Kanji structure (2)

Radicals (the main element in a character) have 7 basic positions.

Let's take a look.

1. Left-hand (known as hen or -ben).

Examples:

位（い／くらい）meaning rank, shows a person to the left (ninben) of standing 立.  Thus, a person standing in rank of importance.

材　（ざい）meaning timber, has tree to the left (kihen) of cut down 才 (if you tilt your head just right you can actually see the tree with a branch cut off).  

So that's the left-hand position.