characters has evolved and simplified by many for the purpose of production or incorrect writing, but officials have marked the "official/real" versions as "正體字" and the rest is called "異體字". A part of simplified Chinese has a history because some people swapped out part of the character to write faster **and thus some in Simplified Chinese are actual characters used since long ago.**  
> **username_2**: Also I want to add, some simplified pencil stroke characters are evolved from Cursive/Semi-Cursive which has already simplified the writing. It just made them angular and done with the simplifying process. Such can be seen from 貝(tc) and 贝(sc).  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2015-08-26. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

As [username_1](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/users/2816/stan) hinted at, 宝 is a Japanese [*Shinjitai*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjitai) character. It is also a simplified Chinese character, but that's coincidental.

Perhaps this fact isn't so well known, but PRC aren't the only ones that performed simplification to Chinese characters - it is merely the most well known and widespread. Japan attempted their own simplification process, but theirs was less extensive and less radical.

Therefore, to the uninitiated, it may seem that Japanese Kanji is identical to Traditional Chinese. But there are simplified forms that are not as simple as PRC's Simplified Chinese, e.g.

> 廣: (Shinjitai: 広), (Simplifed Chinese: 广)

And those that have been simplified differently, e.g.:

> 圓 (Shinjitai: 円), (Simplified Chinese: 圆)

And forms that happen to be the same; 宝 is an example but so are 台 and 国.

Although the two simplification systems happened independently, may simplified characters are based on cursive forms so it's no surprise that there are many characters that are the same between the two systems.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2015-08-26. Score: 0

well, I think you might misunderstand the true meaning of Sapporo beer. To be frank, if you put this question on "Japanese Language" category, you may get better answers.

1. Sapporo is a city of Hokkaido (State? maybe) of Japan, Chinese character is "札幌"。 Sapporo (Full name is *Sapporo Breweries*) is a beer maker as well, see [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapporo_Brewery). And "七宝" is one of the beer product's name. this is the [pic](http://www.sapporobeer.jp/news_release/0000010068/)
   Therefore, Sapporo IS NOT '七宝'.
2. What is '七宝'？ According to [Infinite Life Sutra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Life_Sutra), '七宝' are seven different treasure: gold, silver, Veluriyam（Pali）, quartz, Tridacninae, coral, agate.
   According to [Lotus Sutra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Sutra), '七宝' are: gold, silver, agate, Tridacninae, Veluriyam（Pali）, pearl, ruby.
   For Sapporo beer, '七宝' is an abbreviation of '[七宝文様](http://www.ikiya.jp/crest/warituke/sippou.html)', a traditional texture of Japan. It is used on the [pic](http://www.sapporobeer.jp/news_release/0000010068/).
3. Now we can turn to your question '宝' and '寶'; This is easier. As you can see, '寶' is much more difficult than '宝', for simplifying the character, Chinese/Japanese people just reset it... for the evolution of this character, since 200-300 AC, we have '宝' and '寶' both. see this:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/v3bRB.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/v3bRB.png)

Tip: The time series on the pic is not very exactly...:>

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Personal suggestion: better **not** to quote the source in 象形字典, because the editor of this dictionary often proposes some strange theory without citing others' work. And for this example, I highly doubt whether that calligraphic character 宝 is credited to 颜真卿.  

---

