U+8346 "荆" CJK Unified Ideograph-# Unicode Character

U+8346 "荆" CJK Unified Ideograph-# is a logogram used in the Chinese writing system, where it primarily refers to the chaste tree or Vitex, a type of shrub or small tree, and by extension it can denote a bramble or thorny thicket. Historically, this character appears in classical texts and modern Chinese as a component in words for certain plants and in the name of the ancient region Jingzhou, and it is also notably part of the term for a humbly offered apology or penance, as in "负荆请罪" to bear the thorned stick and submit to punishment. In Japanese, it is used similarly as a kanji with the on'yomi reading "kei" or "kyo" and the kun'yomi "ibara" for thorn, and it appears in place names and traditional contexts.