World's heritage Kiyomizu temple priest Seihan Mori puts the finishing touch on a caligraphy with Chinese character "hen", meaning "change" at his temple in Kyoto. After helping Barack Obama sweep to victory in the US election, the president-elect's motto of "change" was Friday declared character of the year by a monk at one of Japan's most revered temples.

After helping Barack Obama sweep to victory in the US election, the president-elect's motto of "change" was Friday declared character of the year by a monk at one of Japan's most revered temples.

Using a calligraphy brush to write the single character on a wooden platform as tourists looked on, Seihan Mori, chief monk at Kiyomizu temple in the ancient capital of Kyoto, declared "change" to be Japan's character of the year.

The event was hosted by a Kyoto-based group that promotes the use of "kanji," the Chinese characters used in the Japanese language.

The public sent in 111,200 nominations for the kanji of the year.

Of those, a majority 5.42 percent endorsed "change," followed by "gold," suggesting the Beijing Olympics, and "fall" to reflect the global market plunge.

"I think it is an expression of the Japanese people's wishes to see political, economic and societal changes, as they were impressed by Mr. Obama's message of change," Mori said.

He added that the term's significance also came into prominence because of the world's growing attention to the impact of climate change.

The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation has been conducting a poll on the year's kanji each year since 1995.

Last year’s top choice was 'Nise' (fake).