In a field, wishing for the ball.

I guess if one grows up with kanji, everything I'm always discovering about them is obvious, but for me it's a long road. Initially I balked at the idea of making up little stories to remember the radicals—as I have at hearing kanji referred to as little friends—but by now I'm 超 into that.

ATM I'm thinking about baseball, yakyuu. 野球. The first kanjus is ya, a field, the countryside; fair enough. The second, if we agree not to deal with 水 mizu water, consists of two parts, more or less: 玉 tama, a sphere or ball, and 求 moto.meru, to ask for or wish for. Ie, baseball is literally being in a field, hoping for the ball. (In my own school experience, only the first half fits.)

The next question will be the difference between 玉 and 球, noting that 玉 + 水 does make sense for a bead of sweat.

Now I'm wondering about 珠, also tama, but this time with—something—and from there 侏....

Also to be interrogated is the mental process by which I read 野 as inaka. Something in there must have read it by meaning; inaka is similar in meaning but is 田舎, a rice field (which looks like a rice field, divided into paddies) + a house/hut (conveniently showing yane roof, in the form of 人 hito a person, and 口 kuchi entrance).

For fun, here's a tribute in rice paddies to the Japanese rugby team, 2019:

(story)

For additional fun, note that rugby is 闘球, making war (戦 tataka.u) and wishing for the ball.