kanji was originally written to look like what it means, thus the japanese symbol for mouth is 口 (which is said as "kuchi"), and looks like a mouth. another word, 山 (said as "yama") means mountain. the japanese have for many words. many can be shown with just one kanji, but sometimes two kanji characters are combined to make new words, such as 山口 ("yamaguchi"), "mountain-mouth", meaning a cave. (it is also a surname and the name of a prefecture).